No one likes to be tailgated, which is often why people do it. They want the driver ahead of them to move over or speed up, so they tailgate that car until the driver complies. They know that the driver will feel uncomfortable having another car so close to them.
When someone starts to tailgate you, you know that it’s dangerous and you certainly want to put an end to it. But you may be unsure exactly what you should do. How do you address a situation like this?
Let the tailgater pass when possible
Your end goal should simply be to let the tailgater pass you at some point. You do need to find a safe way to do this, which may mean driving into a parking lot or pulling onto the shoulder of the road. You certainly don’t want to put yourself at any greater risk to let them pass, but you do want to try to make way whenever you can.
People often don’t like this idea because they know that the tailgater is just trying to bully them into moving over, so they don’t really want to give in. And it is true that tailgaters often are doing this intentionally, and they are breaking the law. But rather than focusing on what is fair, it’s better to focus on what is safe. And it is certainly safer to let that person pass you, even though you know that they were in the wrong.
One other thing to remember is that you never want to hit your brakes aggressively. People sometimes do this in an effort to get the person to back off, but it’s dangerous and just causes car accidents.
If you handle everything correctly and the tailgater still causes an accident that leads to serious injuries, then you need to know how to seek financial compensation.
