There's a point in a turn where your attention SHOULD be on where you're going, not bouncing your head around, look for an idiot speeding in traffic. It looks like the bike went from being so far away as to be literally out of sight to being on their bumper in less than a second. This can't be construed as the car's fault in any way. I understand "he was going fast, he loved speed" means he was up around 100mph. On a 2 lane road. In moderate traffic. That's just so much stupid I haven't the words...

Nope. I don't feel bad for him.

Hey stupid, if you survive, next time try to make sure the driver is looking in your general direction before flopping out of view underneath their bumper.

It might seem crazy, wearing stripes and plaid
I instagram every meal I've had
All my used liquor bottles are on display
We can go to see a show but I'll make you pay

(Because I'm Tacky)
Wear my belt with suspenders and sandals with my socks
(Because I'm Tacky)
Got some new glitter ugs and lovely pink sequined crocs
(Because I'm Tacky)
Never let you forget some favor I did for you
(Because I'm Tacky)
If you're okay with that, then, you might just be tacky, too

I meet some chick, ask her this and that
Like are you pregnant girl, or just really fat? (What?)
Well, now I’m dropping names almost constantly
That's what Kanye West keeps telling me, here's why

(Because I'm Tacky)
Wear my Ed Hardy shirt with fluorescent orange pants
(Because I'm Tacky)
Got my new resume it's printed in Comic Sans
(Because I'm Tacky)
Think it’s fun threatening waiters with a bad Yelp review
(Because I'm Tacky)
If you think that's just fine, then, you're probably tacky, too

Bring me shame, can't nothing
Bring me shame, can never know why
Bring me shame, can't nothing
Bring me shame, I said
Bring me shame, can't nothing
Bring me shame, it's pointless to try
Bring me shame, can't nothing
Bring me shame, I said

(Because I'm Tacky)
43 Bumper Stickers and a "YOLO" license plate
(Because I'm Tacky)
Bring along my coupon book whenever I'm on a date
(Because I'm Tacky)
Practice my twerking moves in line at the DMV
(Because I'm Tacky)
Took the whole bowl of restaurant mints. Hey, it said they're free
(Because I'm Tacky)
I get drunk at the bank
And take off my shirt, at least
(Because I'm Tacky)
I would live-tweet a funeral, take selfies with the deceased
(Because I'm Tacky)
If I’m bitten by a zombie, I’m probably not telling you
(Because I'm Tacky)
If you don't think that's bad, guess what, then you're tacky, too

I feel like I can take a middleground on the whole tailgating issue, as a commuting biker I tend to experience both ends of the equation quite regularly and IMHO the problem lies in the extremes in attitude.

On the one hand if you drive/ride a lot and have good confidence in the vehicle and roadcraft in general (frequently the case with professional van and truck divers) it can be extremely frustrating when people don't practice good lane and speed discipline. I don't mean people maintaining a decent pace (it's your problem if you want to go faster than posted limits and they don't) I mean people either:
A. Driving below the posted limit (within reason)
B. Accelerating to speed absurdly slowly or slowing to 2mph to take a corner you could hit at 10-20 comfortably
C. Hogging the outside/passing lane because THEY are going as fast as THEY want to go so why should they speed up or slow down to get out of everybodys way? (C**TS!)

Under the above circumstances I understand why people end up tailgating, in fact I think it happens without much of a conscious effort most of the time. They are going so far below the pace the seems reasonable that you close the gap without realising. Getting to this stage is understandable/inevitable, it's what you do next that defines you as a responsible road user:

A responsible driver/rider at this point backs off, the point has already been made to the driver in front. They know they are going slower than you want to go or that you want to pass in the passing lane they are hogging. Sitting on their bumper is not only dangerous to both of you but it's obnoxious and likely to be counter productive. When you see someone driving too close your natural response is to slow down for safety or simply as a fuck you to the other guy. Even if you were about to get out of their way you might change your mind and think "screw you buddy I got the hint but now your just being rude".

When I back away I find people let me through far more often, wheras in the past when i've just tail gated them like a dick it's got me nothing but two angry motorists (and a hugely elevated chance of an incident). The lorry driver could have left a bigger gap but it didn't look that unreasonable (plus lorries have a hard time gaining speed and are naturally inclined (and taught) to preserve it where possible).

It might not be that unfair to suggest he was antagonising the car infront, but it pales into insignificance compared to...

.....the other side of the equation (which blue peugeot falls squarely into) who are generally IMHO far worse/more dangerous. The one's that adopt an imperious and selfish attitude to speed and road position. "I'm going as fast as I want to go and there's car on the inside that I'll pass in about 30seconds so I'm just going to sit in the outside lane going 2mph faster than slow lane traffic, because why should I have to go to the trouble of changing lanes to let someone else go faster than I want to go!"

Touching the brakes to give a tailgater a shock done properly is fine (I might even go so far as to recommend it) but holy shit! I think it'd be dangerous to scrub more than 1 or 2mph never mind an illegal stop on a dual carageway. Even if there was a mechanical reason for stopping it's still illegal to stop there without pulling off to the side.

Either way 45k in damages feels like pretty just deserts. I dearly hope he got at least a 12 month ban to boot. There's slipping up and then there's premeditated dangerous driving!

I usually try to see things from everybody's perspective when it comes to stuff like this but the Peugot driver is so disproportionately stupid and reckless than I can't really even try to defend him/her. I get why they might have been annoyed but that all became irrelevant the moment they tried to cause an accident!

baby wombat bumper cars!

I noticed a few people who had the ability to slow down (winter tires?), but forgot to check their rear mirror for the people who don't have winter tires.

Just because you can stop, doesn't mean the 10,000 lbs of Mack truck on your bumper will have the same stopping power. Never a bad idea to at least glance in the direction you are accelerating.

All the research I've ever read/heard from professional sources appears to completely refute what you are suggesting.

Maintaining a decent distance speeds up the average flow of traffic! Being a little further behind doesn't slow anyone down it just makes them further away from each other.

A car doing 30mph 2 feet behind another is going EXACTLY as fast as a car going 30mph 20 feet behind another. Distance between cars doesn't make anyone have to go any slower, simply that they are further away relative to each other.

It also has the benefit of reducing or even preventing the wave phenomenon which SLOWS DOWN the traffic or even stops it dead. (capitals just for emphasis not sarcasm).

The distinction you are suggesting between smooth and fast flowing makes no sense to me. Smooth flowing traffic IS fast flowing traffic. It's the wave effect that slows traffic down not the amount of tarmac taken up.

The physical length of highway a car takes up would only matter if you were trying to park them. I can see why this might seem to matter from the subjective POV of someone stuck in a jam/slow moving traffic. But if everyone maintained distance this situation would be less likely to occur (and reduced in effect when it does).


Smooth traffic is fast traffic. We are not confused. This is based on modern professional studies of traffic dynamics. Having less lanes is know to actually speed up jammed traffic under many circumstances (London M25 springs to mind)


Let me put this another way. Watch that vid again. He isn't going any slower than the flow of traffic he's just further away from the car in front. You can tell this because he's maintaining a steady distance from the car in front. The only people who are being slowed down are the asshats behind him driving bumper to bumper. They experience what seems like a temporary reduction in speed but this is simply an illusion created by giving back the healthy separation between vehicles that should have existed in the 1st place. i.e. they are just "paying back" a few feet of roadspace each, which they took up at a previous point in time. They won't get anywhere any faster or slower as a result & this way it helps to reduce the "slinky effect" which actually does reduce average travel time from point A to B.

The roads have a capacity.
~15 feet per car.

100 feet of road will fit about 6 or 7 cars, bumper to bumper.
Alternatively, 100 cars will require 1500 feet of distance to fit.

If a driver keeps 30 feet in front of him, at all times, even when stopped in traffic, then that takes the total per-car size up to 45 feet.
100 feet of road now fits 2 cars.
100 cars now require 4500 feet of distance to fit.

The greater the distance kept between cars, the bigger the strain on road capacity, and the farther back the traffic jam will stretch.



Traffic jams in massive commuter areas do not exist because people are driving too close.

They exist because the rate of people entering the highway exceeds the rate of people exiting the highway, for a long enough duration that the highway 'runs out of room' to fit the cars.

You can widen the roads to increase capacity, so the traffic jam doesn't go as far back.
You can increase highway speed limits, so that people can attempt to 'evacuate' the highway faster.

(Travel-capacity in terms of cars-per-second of any given section of road, is 'cars-per-second-per-lane x number-of-lanes'. Increasing either factor will improve travel.)

...But you can't eliminate the jam.

The rate of 'highway exit' is determined by the number of exits, and the capacity of the exit roads to absorb traffic from the highway.

When people exit from a highway, they usually go into local traffic, and are met by a light within 100 feet.
Between the lights, and other cars looking for parking spots, pedestrians, etc, local traffic is a dog.

Highway traffic can't diffuse out of the exits fast enough, and the traffic backs up on the exit ramps, and then backs up onto the highway. Once the traffic backs up onto the highway, exiting traffic consumes a lane for queuing, which forms a choke.


Basically, to avoid a jam, the rate of people entering the highway can not exceed the maximum possible rate of people exiting and diffusing into the destination city.

Because 'everyone goes to work at once', and local traffic is not geared to rapidly absorb exiting traffic, the jams are unavoidable.

Driving with a massive space in front, refusing to fill in the gap, only uses up the highway's buffering capacity more quickly.
That leads to the 'complete' jam happening sooner, where traffic is queued all the way from the destination, all down the highway, and onto the feeder roads miles away, blocking local traffic elsewhere.




IMO, if people really care abut stopping traffic jams, they should put a commuter parking lot at every exit at major commuter areas.

When you exit off of the highway, you would immediately wind your way through a parking lot, and at the other end of the lot you would exit into local traffic.

The parking lot acts as a buffer, allowing the highway exit lane to not get backed up, and prevents the queue from building up onto the highway.

That way the traffic on the highway can travel without chokes.

Although, this would just move the "parking lot" occurring on the highway, into a literal parking lot. You'd still be stuck waiting a while, as the rate of people exiting the parking lot into local traffic would still be limited by the rate at which local traffic can absorb the highway traffic.

Basically, to have literally no waiting, the city streets absorbing exiting highway traffic need the same uninterrupted cumulative bandwidth as the highway.

In the end, if you want to fix highway traffic jams, fix city streets.




You can make the argument that keeping more space in front will make people more comfortable with driving faster, and traffic will move faster.
But, that faster moving traffic will merely more quickly arrive at the same clogged exit, and queue with the same other cars waiting to get onto the local roads.

-scheherazade

Lotta Lithium there as well, and I believe a tungsten deposit er two that ain't tapped-out...Not to mention that sweet, sweet poppy, of which I understand there is a BUMPER crop this year what with all the army guys scootin'-out.

Jesus! Accuse me of unrighteous inclination and "react" rather than respond to my sentiments. I offered my thoughts to the situation from the POV of the litterbug, not Johnny (death by road rage) Webcam (although in the litterbug's place, IF it was a dick like you described, I'd most-likely be fucking up his grill with my rear bumper in reverse, because I don't leave a car when peeps are obviously unstable).

SO, what you're saying is that yourself as the litterbug, would have done something similar in response to the situation as I would have?

If you take me for someone who would illicit a reaction from an unknown motorist then end-up somehow mysteriously out of my vehicle between mine and theirs while they are still inside their vehicle well, maybe you'd do this, but I ain't goin' out like that.

Who the FUCK, is as passionately insane about dying to get out of their car to teach a stranger a lesson about littering? The litter-police guys' a dick, plain and simple and the litterbugs' a cunt for throwing his trash out so brazenly.

...oh and yes, my name is chingalera that, "little fucking thing over there."

Yeah, that sounds like you, you little fucker (that is your name). When called out on your insane, out of control, rude and illegal behavior, your first reaction is to do something worse instead of realizing you are in the wrong.
I would have run your ass over when you approached my front bumper, crushing you between my and your car, and claimed you were trying to assault me, or that my brakes failed.
I think the tail pipe idea was the proper solution, too bad no one thought of it there. I hope they got his ass for intentionally running into the third driver on film, not smart. That's likely assault with a deadly weapon. Cops here often shoot people for that kind of thing.

Every time I chime-in on this retarded phenomena (another in a long-line of developmental disabilities engaged in by modern-day peeps) the cringe releases another gush of acids into my already damaged sphincters-More and more idiots on the road who can't drive anyway with worthless device #836 in their hands letting their robot friends know whats in their heads instead of concentrating on the 3-ton beast they indenture themselves to be able to play moron roulette with.

On of the many reasons I stay pissed-off. Recently though, I must say that I have found a way to diminish the frequency of road-raging incidents. I keep a few cans of silly string from the dollar store in the glove box and instead of shouting at people, I engage them at a stop with an attention-grabbing insult, and quickly empty the can (into their face if I can) on and into their vehicle.

Not adverse to the occasional brake-check, the 1-minute-horn-loop, or bumper-tap, to wrest the head from a fellow-motorist's ass as well. Herding and sheep-dogging works wonders for cooling the cell-towers in the vicinity of my vehicle as well, oh there's all kinds of wonderful things to pay attention to whilst sharing the motorways with choggie.

Herzog has his appeal to idiots, I have mine.
Please make a law in my State with stiff penalties for cell phone use while driving, another monkey law like seat belts which becomes monkey habit...

The person who runs a pedestrian down while texting? A tattoo of a cell-phone keypad on their fucking forehead and 10,000 hours of community service picking-up chewed bubble-gum off the pavement of AT&T cellular store parking-lots wearing a sandwich board.

YESSS!

Thank you, instant karma. That was a very satisfactory ending.

I hate dipshits who push you out of your lane like that. Every time someone does that to me, I stand my ground regardless of how close they come to actually colliding with me. It's like the old bumper sticker (that I haven't seen since I was a lad) says: Hit me; I need the money.

Bumper cars for adults or oceangoing demolition derby?

The CPB (Cars Per Block) rule is seriously under-appreciated. In San Francisco, people will park in a space that could easily fit three cars in such a way that only one car will fit, presumably to prevent their bumpers from being bumped. It's such a dick-move and makes me want to "bump your bumper" even more.