Posted by George on April 23, 2001 at 21:02:39:
In Reply to: tailbackproblem posted by Lianne Muijtjens on April 23, 2001 at 10:31:36:
I think you refer to what we call "tailgating" in the United States; that is, some fool drives his or her cage much too close behind you. That's a dangerous situation for the rider; if you stop suddenly, or if you fall, the fool will smash you. Such fools have no respect for human life and should be removed from the road. Perhaps with that in mind, my friend's father once made the quintessential American response to a tailgater: he pulled a pistol from his boot and shoot the fool's radiator. The fool backed off: in fact, he pulled off the road. A more common method for dealing with tailgaters here is called "flipping the bird," also known as "giving the finger." Of course, sometimes that makes the fool mad, and then he gets even closer. The safer thing to do, in most cases, is to pull over: on a one-lane road, move to the shoulder and stop or almost stop; on a highway, move to another (slower) lane if possible. Always use your signal, do a head check, and watch in your mirror for sudden fool-moves as you change position. One other option I sometimes use when possible is to speed up quickly and then move over, so that the fool isn't directly behind me when I'm changing lanes.