I'd rather do a brake check than have the guy pass me and get killed anyway.

A guy I went to school with died the other week at the age of 20. He was following behind a bus going slow b/c of construction equipment. He decided to pass the bus and ran head on into a semi. If this idiot had decided to wait or just to tailgate he would've lived. Don't tell me that doing a brake check is'nt safe.

 

The best one I ever did, I was driving a single axle dump with a 800 gallon steel tank with water in it. Front bung was open with a cone in it as a plug. Lady in a ricer burner was taligating me. So I jammed the brakes, a big ol' gyser spewed out. Looked in my mirror, she was about a quarter mole back with the wipers going a mile a minute.

 

I tend to really tick 'em off. If they like the view of the back of my BII so much, I'll really slow down and let them get a good long look.

*****

 

MatthewJ- I never said a "brake check" (tapping your brakes lightly) was not OK. I said slamming on your brakes is unsafe (Which is what a lot of people on here suggested)- I don't see how anyone can think that this is safe. People who tailgate are trying to get you to speed up at first, and if you don't then they will try to pass- TOO many people get the idea in their heads that the other driver is doing it for sport or just to make them mad. If that bus had slammed on its brakes or done a brake check then your friend would still have passed- I don't see how you figure that a brake check would have prevented him from passing. If anything, it would have aggravated him.
"If this idiot had decided to wait or just to tailgate he would've lived. Don't tell me that doing a brake check is'nt safe."- These two sentences don't even fit together; The first sentence talks about how he should have tailgated and then the second sentence suggests brake checking would have preventred the incident. please explain.

 

I don't antagonize them, I just don't pay them that much attention. I let them pass me and go on about my business. I live in a litigation happy county. They'll try to sue when they get a hang nail, much less an auto accident. You know it's bad when you see billboards for chiropractors and auto injury attorneys all over the roads. I know that if you get rear-ended, you aren't at fault, but it just isn't worth the aggravation or possibility of injury for me to play with tailgaters where I live.

 

when i ride with my bro-inlaw in his 18 wheeler dont pay it no mind if they want to eat metal well what can i say ? and it aint pretty when one of them fools (tailgaters) wedge there car up under that 56' trailer what a mess a idiot can make

 

Pair of KC 150 watt lights seem to do the trick at night. Otherwise I can go real slow. I had this idiot pass me one time in a tight canyon on double yellow with hardly 100ft of straight road with ice and snow on the road in his Suburban. I thought I was going a little quick for the conditions (speed limit). I was running my 8 lightforce lights at the time and left them on. They kept flashing their brake lights at me and I followed them for about 5 miles until I got bored.

 

I got rid of a tailgater once by turning the ignition off, counting to 5, and turning the ignition back on again. This causes a spectacularly loud backfire, in case you've never done this.

 

wow! i went out and tried that, i almost crapped my pants laughing, it was loud!

 

Isn't this bad for the vehicle? I'm just asking because I really want to try it... perhapes more than just once or twice...

 

i just asked the same ? at the exhaust section, keep an eye on it for an answer, becuz i was worried about it too

 

I've got a funny story about that. One of those "Let's see how stupid I can be" things...

I was coming down off a mountain I had just spent the weekend camping on , tooling along in my '65 f-250 I had bought just a few months before. Somehow I got to thinking how much gas I could save if I shut off the engine and coast down 'till I hit the flats at the bottom. Only problem was, the road was a bit steeper than needed, and I found myself riding the brake quite a bit. Einstien that I am, I decide to put it in 4th and let the engine act as a brake, (mistakingly) thinking that I had an electric fuel pump, and with the electrical turned off there would be no gas going to the carb. WRONG!!!! By the time I finally got to the bottom, there must have been quite a puddle of gas in the muffler. I reached over to switch the ignition back on, and BAM!!!! Nearly jumped through the roof. The rest of the way home I had exhaust blowing UP through the now-split muffler, between the cab and the box. I'm lucky I didn't do more damage, that could've very easily hurt more than just the muffler.

Moral of the story??? Be carefull about how long you leave the ignition off, you could get a bigger bang than you bargained for.

Rory

 

Just last week a woman played the "brake for the tailgater game,"here in Honolulu. The results were one dead ten-year-old girl, one motorcycle cop dead, two children and four more cops critical. An in-attentive GT Mustang tailgater hit the car in front of him and sent it into oncoming traffic.

 

haroutd-
my thoughts exactly!!!

 

I know this has been said but the two fogs I cut into my bumper land about 10 feet behind me or right in the eyes of the offenders. Works like a charm. Best and safest thing I have used yet. Then when they go around I hit the air horns and watch them wet their pants.