If there is someone driving too close to me i slow down. Some people are professional tailgaiters, it's just their driving attitude. These people are amongst the worst in the country. There's another sort of driver that can not stand being behind some one , even though they are doing the speed limit. These people pass and slow down for a short distance, and soon as there is a bend or some other camouflage on the road they are gone never to be seen again.

"If there is someone driving too close to me i slow down."

But of course Desmond. What else can you do? The only other possibilities are to just ignore the mongrel behind you and put up with the increased hazard that the turd is subjecting you to or signal your discontent. As far as I'm concerned just copping it is untenable, irresponsible and just completely not on!

So if a three-point flash of my brakelights fails to convey the message of discontent, then I slow down, slowly and carefully, and remain slow until they either pull back or one of us turns off.

If there are other vehicles behind the tailgater that are forced to go slow as a result, well that's just too bad. I mean, that can't be helped, can it.

Now if the tailgating gets really bad, as it sometimes does, with an absolutely fuming mongrel behind you who just cannot tolerate your presence in front of him and who rides half a metre off of your back bumper, then what are you to do?

In the interests of your safety, you want to pull off and get out of that situation. But in order to do that, you've got to slow down considerably from the cruising speed, be it 100 on the highway or 50 on a suburban street.

But it is this sort of mongrel that just utterly will not tolerate you slowing down in front of him.

You really can find yourself in a hopeless situation sometimes.

And if you report it to the cops, they DON'T DO ANYTHING!

Not worth contributing to the problem. Just move left and let the offending vehicle pass. Next problem being that the fool has suddenly moved into the left lane where you intended to go.

Corny, you can't just move over to the left if you are roaring up a single-lane highway at 100kmh. You often can't easily do it on a dual carriageway either.

Hey Ludwig - I'm away from home base too, but yesterday I was driving on the highway they call Bruce between Eumundi and Bris Vegas, and I thought of you.

I noticed various signs warning against tailgating (and also others admonishing the prats to keep left unless overtaking), but I also encountered something I hadn't seen before. They've painted 'chevrons' at regular intervals on the road surface, and placed signs advising drivers to keep at least two chevrons between them and the car in front. This was in the 110 km/h zone, but I imagine the same idea would work with different spacing at lower speeds. At any rate, most drivers seemed to observe the direction.

I thought to myself, 'what a simple, cost-effective idea' - and then later realised that it's probably some kind of trial tied in with the possible implementation of anti-tailgating cameras. However, it still seems a simple measure that on its own apparently had the desired effect.

On a related issue, I've finally bitten the bullet and bought a GPS - which is quite a brilliant bit of technology for an old yokel like me trying to navigate the motoring nightmare that is Brisbane. I was interested to notice that it has a display that indicates vehicle speed and the speed limit - that turns red at 107 km/h in a 100 zone.

'Clever little Tom-Tom', I thought - and then I thought of my old mate Ludwig again!

Very good. Thanks for that CJ.

I haven't encountered those chevrons. I haven't encountered any signage warning of tailgating either, ever. So I am most pleased to hear that something is being done down your way.

By the way, at the end of my eleven week trip around the country last year, I drove along that stretch of the Bruce Highway....actually it was a little further north, around Gympie....and the tailgating was just utterly chronic. I'd sit my speed on about 105 in the 100k zone, on a windy hilly stretch, and there'd just always be car right up m' bumhole!

I had just about escaped the stressload engendered by tailgaters right around the country, by staying off the busy highways. But it got me in the end.

You've got a GPs. Excellent. Now you can immediately determine that accuracy of your speedo!

Hey, let's explore community policing a bit more thoroughly, as per my request for discusion with you about this earlier in this thread,

Can you elucidate your main concerns. Thanks.
[from sunny Port Douglas]