From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: %$*#^$! Tailgaters
Date: 21 Aug 92 15:16:21 GMT
Article-I.D.: i88.1992Aug21.151621.23093
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL

In article <25640@dog.ee.lbl.gov> jnmoyne@lbl.gov (Jean-Noel Moyne) writes:
>In article <1992Aug20.192732.28939@i88.isc.com> jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E.
>Quist) writes:
>>When I'm driving through twisty areas, at night, and someone insists on
>>sitting on my butt even though I'm doing the speed limit and pulling to`
>>the far edge of the road in passing zones, to allow the person to pass,
>>then it doesn't mean they want to pass, it means they're a clueless dweeb.
>>
>
>	Exactly, and then the best technique is the same as what you would do with any
>tailgater, just pull over in the first turnout you can find and let him go in
>front (at least that's waht I would do, some other methods have been discussed
>here).

Hello?  Anybody home?

Didn't I already say I made every effort to allow the person to pass?
The roads I frequent have no turnouts.  The best I can do is pull as
far right as possible, so the idiot behind me can see that
there's no oncoming traffic to prevent passing.

>>If someone can't take a hint from flashing brake lights, speeding up and
>>slowing down, and every other trick in the book, that they're proximity
>>isn't appreciated, then that person neads to learn to drive.  Aside from
>>limiting forward visibility, tailgating also increases the spacing
>>between oncoming cars needed to pass;  if you back off, then use
>>your following distance to accelerate while the first oncoming vehicle
>>has not yet passed, you can effectively add several hundred feet to the
>>distance between that and the next oncoming vehicle.  Or hadn't you
>>figured that out yet?
>
>	There's a difference between being right a foot behind somebody's rear bumper
>all the time, and just following him with insistance to try to have him
>inderstand you want to pass (that means staying at a reasonable distance and
>sometimes getting closer with the lights on for example).

Well, at night, most drivers have their lights on.  When they stick behind
me, at a 1/2 second interval, regardless of whether I'm going 5 over the
posted limit or 20mph below the limit, and making every effort to allow
them to pass, quite frankly I never did get the impression that they really
wanted to pass.

>	Using your distance to get acceleration to pass him is a good technique if he
>knows you are going to pass (or if the stretch is long enough) because often
>those people tend to sudenly accelerate to a much higher pace, once they are in
>a stretch, making it even more difficult to pass them, unless you have a very
>important power advantage (thing that most bikes have vs. a cage, if you don't
>have a Porche(tm) it not as easy to do with a car).

So it makes more sense to assume that the car in front of you, slowed down
and to the far right so you can see oncoming traffic, intends to
accelerate when you try to pass, than to just try to pass and see what
happens?  And if they do accellerate, why do you need to pass?
(Or is it just an emotional need to be in front, regardless of speed?)

What's a Porche?
-- 
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
George Bush claims to have neglected domestic issues in favor of foreign policy.
    Looking at Iraqi civilians, I'm glad we didn't have his full attention.