It's chucking down with rain, would you rather have a tailgater up your tail or ahead

[cheshirecat]

Struck me the other day on the motorway into Welly (well what passes for a motorway).
Was in the center lane doing traffic speed (100) and some geezer zoomed up in the inside real quick ( he must have doing 120ish) braked, cut in a few cars up then tailgated a ute on the outer lane who, oddly enough, was slowing down for the 70 limit road works. When I say tailgating I mean tailgating, you couldn't fit a scooter between them.
Now its chucking down so do you want him tailgating you or do you want to be behind a potential accident ahead in the wet.

My own solution is to have him ahead a few cars and be able to hit the hard shoulder should anything happen. I learnt this in the UK when an artic started to jacknife ahead of me causing a pile up.

[Gremlin]

ahead. I can control that. I've had to take evasive action before to prevent myself from being taken out from behind, ie, car used my space and my gap to car in front to stop. Charming.

[Nutter34]

If and when someone tailgates me on the bike, I give the international gesture for 'please give me some space'...
Usually works...

I'd rather be behind it as Gremlin states...

[skinman]

sit behind till traffic is really slow then split like mad & disappear into the distance.
I can fit therefore I can split

[swbarnett]

Pretty obvious really. Ahead. You can distance yourself from the danger much easier.

Whenever I've been tailgated I've always taken the first opportunity to let them past. Although it can be fun on a narrow road to show a brake light (without actually braking) and watch them nearly lose it.

[Hats]

Happens all the time over here, so normally Id do one of two things

1. Twist the throttle and get outta there
2. Twist the throttle and get outta there

[javawocky]

Happens all the time over here, so normally Id do one of two things

1. Twist the throttle and get outta there
2. Twist the throttle and get outta there

I concur.

Remeber trying to obay the 70k limit on my learns back in the day having a giant truck tail gating me on the RG150. That was the last time I obeyed the law in favor of my safety.

Safty first! Give it some Gas!

[MSTRS:Me]

Why get in front and give them the chance to do it again? In CheshireCat's scenario, I'd want the prick where I could see him.

[george formby]

If somebody is pratting about behind me I get into space asap. It's hard enough weighing up what drivers ahead may do without having to translate what you see in your mirrors as well. Being tailgated by trucks is a nightmare, overtaking vehicles pulling back into lane without having time to register your their & then being boxed in by other overtaking traffic.
If your gonna ride across Europe in the rain this will happen, often!

[MarkH]

do you want him tailgating you or do you want to be behind a potential accident ahead in the wet.

If it is a car then I'll lane split until I get were I'm going, no car can keep up with that. If it is a bike tailgating then I'll give it room as soon as I can to let the squid disappear in the distance. Either way there should be a suitable solution so that you don't have a tonne & a half (or more) of steel & glass about to take you out if you have to stop suddenly.

So my answer to this and pretty much any other hypothetical situation that anyone can think of is essentially this:
Assess the situation and take the best action that I can think of that improves my safety and gets me where I'm going in one piece.

[Banditbandit]

In pissing down welly weather ? Ahead ...

Anywhere else . leave them in my dust ... last tailgater I had was at night across the Napier-Taupo Road .. I passed the car in the river doing 90 klicks .. he sped up and sat on my arse at 130/135 klicks ... I got onto the plains and up to a line of cars ... I went down the outside at something more than twice the legal speed thinking "sit on my arse now sucker ..."

[Mrs Shrek]

according to the nz road code this is what you should do:


Create a safety cushion
You should create a 'cushion' of safety around your whole vehicle by making sure there is a safe distance in all directions between you, other vehicles and potential hazards.

This will give you and other road users more time and space to avoid any hazards.

•Create a cushion of safety ahead of you by maintaining a safe following distance. Use the two-second rule - or the four-second rule when appropriate..
•Create a cushion of safety behind you by maintaining a safe distance between you and any following vehicles. If a vehicle is following you too closely, slow down, move over and let it pass as soon as you can do so safely.

So what would you do?

[MarkH]

according to the nz road code this is what you should do:


Create a safety cushion
You should create a 'cushion' of safety around your whole vehicle by making sure there is a safe distance in all directions between you, other vehicles and potential hazards.

This will give you and other road users more time and space to avoid any hazards.

•Create a cushion of safety ahead of you by maintaining a safe following distance. Use the two-second rule - or the four-second rule when appropriate..
•Create a cushion of safety behind you by maintaining a safe distance between you and any following vehicles. If a vehicle is following you too closely, slow down, move over and let it pass as soon as you can do so safely.

So what would you do?

I would do as the road code says and open the throttle and lane split away from the tailgater.

Well, if the road code was written by bikers anyway.