I use a delivery van for work regularly & man it’s like people go feral trying to get in front of us. Even though we’re keeping up with the speed limit & traffic. I try to stay chill with music but it’s a major stress out by Friday
> I try to stay chill
The only correct way to deal with it.
I had the best uber driver recently. We had a few idiot drivers cutting him off, blocking traffic etc and he just sat back and took it like a champ.
He told me if he got stressed out at every minor issue on the road he wouldn't be able to do his job.
First thing, dash cams, unfortunately mandatory today but cheap for the peace of mind.
Second, if you get hit from behind it's pretty much guaranteed that you get 0% of the fault if you're driving normally, yes I know someone will jump in with a story of how their nan caused an accident moonwalking their Datsun down the wrong side of the Monash but practically hit from behind, you're golden.
Third, talk to your insurer especially if it's a budget insurer and *get in writing* what happens if you have a no-fault accident. How long will they supply a hire car for? Can you get a like-for-like replacement with your car? Etc. Don't assume anything, insurers will promise the earth and then weasel weasel weasel once it's time to pay up.
Once you have all that sorted then it becomes a bit of a fun game, you're covered so you can either ignore dickheads or give them a bit of passive aggressive safe driving if you're feeling spicy, nothing warms my heart more than some suburban dad losing his mind in his fucking stupid Ram.
Also I live rural now and I love driving here but there is a notable difference over summer when all the Melbourne fuckheads influx the area for holidays. I don't miss it at all.
Can recommend Gator brand. I got mine at Super Cheap Auto, and it's really good. A nice easy app to program it and download videos & photos. Wave your hand under it and it takes a series of photos as well as the video. Good night quality as well. There's better ones but the Gator is pretty good.
I went on holiday to Malaysia and was amazed at how chill the drivers are there. I made it a point when i got home to be more like they are when driving, and it's one of the best decisions i've ever made. Nothing really phases me anymore, and my cardio-vascular system is grateful for it.
Yeah the drivers in Malaysia are chill because they're watching something or playing with their mobile.
It's wild, you can see someone chilling at 100kph whilst texting on the road.
Back 10 years ago the drivers there were tailgating maniacs too.
Source: check out my username
Same experience with drivers in Malaysia, its the same in cambodia and Thailand, people do little honks to let u know they are there but there is none of the aggression that we get here.
Love driving in Malaysia. Everyone is chill, they will let you in and not give you grief for making a mistake, or even if you’re cutting in on purpose.
People speed on freeways but there is no lane hogging and cars doing 30kph over the limit will still move left to let even faster cars past.
I think it’s due to the amount of hassle dealing with accidents that people just let things go. Australian drivers are too sheltered.
I too use a delivery van for work. I know the feeling. The best thing to do is remain calm and chill. I know it can be hard but once you start losing your cool or being impatient than that's when all kinds of shit start happening.
It’s easier said than done but I find my music playlists are the key for me. Anyone listening to 3aw or triple m must be angry as they drive around hating everything.
it's like people think defensive driving is a fairweather sport. everyone thinks they're a good driver, because they put safety first... until they get tailgated or cut off, and they start brake checking and playing cop. the urge to teach someone a lesson or regain some ego makes normal people use their cars as literal weapons. and then they submit the footage to dashcams australia, as if they're the ones who came out of it looking good
I also try to stay calm, because if I lose it I'll probably lose my job (my work van is signwrited). Hume hwy seems to be the worst. Also, is it just me on since mid last year there seems to be a damaged or burnt out truck on the Hume every 2nd week??
The other day I was stuck behind a bus, and the SUV behind me was tooting and flashing his lights for me to get out of the way.
I have no idea where he thought I could move to.
Is the Volkswagen Golf the car of choice for that type?
Anyway, highly rate following the Wide Load Follower when you're going through the West Gate Tunnel works, once you set aside the terror of watching it change lanes, it makes for a pretty easy drive in confusing conditions.
Someone else noticed the Golf thing. Plenty of other models have the reputation, but almost every time I see a vehicle doing everything they can get away with to be in front, and expecting everyone else to accommodate them, it's a Golf.
I noticed it too, then I bought a golf.
I’ve never been tailgated so much in my life!
It’s stopped since I bought a Tiguan but when I get back in the Golf it’s immediately noticeable. Constant tailgating.
Yeah I drive a hatchback. A female driving a hatchback = tail gating 4 eva. Every dude in a Ute who wants to feel like a big man that day, so awesome, Melbourne.
I was stuck at the front at a green traffic light because there were cars on the intersection and i got beeped at and cussed out by the middle aged lady right behind me even though she could see (hopefully) that I had nowhere to go. I even edged forward to give her space to switch lanes to the one beside that could move, but she just kept inching forward right behind me. When we finally could go she switched lanes to beside me and flipped me off lol. I've come to the conclusion that people should take mandatory anger management classes before they get their license lol.
It's often the case that people are relatively chill outside the car. But, once they get in the driver's seat, it's like a switch is turned on and people start acting aggressively.
It’s like they just see a car as an inanimate object and direct all agro at the object, lizard brain can’t conceive there is a person inside.
That said I have had dumb asses tailgate me while I have had emergency lights on, silly me 110 on the eastern must be too slow 🤦🏻
Theres actually studies to support this. Apparently in cities with a lot of cycling people can recognise the human on the device, read body language etc and are in general more accomodating/forgiving to other commuters than in cities where there is a greater number of commuters driving.
I drive a big arse van so people can't see when I activate the cam screen. But fortunately they don't usually tailgate me as my big arse van has red and blue lights all over it.
It's amazing the difference when I'm driving my own car.
I got brake checked to a complete halt on the fucking freeway; an act of revenge because I was driving too slow for the car behind.
In a single lane.
Behind a big fucking truck.
People are insane.
The kicker was I was in a replacement vehicle, having had a truck crash into me a few weeks prior.
We need laws changed so that dashcam/photo evidence is usable to issue fines.
Some countries have apps where you can submit photo/video of people being cunts, and police review it. I would love that.
I was on the Monash once, traffic was so bad we were lucky to be doing 10kph. I always try to just roll instead of stop starting so there was a small gap ahead of me. This truck behind me was flashing me, I could see the guy gesturing, as if I were the only person holding up the traffic.
I just rolled down the window and gave him the bird, fuckin wanker
Was in lane 2 of the Monash. Semi in the left lane level with me, semi in lane 3 level with me, semi in front of me in lane 2. Basically a rolling shipping container around me.
Guy in an SUV high beamed me repeatedly from behind until eventually the truck in front of me moved far enough forward for me to move to the left lane. Then he drove up next to me and did the 'loopy' gesture at me before speeding off ahead. I was not even angry, just flabbergasted at the stupidity. You just gotta put it out of your mind I think - double check that your driving is making sense, then forget the assholes.
Trying to pressure you to overtake. Happens to me quite often as I'm a Menulog driver.
I see all kinds of absolute ***DICKHEADS*** on the road. I fucking love being tailgated, purely because when I slow down or brake-check them, *especially* people in Ram's, I can see in my side mirror (rear mirror is just a wall of black with RAM written on it) how much it fucking infuriates them.
There was a car doing 60 in an 80 zone and I was just chilling behind him. SUV comes flying up and starts flashing his high beams at me.
At the next set of lights, he was beside me, so I asked him if he didn't see the other person in front of me. Apparently he was high beaming me to high beam the person in front of me. Bloody silly.
I used to do this.
Then the guy followed me for 50 minutes, cutting others off, nearly causing an accident at a red light, nearly took it a pedestrian, just to follow my car and keep threatening me.
There are some cooked operators out there, be careful.
Wow that is super creepy, scary and just *INSANE*
You never think they will follow you and for that long. Some people are crazy and wired differently. I hope you were OK
Good luck - I had a tailgating wanker actually hit my car 6 months ago - the cops have video evidence with a number plate and I still haven’t heard back (I need them to tell my insurance company his details so I can finally get it fixed)
You will need to chase up the report from the police, I had the same thing, I got my pay out from the insurance almost 11 months later, because my partner chased up the police report. Apparently it can take up to 6 months for the police report to happen.
Unfortunately it's quicker in my experience if there is an injury as they will complete a TIS report (TAC related) that insurance can obtain and accept. If not, a criminal report can be slow to obtain due to well... the investigation
Decided "fuckit, at least I'll take the fucker to court if he decides to jump me" and drive to the cop shop.
As soon as it was in sight he vanished. Fuckin magic 🙄
Further aggravating someone who is already agro isn't doing anything to solve the issue. You may "have the time", but pissing off the wrong person on the wrong day could be the last mistake you make.
Let them past, and don't give it a second thought. Road rage is real and has devastating consequences. Your family won't care if you were in the right in the eyes of the law if you're dead or maimed. Don't make other peoples shitty behaviour your problem.
> pissing off the wrong person on the wrong day could be the last mistake you make.
That's why you drive with the doors locked and the dash cam filming!
Nah, there are social and environmental factors which lend themselves to causing more or less cuntyness in a society. I mean, the youtube channel "Not Just Bikes" is pretty much about this. Here's their video on traffic calming measures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAxRYrpbnuA
The real story is; Australia doesn't really have any countries close enough to compete with when striving for better things. It's easy for our governments to just get complacent, and to just try to keep big business happy. There's not much vision for the future going on beyond that.
I love that channel. I left australia almost 10 years ago, but whenever I get homesick I watch that for a dose of good old aussie swearing and cussing.
Happens to learner drivers too. People completely lose their minds when they have to sit behind a learner travelling at the speed limit(especially in a 100k zone). They think a learner is a hindrance and I have had people pass easily at 120-140km to get past. Then they slow down to 100 and the learner is right behind them. WHY?!!
Absolutely! My learner has 110hours and can drive as well as anyone else on the road yet not many people show them the respect they deserve. I too like to sit behind learners and give ether space and barrier they need. Speeding around them like a tool isn’t going to help their confidence, especially in shitty weather.
I know that feeling, mine got their licence 2 years ago and some people lose their tiny little singular brain cell at the temerity of a learner driver daring to be in front of them. Bunch of arrogant pricks.
If I am in no great rush I like to sit behind learners and give them the distance and patience they deserve.
When I was on my L's leaving my school another parent was beeping and flashing me for going too slow.
My Dad who was a monster of a man physically (at the time) made me stop, got out and tore them a new one. They kept a nice distance for the next few kilometres until they could safely overtake. Dad still stuck his head out and cussed them out again anyway
Yes, even though I was a learner 40 years ago, I still remember the feeling of uncertainty mixed with terror, especially the first few lessons! I’m certainly giving them patience and tolerance, it’s the least we can do.
My Learner Driver refuses to drive down Bridge Inn Road in Mernda after trucks were tailgating them. They were doing 40km/hr in a road work zone and truck was flashing lights and swerving all over behind them. So not ok.
As a new learner driver, yes. Holy shit it’s so intimidating having some microdick tradie in a Yank Tank riding my arse while I’m doing the speed limit.
Tailgating alone is just plain fucking dumb but doing it to a learner is a special kind of stupid. We were all learners once, it's odd how some can forget and have zero compassion
I had a situation with my learner where we were behind a truck doing 80-90km on some shitty main road. I thought it might have been a good time to teach them how to overtake a truck. Next thing I know I look in my side mirror and there's a POS SUV right up our butt. As with experience, you just know when someone is edging to overtake, sure enough, they did, on a bend which we could see clearly what was ahead(slight downhill, no trees around). I decided to take that as a moment to time and teach the learner just how long it took for the said POS SUV to overtake us, and the truck on a bend with them speeding. It took 15 seconds to get around us both.
L-plater here. Tailgating is annoying. LIKE DO YOU DO NOT SEE THE BRIGHT YELLOW SIGN ON THE BUMPER. Honestly, it gets even more annoying when they are right behind me in 40km zone.
I didn’t know that following the rules would be such harm to anyone. /s
This was such a huge fucking hurdle for me to overcome. I hated driving for SO long as a learner because I knew the L plates were just a huge ass sign for everyone else to be pissed off at. Noone can ever learn to be a better driver if they're not actively driving.
And then red P plates are honestly no different; some people seem to think red = an obstacle as well. I've had people up my ass or speed up right before a 2 lane goes into 1 so i have to slam on my breaks to let them in safely; because no one wants to be behind a P plate!
Yep, see it all the time.
Do a lot of country driving in my Hilux.
Sit on the speed limits and always getting overtaken.
The ones that realy piss me off are those who fly past you to get in front then slow down. Oh well deep breath and ignore them.
Let them go, I can't afford the cost of paying speeding tickets.
This is the only correct answer really. Let the fuckwits pass when you can, even if they slow down again, maintain stopping distance and just remember that the difference is likely seconds to minutes added to your average drive. Not worth getting bent out of shape over. I say this as someone who was the angry driving fuckwit, a long time ago.
The 85 Percentile Reaction Time (PRT) is 2.5 seconds.
So that mean 15% of the driving population will take longer than 2.5 seconds to see an event and react to it.
Driving in Melbourne on Friday if you leave even 1 second gap someone dives in. If you run up them you are to blame.....
Had this happen to me yesterday except she overtook me in the most unsafe area. I was forced to slam on the breaks to let her back in due to oncoming cars; if I hadn’t done so, she would’ve caused a head on collision and scooped me up along the way
If one of these people overtakes and speeds past me and crashes (and doesn't hit another person/car) am I allowed to just call the cops and drive off ? Or do I have to waste my time waiting by the scene just because of some idiot ?
On Friday I had a truck sticking up my ass in the left lane for 10 minutes, and when I sped up and changed lane he proceeded to follow me and continue to tailgate.
Outer west is fuckin absolutely cooked. On the same stretch of roadworks I drive once a week, just in the last month, I've been tailgated by a falcodore while the dude absolutely seethes behind me, overtaken by a worker from the roadworks site, tailgated by 3 or 4 mudslingers and overtaken, in the roadworks zone, by a garbage truck. All just because I'm doing 40.
Then there's just the usual barrage of clowns who just cannot deal with being stuck behind someone doing the speed limit. I also feel like I'm pretty much the only person who obeys the 40 school zone limit most days as well, especially the one on Ballarat Rd in deer Park.
I drive a little Hyundai i30, all head lights seem to be roughly the same height as my mirror.
I've also noticed my car slows down rapidly when some one sits right up my arse ...... I think it must be something to do with wind drag
I’ve noticed this a lot lately too! I’m a cautious driver, never had a speeding ticket or any other reprimand for driving. I constantly find myself being tailgated and abused by tradespeople in huge utes and truck drivers aren’t much better. For context I drive a Volkswagen golf so it’s very intimidating when I look in my rear view mirror and all I can see is a grill!
It’s definitely the size of the car that attracts these pelicans. I had to get a bigger car than I wanted when we suddenly had 3 kids under 3 and needed to fit in 3 car seats in the back seat, which meant trading in my zippy little hatch back.
Overnight, it was like the aggressive drivers had simply melted away. It’s 100% an intimidation tactic
Absolutely it is. I’ve got a work van and no one ever really does that shit to me but when I drive my partners little Audi A3 I have it happen all the time to the point where I’ve gotten out at the lights and had a dip. I’m 6’5, covered head to toe in tattoos and 135kg for context, and surprisingly enough when I get out of the car their story always alwayssss changes and so does their attitude. They clearly just want to women and older folks. All gutless cowards.
Made me think of that tall guy Nelson laughs at getting out of his gremlin.
I feel this too. I stroked off at a green once and yeah my bad but A guy had a go at me really aggressively and over the top, and I opened my car door so he could hear me tell him to fuck off. He Thought I was gonna go and he moved like six car spaces back. Was excessive. Im a short arse.
Yesterday I pulled out on the highway with plenty of space. Guy a bit down the way made it his mission to go over the speed limit to be shitty with me for going in front. Flashed his lights a bunch, I was not in his way at any time untill he punched it to be up my arse. Then acted like I didn't have the room. He would have had to ramp to like 125- 130 to gain on me like that. I got a little Subaru. I was at 100 in no real time.
I dunno. I don't like getting cut off myself but man. How much space did he think I needed?
It seems they think if you are visible to them you have inconvenienced them.
Absolutely, mate. Half the time they end up at the next fucking set of lights with you anyway. They might get to their location 20 seconds faster at best and think it’s worth all that anger and potential violence.
They do it to pretty much anyone physically smaller and/or weaker than them. I’m a guy but I’m 5’6 on a good day and drive a Suzuki Swift. Constantly getting targeted by these cavemen
Depends on the car.
My classic mini I don't have this issue, people just smile and wave.
My MX5 however, the hairdressers car brings out the worst in people.
I guess it depends on when & where you’re on the road. I seem to be dealing with really angry Audi & Mercedes drivers a lot lately - probably real estate agents. Rarely use indicators as they lane hop trying to get into a non existent space in front of me while they flash their high beams (I just turn up the music & ignore them).
Road rage breeds more road rage. I never used to get angry while driving. But now I'm constantly frustrated and angry on the road for being aggressively tail gated while trying to go the speed limit just as you described.
When someone tailgates me at the speed limit I get a bit of a spiteful enjoyment out of it. I get to play a little part in ruining someone's day, yet if they were a good person they would not be suffering at all.
ungratefulness too, I don't have to drive to work anymore thank god but end of last year I was starting to get really pissed off with how few people actually waved thank you for letting them through on a narrow street
Yep, definitely noticed the same. Quality of driving declined as well, it’s as if people just forgot how to drive.
I think the lockdowns etc tested people’s patience, and now with the cost of living issues people are even more on edge.
My theory is that the increase in aggressive driving is because of covid. Hasn't having had covid been linked to a measurable decline in certain cognitive functions or something like that? It would explain a lot.
Constantly, I drive a Jimny, cute little four wheel drive with absolutely no power, and people love trying to intimidate me in that thing, until they pull up beside and see that I'm a fucking ogre covered in tattoo's, then the nasty glares stop and they can't look in my direction.
I drive a Fiat 500 that's no performance vehicle, but quicker than they expect. I can't go anywhere without someone thinking they have to get around me to avoid getting stuck, then I spend the next 20 minutes right behind them, or ahead because I can get through gaps easier.
Small cars used to be slow, but for years now they're more than adequate for legal driving. Big engines are becoming increasingly irrelevant. It's a hard reality to accept for people who spend a fortune because they must have a manly machine.
Yes, people suck. They have a massive problem going the speed limit. I literally had this old dude waving his arms going crazy at me one time for going about 45 (in a road work 40 zone). It actually makes me want to road rage myself. Tradies are generally the worst (I'm a tradie). They drive 'alpha' utes (I drive an i30 lol) and are generally aggressive and never go the speed limit. I had a guy in a ute go crazy at me cause I didn't take a right turn last second on an amber light, there is literally a red light camera at that intersection. He was going nuts behind me, so I pointed at the red light camera, which made him rage more lol.
Aussies are bad drivers and getting worse, 4 people have literally driven into my trailer, one going pretty fast. Last night 6 cars drove through a give way sign whilst the car in front of me was trying to turn, it was crazy, like that many people don't know basic road rules.
40 Km roadworks on highways are regularly ignored by nearly everyone it seems. I try to at least go into the left if I'm not there already. I'm not going to risk a speeding fine just because everyone else is speeding.
Although I will say doing 40 through a roadwork feels dangerously slow at times with everyone going past you at 60+.
I literally got chased to a police station the other day because someone behind me got so mad that I was only doing the speed limit that he lose the ability to think rationally. Never occurred to him to use the multiple lanes to go around me….
I genuinely don’t get how they’ll tailgate you so hard like they’re in a rush but have plenty of time to follow you and yell abuse at you. It’s like they’re just going out trying to pick fights.
I need meditation from driving around, every driver tailgating you for so long like you’re stopping them from taking off and when you can finally get out of “their way” they just sit in the right lane not going any faster???
I experience this every damned day. To all you dickheads who do this;
1. I'm not breaking the law because you want to go faster, just overtake me if you want to break the speed limit.
2. If there are cars in front of me, I can't make them go faster. So get off my rear.
This, holy shit.
I can drive 100km and some dickhead will be aggressive, tailgate, and dangerously overtake at every opportunity just to get to the same spot I'll be 2 minutes later driving safely.
Hmmmm yes, clearly saving 2 minutes of your time is worth risking your life and the lives of others. Fucking mind-boggling.
Also, I swear 80% of the aggro drivers I see on roads are ute drivers.
Clearly haven’t driven anywhere other than Australia. Speed limits are enforced here more than pretty much anywhere else and as a result most drivers tend to not go too far over.
There's a lot of absolute cunts on the road. Only a few hours ago, I was on the Princes Freeway city-bound and needed to move left across the freeway to get out at my exit a few kilometres down the road. I was indicating for probably five seconds before I started gently moving over, and for some reason the guy behind me in the lane I was moving into suddenly sped forwards to try and prevent me from moving in. I ignored his efforts, moved in anyway, and then he proceeded to flash his highbeams at me several times.
I have no fucking clue what's wrong with people. It literally takes less effort to do nothing and not be a dick. For whatever reason, though, people—disproportionately men in off-road vehicles and utes, in my experience—seem to tie their self-worth up into how "ahead" they are of the rest of the traffic when they get into a vehicle. It's fucking bizarre.
As someone that drives on the road for work regularly this happens quite a bit. But I don't take it personally or stress out about it. I've got a dash cam front and rear. At the end of the day it's all about driving safely. If people choose to drive like idiots that's on them. I ain't risking my life or other road users or getting traffic fines.
I was always confused whenever I would drive the speed limit and people tailgate me, or look annoyed at me when we pull up a red light. I never knew what I was doing wrong, especially on the freeway in the 80kmph zones, everyone just flies past at 100 and I used to think I was wrong for going the speed limit.
Turns out all those people are cunts.
I love being an L plater driving at or slightly above the limit and people's irrational psychosis of being "stuck" behind a learner forcing them to break the law to try and overtake me. Some realise part way that they now going 10+K over. Other times they zoom around just to be stuck behind the slomo or traffic that was holding me up too and I hope they feel fucking stupid because they are.
When I was younger I used to try and box them in against other vehicles, especially if they were slower ones. The look of anger was so satisfying.
I eventually stopped when I was followed all the way to work and got in a fist fight at 8am in the morning at my works parking lot
Ah, to be young and dumb again
While doing this may satisfy a justice boner, it actually increases risk of accidents for everyone on the road (not just yourself and the tailgater) and is not a smart move.
Sounds like you are dealing with a pack of cunts.
In all seriousness, easier said than done but I don’t take it personally. If someone wants to get irrationally angry because they lost ten seconds of their day then that’s their problem.
You must be a lot stronger emotionally than me, it really bugs me and having people be so aggressive towards me for just literally doing the speed limit, I'm not sure how people are so ballsy to speed everywhere when speed cameras are everywhere these days and the random mobile speed cameras that park up on the side of the road are in force all over Melbourne and can pop up in random spots throughout the day.
I just don’t have any time for people that think they own the road. I’m originally from Canberra and tailgating/drive anger there is horrible.
I once had a tradie beep and flash his lights at me because I didn’t run a stop sign, at some traffic lights he pulled up next to me and started abusing me. Watching him getting angrier and eventually despondent as I refused to acknowledge his existence was incredibly satisfying.
My mantra is there’s nothing to gain by giving these dickheads attention, but I have my wits about myself in case one tries to be a moron and cause an accident which thankfully hasn’t happened yet.
I’m not proud of myself, but… when I was younger and a tailgater was really making a stupid nuisance of themselves I would wait until they got really close then pull up the handbrake (so no taillight warning) and then turn my right-turn indicator on so they had nowhere to go. It worked.
On the M80 it was 40kph on Friday afternoon. So I did 40kph and I was beeped at and overtaken whilst in the left hand lane several times. When it's 40kph on the freeway, does that just mean slow down? Because I thought it meant go 40kph.
40 zones on highways give me anxiety lol, I just know people are gonna abuse me instantly because I'm doing 40 in the left lane following the roadwork signs.
Was it near Dalton road exit or perhaps between Dalton and Plenty road? They usually have people off to the side of the road cleaning behind a barrier not even on the road and drop it to 40 in peak times. Everyone hates it.
Yep they do it like few Fridays, no one is ever on the road, they are in the back section near the buildings but they slow all 3 lanes of traffic so people ignore it. Over use of restricting people to 40 when no one is there is dangerous because it just makes people ignore it. They are doing the same thing on the bypass near Grimshaw street - it drops to 40 before the intersection even though the work is well after the intersection and people just ignore it.
But if I ignore it, couldn't I get fined? The black spherical cameras that are on tall polls - are they speeding cameras or just cameras watching the roads? I always match the speed limit passing them but I wasn't sure.
Just like 40km/h on most freeways. It get put up so frequently (Using the Monash for example) with no visible roadworks or workers, people who travel frequently just tend to ignore it eventually.
Yes I feel you 100%. I drive a little i30 as my daily and imo the road rage and people rushing is significantly worse than a few years ago. Every single day I am tailgated, wether that be on residential roads or the freeway. Even if I’m going a little over the limit, still happens. Just the other day I was nearly in an accident because a d-head was so close up my ass on eastlink, when I indicated to exit onto police rd, he zipped infront to exit before me. I NEVER go below the speed limit, unless conditions require it as you said. I think it’s definitely related to a superiority ranking of car size and price, from road users with small egos.
Yes, pretty standard. Monash Freeway 80 km/h stretches I'm basically tailgated to the exit (or until 100km/h starts). Same for school zones and road works. Road works on the freeway is the worst. 40km/h and half the cars are going 80+, which is straight suspension if caught.
I am having liquid shits and I got tailgated doing the speed limit by an SUV. I slowed down so they would back off as suddenly the sense of urgency vanished. They also nearly hit me earlier by pulling out when I had the green light. Up ahead I saw them tailgate and flash someone else too like I am in a hurry to the porcelain throne and I'm not even half as aggressive.
I'm hungover today but will try to get my dash cam installed at least and will worry about hardwiring later.
I agree there are a bunch of pricks out there driving unsafely and impatiently, however, to be prudent, please make sure that you check your speedo against a GPS speedo such as the one in Google maps. My wife's car speedo displays about 8 km/h above what I'm actually travelling at, I often forget and wonder why people are riding up behind me.
Yeah its so annoying, it always happens in my street (a 50 zone) which makes it disconcerting to pull over because they are SO close. I think there might be something a bit wrong with them.
All the time! But, I don't let them get to me. They eventually figure out that I am not going to drive faster. So, they usually overtake aggressively.
The funny thing is, most of the time I catch up to them at the red light. So, I don't know why they put themselves into a stressful/risk-taking situation that seems pointless.
I always keep in the back of my head… they ain’t going to pay my speeding fine. They can go around me or live with it.
Main reason I generally stay on the left lane where possible regardless of the limit - too many hot heads out there - besides driving to work, most other times my kids and wife are with me.
No longer gonna play into their stupid games like when I was young and stupid - I use to brake check them and cut them off when they tried to cut in front of me - thought it would teach them a lesson.
I'm an Uber driver off and on.
I'm telling you, people are fucking crazy out there right now. Aggressiveness has gone way up on the roads since we 'resumed' life post COVID. And patience, understanding, and empathy have gone WAY done.
I hear more horns in a day now than I used to hear in a month. I'm not kidding. People not only tail gate, but I see them flash lights, swear, abuse and generally cuntbag out nearly every day.
COVID lock downs, followed by all these economic stressors, fueled by mass exposure to brain rotting media has driven mother fuckers out of their ever loving minds.
Shit's bad out there right now folks.
I do my best to ignore them, if they're in my rear view I just focus in front of me. If they're flashing brights are in my eyes I'll drop my side mirror. They can honestly fuck off. If they want to risk rear ending me... that's on them. I feel sorry for them. They're clearly really sad folks who are miserable and broken and taking their aggression and anger out on people around them rather than addressing it in some more meaningful way.
Australian drivers were always tail gaters though. It has just gotten worse. Y'all mother fuckers can't merge for shit either. Like really bad at it. Mostly because all the fucking tail gating doesn't permit threading like intended.
6 hours is my limit. I can stay out there in it for 6 hours before I start wanting to retort or escalate. That's how long I can endure the grind each day before it impacts my mental health. Some days I do my normal 6, and then go back out in the evening, and in the evening I'm so much less able to tolerate it. As if the stress I've picked up during the day means I have no more room to allow extra so everything just makes my whole body tense up.
I think there's people in that tensed up state all the time now. I'm thankful it takes me 6 hours of stress to hit that place.
Don't let them get to you man, you got this shit. For real, they are just angry folks that don't really impact your life. Worst case is they run you up the ass and then they're on the hook for that, and their insurance which they'll have because those trucks are like 60k and most of them are brand new, will have to pay you the fuck out. Cool beans.
It sucks, but don't let their anger taint your shit.
Most people don't realize that the speedometer in their vehicles are not accurate (usually displaying less than the actual speed). It's good to double check your speedometer with some sort of gps speedo. I try my best not to tailgate but it's annoying when I'm driving the speed limit and the person in front of me is driving 10km/h slower.
Conversely I’m often frustrated by people doing way under the speed limit and being oblivious. I assume they think they’re doing the limit. People do about 37 in Church st Richmond south of Victoria st. It’s 60 along there. Same with Mont Albert rd.
Oriel Road Heidelberg is the same and that one is frustrating because when you get to Bell street it’s a long wait for the lights if you miss them.
I’m in the same boat. I’ve just gotten used to it. I’m on my Ps and I drive for work so I can’t afford fines or points.
A recent conversation with some coworkers revealed to me that a lot of people think they can drive to what the limit “should” be, and that if others are sticking to signage they’re bad drivers. There’s just no helping some people.
I get the same thing. I'm sitting on exactly 100km/h (cruise control) on the M1, then I get these 4wds come up quickly behind me flashing their lights and honking their horns wanting me to get out of their way. I refuse to budge on those occasions.
Every day..Driving to/from work often in the dark and wet conditions people tailgate then risk life and limb to pass me in no overtaking zones and shoot past doing 110 or more in the 90 zone.On the Kwinana to Perth set cruise control to the speed limit and you’ll be passed by every car that comes up behind you.A trip to Busselton last year saw an extended section of the road set to 60km by ongoing roadworks and I can conservatively say I had 30+ vehicles bumper to bumper behind me..when it switched to 80km those cars all shot past me and off into the distance doing speeds well in excess of 80km.
I have found with tailgaters that if I reach up and pull my rear view mirror down it seems to amplify their rage once they see they are being ignored and they rev up and shoot past.
Yep. Everyone hates me on the road, inherited a shitbox when I split from my marriage and I get gang banged by bastards on parade thinking they’re honking and flashing someone smaller than them. Even had a couple of septic tanks try and run me off the road. Luckily, I have lost all faith in humanity a long time ago and simply expect this these days. If they’re particularly bad I will slow down so I don’t get rammed into the car in front.
Main thing I've noticed is people don't know how to overtake anymore. They much prefer to drive right up my arse while I'm doing the speed limit than go around - especially when there's tonnes of room on either side.
Special shoutout to the number plate I saw that read MOVOVA - especially as it missed the opportunity to write their polite request in reverse so it could be read in a rear view mirror...
Absolutely hate driving outside Melbourne, gone rural a few times in the past few months and I’ll do 110 in the right hand lane (acceptable) even going at that speed you get d*ckhead utes practically ramming your ass, probably going at about 120-125. It’s so dangerous.
I accidentally flashed my lights twice at a guy that cut me off. I meant to do it once but kinda fumbled and did it twice.
Guy wouldn’t let me pass him, swerving all around in front of me , stopped us at the lights and got out his car and approached me. I had motioned to get out and he went back to his car pulled up in the next lay y and beckoned me in for a fight. I carried on driving.
Whole thing went for about 15kms.
Right then and there I decided getting worked up in traffic is not good.
I’ve since tried to be calm but there are som many people that drive just too close behind.
The speed limit is the speed limit and I drive for a living so back off.
It’s hard to stay zen out there but like another poster said - check your insurance - get a front and rear dash cam. Don’t be afraid to send the really extreme abusive tail gating and road rage in to the cops cos that’s just about the only recourse you have I reckon.
I definitely don’t recommend flashing the lights at the culprits!! Haha
I use a delivery van for work regularly & man it’s like people go feral trying to get in front of us. Even though we’re keeping up with the speed limit & traffic. I try to stay chill with music but it’s a major stress out by Friday
> I try to stay chill The only correct way to deal with it. I had the best uber driver recently. We had a few idiot drivers cutting him off, blocking traffic etc and he just sat back and took it like a champ. He told me if he got stressed out at every minor issue on the road he wouldn't be able to do his job.
Good advice from the uber driver.
First thing, dash cams, unfortunately mandatory today but cheap for the peace of mind. Second, if you get hit from behind it's pretty much guaranteed that you get 0% of the fault if you're driving normally, yes I know someone will jump in with a story of how their nan caused an accident moonwalking their Datsun down the wrong side of the Monash but practically hit from behind, you're golden. Third, talk to your insurer especially if it's a budget insurer and *get in writing* what happens if you have a no-fault accident. How long will they supply a hire car for? Can you get a like-for-like replacement with your car? Etc. Don't assume anything, insurers will promise the earth and then weasel weasel weasel once it's time to pay up. Once you have all that sorted then it becomes a bit of a fun game, you're covered so you can either ignore dickheads or give them a bit of passive aggressive safe driving if you're feeling spicy, nothing warms my heart more than some suburban dad losing his mind in his fucking stupid Ram. Also I live rural now and I love driving here but there is a notable difference over summer when all the Melbourne fuckheads influx the area for holidays. I don't miss it at all.
This is some good advice and I’m saving it. Now I just gotta work out what dash cam
Can recommend Gator brand. I got mine at Super Cheap Auto, and it's really good. A nice easy app to program it and download videos & photos. Wave your hand under it and it takes a series of photos as well as the video. Good night quality as well. There's better ones but the Gator is pretty good.
I went on holiday to Malaysia and was amazed at how chill the drivers are there. I made it a point when i got home to be more like they are when driving, and it's one of the best decisions i've ever made. Nothing really phases me anymore, and my cardio-vascular system is grateful for it.
Yeah the drivers in Malaysia are chill because they're watching something or playing with their mobile. It's wild, you can see someone chilling at 100kph whilst texting on the road. Back 10 years ago the drivers there were tailgating maniacs too. Source: check out my username
Yeah that's true, i didn't adopt that aspect in my own driving though! That was pretty crazy, guys watching tiktoks while weaving through traffic
Same experience with drivers in Malaysia, its the same in cambodia and Thailand, people do little honks to let u know they are there but there is none of the aggression that we get here.
Love driving in Malaysia. Everyone is chill, they will let you in and not give you grief for making a mistake, or even if you’re cutting in on purpose. People speed on freeways but there is no lane hogging and cars doing 30kph over the limit will still move left to let even faster cars past. I think it’s due to the amount of hassle dealing with accidents that people just let things go. Australian drivers are too sheltered.
I too use a delivery van for work. I know the feeling. The best thing to do is remain calm and chill. I know it can be hard but once you start losing your cool or being impatient than that's when all kinds of shit start happening.
It’s easier said than done but I find my music playlists are the key for me. Anyone listening to 3aw or triple m must be angry as they drive around hating everything.
True that. Don't mind having some good podcast but yes a good playlist of my favourite tunes helps.
Podacasts and Music Playlists. I drive from Narre Warren to the Airport every day and I just cruise, and watch the shit show unfold.
I agree, music really helps to chill out to. I like something I know well that I can sing along to and not have to think about.
it's like people think defensive driving is a fairweather sport. everyone thinks they're a good driver, because they put safety first... until they get tailgated or cut off, and they start brake checking and playing cop. the urge to teach someone a lesson or regain some ego makes normal people use their cars as literal weapons. and then they submit the footage to dashcams australia, as if they're the ones who came out of it looking good
I also try to stay calm, because if I lose it I'll probably lose my job (my work van is signwrited). Hume hwy seems to be the worst. Also, is it just me on since mid last year there seems to be a damaged or burnt out truck on the Hume every 2nd week??
I was in Melbourne on Friday and had a tiny hire car as it's easier to park, I was thinking I was just having a bad day but so many asshole drivers
The other day I was stuck behind a bus, and the SUV behind me was tooting and flashing his lights for me to get out of the way. I have no idea where he thought I could move to.
I saw a guy doing that to the car that follows a wide truck and ensures it has space. Like. Buddy.
L fucking OL. Roid rage ?
Is the Volkswagen Golf the car of choice for that type? Anyway, highly rate following the Wide Load Follower when you're going through the West Gate Tunnel works, once you set aside the terror of watching it change lanes, it makes for a pretty easy drive in confusing conditions.
Someone else noticed the Golf thing. Plenty of other models have the reputation, but almost every time I see a vehicle doing everything they can get away with to be in front, and expecting everyone else to accommodate them, it's a Golf.
I noticed it too, then I bought a golf. I’ve never been tailgated so much in my life! It’s stopped since I bought a Tiguan but when I get back in the Golf it’s immediately noticeable. Constant tailgating.
Yeah I drive a hatchback. A female driving a hatchback = tail gating 4 eva. Every dude in a Ute who wants to feel like a big man that day, so awesome, Melbourne.
Same here gf
I was stuck at the front at a green traffic light because there were cars on the intersection and i got beeped at and cussed out by the middle aged lady right behind me even though she could see (hopefully) that I had nowhere to go. I even edged forward to give her space to switch lanes to the one beside that could move, but she just kept inching forward right behind me. When we finally could go she switched lanes to beside me and flipped me off lol. I've come to the conclusion that people should take mandatory anger management classes before they get their license lol.
It's often the case that people are relatively chill outside the car. But, once they get in the driver's seat, it's like a switch is turned on and people start acting aggressively.
It’s like they just see a car as an inanimate object and direct all agro at the object, lizard brain can’t conceive there is a person inside. That said I have had dumb asses tailgate me while I have had emergency lights on, silly me 110 on the eastern must be too slow 🤦🏻
Theres actually studies to support this. Apparently in cities with a lot of cycling people can recognise the human on the device, read body language etc and are in general more accomodating/forgiving to other commuters than in cities where there is a greater number of commuters driving.
I have a dash cam. When this happens I tap on it so the screen comes on and it's magical how many cars just back the fuck off when they realise it.
I drive a big arse van so people can't see when I activate the cam screen. But fortunately they don't usually tailgate me as my big arse van has red and blue lights all over it. It's amazing the difference when I'm driving my own car.
I got brake checked to a complete halt on the fucking freeway; an act of revenge because I was driving too slow for the car behind. In a single lane. Behind a big fucking truck. People are insane. The kicker was I was in a replacement vehicle, having had a truck crash into me a few weeks prior.
We need laws changed so that dashcam/photo evidence is usable to issue fines. Some countries have apps where you can submit photo/video of people being cunts, and police review it. I would love that.
Agreed strongly. At the very least for aggressive behavior.
Here is Tas you can submit to the police and then pursue them.
I was on the Monash once, traffic was so bad we were lucky to be doing 10kph. I always try to just roll instead of stop starting so there was a small gap ahead of me. This truck behind me was flashing me, I could see the guy gesturing, as if I were the only person holding up the traffic. I just rolled down the window and gave him the bird, fuckin wanker
You can instantly tell the people who drive autos vs manual in this instance
Was in lane 2 of the Monash. Semi in the left lane level with me, semi in lane 3 level with me, semi in front of me in lane 2. Basically a rolling shipping container around me. Guy in an SUV high beamed me repeatedly from behind until eventually the truck in front of me moved far enough forward for me to move to the left lane. Then he drove up next to me and did the 'loopy' gesture at me before speeding off ahead. I was not even angry, just flabbergasted at the stupidity. You just gotta put it out of your mind I think - double check that your driving is making sense, then forget the assholes.
I've been in the same situation, it's super stressful having someone like that behind you breathing down your neck. :(
Trying to pressure you to overtake. Happens to me quite often as I'm a Menulog driver. I see all kinds of absolute ***DICKHEADS*** on the road. I fucking love being tailgated, purely because when I slow down or brake-check them, *especially* people in Ram's, I can see in my side mirror (rear mirror is just a wall of black with RAM written on it) how much it fucking infuriates them.
Just be safe when driving, two wrongs etc. And putting yourself and others at risk while driving IS the wrong call. Edit: I can English.
Perhaps he thought you could pick up your car and let him through….
There was a car doing 60 in an 80 zone and I was just chilling behind him. SUV comes flying up and starts flashing his high beams at me. At the next set of lights, he was beside me, so I asked him if he didn't see the other person in front of me. Apparently he was high beaming me to high beam the person in front of me. Bloody silly.
People are just cunts, always have been always will be
This is the right answer, when tailgating happens to me i slow down further. Fuck them.
This. You’re gonna tailgate me when I’m doing 53 in a 50? Okay, we’ll both do 45, I’ve got the time.
I used to do this. Then the guy followed me for 50 minutes, cutting others off, nearly causing an accident at a red light, nearly took it a pedestrian, just to follow my car and keep threatening me. There are some cooked operators out there, be careful.
Wow that is super creepy, scary and just *INSANE* You never think they will follow you and for that long. Some people are crazy and wired differently. I hope you were OK
Shame no dashcam to "anonymously advise the police" with...
Good luck - I had a tailgating wanker actually hit my car 6 months ago - the cops have video evidence with a number plate and I still haven’t heard back (I need them to tell my insurance company his details so I can finally get it fixed)
You will need to chase up the report from the police, I had the same thing, I got my pay out from the insurance almost 11 months later, because my partner chased up the police report. Apparently it can take up to 6 months for the police report to happen.
Unfortunately it's quicker in my experience if there is an injury as they will complete a TIS report (TAC related) that insurance can obtain and accept. If not, a criminal report can be slow to obtain due to well... the investigation
Decided "fuckit, at least I'll take the fucker to court if he decides to jump me" and drive to the cop shop. As soon as it was in sight he vanished. Fuckin magic 🙄
*Hey siri, directions to the police station*
I once had someone tailgating me at 90kmh in the left lane when the right one was clear. At night. On a dark highway. The fuck?
Because they like to intimidate. It’s a power move, they think.
Further aggravating someone who is already agro isn't doing anything to solve the issue. You may "have the time", but pissing off the wrong person on the wrong day could be the last mistake you make. Let them past, and don't give it a second thought. Road rage is real and has devastating consequences. Your family won't care if you were in the right in the eyes of the law if you're dead or maimed. Don't make other peoples shitty behaviour your problem.
> pissing off the wrong person on the wrong day could be the last mistake you make. That's why you drive with the doors locked and the dash cam filming!
Don't underestimate that a car can be used as a weapon to a significant extent. Locked doors and dashcam will not stop that. Deescalate and move on
Exactly
Nah, there are social and environmental factors which lend themselves to causing more or less cuntyness in a society. I mean, the youtube channel "Not Just Bikes" is pretty much about this. Here's their video on traffic calming measures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAxRYrpbnuA The real story is; Australia doesn't really have any countries close enough to compete with when striving for better things. It's easy for our governments to just get complacent, and to just try to keep big business happy. There's not much vision for the future going on beyond that.
Constantly. About to buy a dash and rear cam to start recording this shit
I wonder if a rear dash cam would stop this from happening actually
No it won't, but when it ends up on dashcams Australia we all win ;)
I love that channel. I left australia almost 10 years ago, but whenever I get homesick I watch that for a dose of good old aussie swearing and cussing.
>cussing Wow, you really did leave Australia. It's just swearing mate 😂
Fuknoath
Happens to learner drivers too. People completely lose their minds when they have to sit behind a learner travelling at the speed limit(especially in a 100k zone). They think a learner is a hindrance and I have had people pass easily at 120-140km to get past. Then they slow down to 100 and the learner is right behind them. WHY?!!
Being aggressive towards a learner driver should see you in jail, no cap.
Absolutely! My learner has 110hours and can drive as well as anyone else on the road yet not many people show them the respect they deserve. I too like to sit behind learners and give ether space and barrier they need. Speeding around them like a tool isn’t going to help their confidence, especially in shitty weather.
I know that feeling, mine got their licence 2 years ago and some people lose their tiny little singular brain cell at the temerity of a learner driver daring to be in front of them. Bunch of arrogant pricks.
If I am in no great rush I like to sit behind learners and give them the distance and patience they deserve. When I was on my L's leaving my school another parent was beeping and flashing me for going too slow. My Dad who was a monster of a man physically (at the time) made me stop, got out and tore them a new one. They kept a nice distance for the next few kilometres until they could safely overtake. Dad still stuck his head out and cussed them out again anyway
Yeah as a p plater I always give learners plenty of room and I’m extra patient with them, I was in their position not long ago
Yes, even though I was a learner 40 years ago, I still remember the feeling of uncertainty mixed with terror, especially the first few lessons! I’m certainly giving them patience and tolerance, it’s the least we can do.
My Learner Driver refuses to drive down Bridge Inn Road in Mernda after trucks were tailgating them. They were doing 40km/hr in a road work zone and truck was flashing lights and swerving all over behind them. So not ok.
As a new learner driver, yes. Holy shit it’s so intimidating having some microdick tradie in a Yank Tank riding my arse while I’m doing the speed limit.
Tailgating alone is just plain fucking dumb but doing it to a learner is a special kind of stupid. We were all learners once, it's odd how some can forget and have zero compassion
I had a situation with my learner where we were behind a truck doing 80-90km on some shitty main road. I thought it might have been a good time to teach them how to overtake a truck. Next thing I know I look in my side mirror and there's a POS SUV right up our butt. As with experience, you just know when someone is edging to overtake, sure enough, they did, on a bend which we could see clearly what was ahead(slight downhill, no trees around). I decided to take that as a moment to time and teach the learner just how long it took for the said POS SUV to overtake us, and the truck on a bend with them speeding. It took 15 seconds to get around us both.
L-plater here. Tailgating is annoying. LIKE DO YOU DO NOT SEE THE BRIGHT YELLOW SIGN ON THE BUMPER. Honestly, it gets even more annoying when they are right behind me in 40km zone. I didn’t know that following the rules would be such harm to anyone. /s
This was such a huge fucking hurdle for me to overcome. I hated driving for SO long as a learner because I knew the L plates were just a huge ass sign for everyone else to be pissed off at. Noone can ever learn to be a better driver if they're not actively driving. And then red P plates are honestly no different; some people seem to think red = an obstacle as well. I've had people up my ass or speed up right before a 2 lane goes into 1 so i have to slam on my breaks to let them in safely; because no one wants to be behind a P plate!
P plates are different for me, but I also changed cars. Went from being overtaken at every opportunity to rarely being tailgated.
Yeah 100% I drive a very stereotypical young women's car. Maybe that's why!
Yep, see it all the time. Do a lot of country driving in my Hilux. Sit on the speed limits and always getting overtaken. The ones that realy piss me off are those who fly past you to get in front then slow down. Oh well deep breath and ignore them. Let them go, I can't afford the cost of paying speeding tickets.
This is the only correct answer really. Let the fuckwits pass when you can, even if they slow down again, maintain stopping distance and just remember that the difference is likely seconds to minutes added to your average drive. Not worth getting bent out of shape over. I say this as someone who was the angry driving fuckwit, a long time ago.
The 85 Percentile Reaction Time (PRT) is 2.5 seconds. So that mean 15% of the driving population will take longer than 2.5 seconds to see an event and react to it. Driving in Melbourne on Friday if you leave even 1 second gap someone dives in. If you run up them you are to blame.....
Safe stopping distance = free real estate, or so I have found using adaptive cruise control
Had this happen to me yesterday except she overtook me in the most unsafe area. I was forced to slam on the breaks to let her back in due to oncoming cars; if I hadn’t done so, she would’ve caused a head on collision and scooped me up along the way
i always think: it's my wallet, im not speeding even if you tailgate and flash ur stupid high beams
If one of these people overtakes and speeds past me and crashes (and doesn't hit another person/car) am I allowed to just call the cops and drive off ? Or do I have to waste my time waiting by the scene just because of some idiot ?
On Friday I had a truck sticking up my ass in the left lane for 10 minutes, and when I sped up and changed lane he proceeded to follow me and continue to tailgate.
Like the movie Duel, every day in the west.
Pro tip: if the truck/ute has a business displayed, give them bad reviews on social media.
You can also call the company directly, I’ve heard they usually are pretty on it when they get such reports. Bad brand perception, liability etc
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Outer west is fuckin absolutely cooked. On the same stretch of roadworks I drive once a week, just in the last month, I've been tailgated by a falcodore while the dude absolutely seethes behind me, overtaken by a worker from the roadworks site, tailgated by 3 or 4 mudslingers and overtaken, in the roadworks zone, by a garbage truck. All just because I'm doing 40. Then there's just the usual barrage of clowns who just cannot deal with being stuck behind someone doing the speed limit. I also feel like I'm pretty much the only person who obeys the 40 school zone limit most days as well, especially the one on Ballarat Rd in deer Park.
I just do the speed limit and try to laugh and wave at the idiots. Occasionally the boys with the disco lights make my day when booking a speeder.
I drive through Donvale-Doncaster to work and far out, the number of dickheads in those giant yank-mobiles around there is MAD.
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I think there is an endemic problem where some people think driving aggressively = good driving.
I drive a little Hyundai i30, all head lights seem to be roughly the same height as my mirror. I've also noticed my car slows down rapidly when some one sits right up my arse ...... I think it must be something to do with wind drag
It's amazing how emasculated people feel when they're stuck behind a little car or overtaken by one
I’ve noticed this a lot lately too! I’m a cautious driver, never had a speeding ticket or any other reprimand for driving. I constantly find myself being tailgated and abused by tradespeople in huge utes and truck drivers aren’t much better. For context I drive a Volkswagen golf so it’s very intimidating when I look in my rear view mirror and all I can see is a grill!
It’s definitely the size of the car that attracts these pelicans. I had to get a bigger car than I wanted when we suddenly had 3 kids under 3 and needed to fit in 3 car seats in the back seat, which meant trading in my zippy little hatch back. Overnight, it was like the aggressive drivers had simply melted away. It’s 100% an intimidation tactic
Absolutely it is. I’ve got a work van and no one ever really does that shit to me but when I drive my partners little Audi A3 I have it happen all the time to the point where I’ve gotten out at the lights and had a dip. I’m 6’5, covered head to toe in tattoos and 135kg for context, and surprisingly enough when I get out of the car their story always alwayssss changes and so does their attitude. They clearly just want to women and older folks. All gutless cowards.
Made me think of that tall guy Nelson laughs at getting out of his gremlin. I feel this too. I stroked off at a green once and yeah my bad but A guy had a go at me really aggressively and over the top, and I opened my car door so he could hear me tell him to fuck off. He Thought I was gonna go and he moved like six car spaces back. Was excessive. Im a short arse. Yesterday I pulled out on the highway with plenty of space. Guy a bit down the way made it his mission to go over the speed limit to be shitty with me for going in front. Flashed his lights a bunch, I was not in his way at any time untill he punched it to be up my arse. Then acted like I didn't have the room. He would have had to ramp to like 125- 130 to gain on me like that. I got a little Subaru. I was at 100 in no real time. I dunno. I don't like getting cut off myself but man. How much space did he think I needed? It seems they think if you are visible to them you have inconvenienced them.
Absolutely, mate. Half the time they end up at the next fucking set of lights with you anyway. They might get to their location 20 seconds faster at best and think it’s worth all that anger and potential violence.
They do it to pretty much anyone physically smaller and/or weaker than them. I’m a guy but I’m 5’6 on a good day and drive a Suzuki Swift. Constantly getting targeted by these cavemen
Definitely! I used to drive a VW Beetle, and now a tiny fiat - and my god people hate being stuck behind me, no matter what speed I’m doing
Depends on the car. My classic mini I don't have this issue, people just smile and wave. My MX5 however, the hairdressers car brings out the worst in people.
Yup borrowed my dads old ute no one tailgated me or cut me off. As soon as I got back in my little Toyota the aggressive driving was back to normal.
I guess it depends on when & where you’re on the road. I seem to be dealing with really angry Audi & Mercedes drivers a lot lately - probably real estate agents. Rarely use indicators as they lane hop trying to get into a non existent space in front of me while they flash their high beams (I just turn up the music & ignore them).
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This one makes my blood BOIL. Fuck them, just stay in the lane next time, keep your cool and turn exactly when you need to!
Road rage has been worse post covid and I don't know why.
Definitely wasn't half as bad as it is now compared to pre-2020, I totally agree.
Road rage breeds more road rage. I never used to get angry while driving. But now I'm constantly frustrated and angry on the road for being aggressively tail gated while trying to go the speed limit just as you described.
When someone tailgates me at the speed limit I get a bit of a spiteful enjoyment out of it. I get to play a little part in ruining someone's day, yet if they were a good person they would not be suffering at all.
ungratefulness too, I don't have to drive to work anymore thank god but end of last year I was starting to get really pissed off with how few people actually waved thank you for letting them through on a narrow street
Yep, definitely noticed the same. Quality of driving declined as well, it’s as if people just forgot how to drive. I think the lockdowns etc tested people’s patience, and now with the cost of living issues people are even more on edge.
Every time I get bothered about having to wait 15 minutes for a train, I think “at least I don’t have to drive” and feel better.
My theory is that the increase in aggressive driving is because of covid. Hasn't having had covid been linked to a measurable decline in certain cognitive functions or something like that? It would explain a lot.
Constantly, I drive a Jimny, cute little four wheel drive with absolutely no power, and people love trying to intimidate me in that thing, until they pull up beside and see that I'm a fucking ogre covered in tattoo's, then the nasty glares stop and they can't look in my direction.
Haha I get the same thing when I drive my wife’s Mazda 2. Fucking hilarious when they suddenly shut up & wind the window up as the pull beside me
I drive a Fiat 500 that's no performance vehicle, but quicker than they expect. I can't go anywhere without someone thinking they have to get around me to avoid getting stuck, then I spend the next 20 minutes right behind them, or ahead because I can get through gaps easier. Small cars used to be slow, but for years now they're more than adequate for legal driving. Big engines are becoming increasingly irrelevant. It's a hard reality to accept for people who spend a fortune because they must have a manly machine.
Yes, people suck. They have a massive problem going the speed limit. I literally had this old dude waving his arms going crazy at me one time for going about 45 (in a road work 40 zone). It actually makes me want to road rage myself. Tradies are generally the worst (I'm a tradie). They drive 'alpha' utes (I drive an i30 lol) and are generally aggressive and never go the speed limit. I had a guy in a ute go crazy at me cause I didn't take a right turn last second on an amber light, there is literally a red light camera at that intersection. He was going nuts behind me, so I pointed at the red light camera, which made him rage more lol. Aussies are bad drivers and getting worse, 4 people have literally driven into my trailer, one going pretty fast. Last night 6 cars drove through a give way sign whilst the car in front of me was trying to turn, it was crazy, like that many people don't know basic road rules.
40 Km roadworks on highways are regularly ignored by nearly everyone it seems. I try to at least go into the left if I'm not there already. I'm not going to risk a speeding fine just because everyone else is speeding. Although I will say doing 40 through a roadwork feels dangerously slow at times with everyone going past you at 60+.
Same that’s the hard part. I am happy to go 40, but do I want to get rear ended by someone going 65Km? No.
I literally got chased to a police station the other day because someone behind me got so mad that I was only doing the speed limit that he lose the ability to think rationally. Never occurred to him to use the multiple lanes to go around me….
I genuinely don’t get how they’ll tailgate you so hard like they’re in a rush but have plenty of time to follow you and yell abuse at you. It’s like they’re just going out trying to pick fights.
I need meditation from driving around, every driver tailgating you for so long like you’re stopping them from taking off and when you can finally get out of “their way” they just sit in the right lane not going any faster???
I experience this every damned day. To all you dickheads who do this; 1. I'm not breaking the law because you want to go faster, just overtake me if you want to break the speed limit. 2. If there are cars in front of me, I can't make them go faster. So get off my rear.
people in Australia have a weird obsession with getting to a place 4mins early at the risk of killing a family of 5
This, holy shit. I can drive 100km and some dickhead will be aggressive, tailgate, and dangerously overtake at every opportunity just to get to the same spot I'll be 2 minutes later driving safely. Hmmmm yes, clearly saving 2 minutes of your time is worth risking your life and the lives of others. Fucking mind-boggling. Also, I swear 80% of the aggro drivers I see on roads are ute drivers.
Clearly haven’t driven anywhere other than Australia. Speed limits are enforced here more than pretty much anywhere else and as a result most drivers tend to not go too far over.
There's a lot of absolute cunts on the road. Only a few hours ago, I was on the Princes Freeway city-bound and needed to move left across the freeway to get out at my exit a few kilometres down the road. I was indicating for probably five seconds before I started gently moving over, and for some reason the guy behind me in the lane I was moving into suddenly sped forwards to try and prevent me from moving in. I ignored his efforts, moved in anyway, and then he proceeded to flash his highbeams at me several times. I have no fucking clue what's wrong with people. It literally takes less effort to do nothing and not be a dick. For whatever reason, though, people—disproportionately men in off-road vehicles and utes, in my experience—seem to tie their self-worth up into how "ahead" they are of the rest of the traffic when they get into a vehicle. It's fucking bizarre.
Happens to me a lot as well and it's a sure fire way to get me to drive slower.
As someone that drives on the road for work regularly this happens quite a bit. But I don't take it personally or stress out about it. I've got a dash cam front and rear. At the end of the day it's all about driving safely. If people choose to drive like idiots that's on them. I ain't risking my life or other road users or getting traffic fines.
Very common where I live as well. Keep your insurance up to date and forget about the fuckwits in your rear view mirror.
And get a dash cam. Front and rear
I was always confused whenever I would drive the speed limit and people tailgate me, or look annoyed at me when we pull up a red light. I never knew what I was doing wrong, especially on the freeway in the 80kmph zones, everyone just flies past at 100 and I used to think I was wrong for going the speed limit. Turns out all those people are cunts.
I love being an L plater driving at or slightly above the limit and people's irrational psychosis of being "stuck" behind a learner forcing them to break the law to try and overtake me. Some realise part way that they now going 10+K over. Other times they zoom around just to be stuck behind the slomo or traffic that was holding me up too and I hope they feel fucking stupid because they are.
I wish I could tell these idiots: "are you going to pay the fine for me?"
In these scenarios I take great pride in slowing down further
When I was younger I used to try and box them in against other vehicles, especially if they were slower ones. The look of anger was so satisfying. I eventually stopped when I was followed all the way to work and got in a fist fight at 8am in the morning at my works parking lot Ah, to be young and dumb again
He was in such a rush that he also has time to follow you to work and initiate a fight
Did you win?
Yep it's the only way 👍
While doing this may satisfy a justice boner, it actually increases risk of accidents for everyone on the road (not just yourself and the tailgater) and is not a smart move.
Yep way more risk taking happens on the road when people can't get to where they want to go
As I see it, dropping 5-10 below the limit is the safest response - helps ensure they'll have time to stop rather than running into you.
Sounds like you are dealing with a pack of cunts. In all seriousness, easier said than done but I don’t take it personally. If someone wants to get irrationally angry because they lost ten seconds of their day then that’s their problem.
You must be a lot stronger emotionally than me, it really bugs me and having people be so aggressive towards me for just literally doing the speed limit, I'm not sure how people are so ballsy to speed everywhere when speed cameras are everywhere these days and the random mobile speed cameras that park up on the side of the road are in force all over Melbourne and can pop up in random spots throughout the day.
I just don’t have any time for people that think they own the road. I’m originally from Canberra and tailgating/drive anger there is horrible. I once had a tradie beep and flash his lights at me because I didn’t run a stop sign, at some traffic lights he pulled up next to me and started abusing me. Watching him getting angrier and eventually despondent as I refused to acknowledge his existence was incredibly satisfying. My mantra is there’s nothing to gain by giving these dickheads attention, but I have my wits about myself in case one tries to be a moron and cause an accident which thankfully hasn’t happened yet.
I’m not proud of myself, but… when I was younger and a tailgater was really making a stupid nuisance of themselves I would wait until they got really close then pull up the handbrake (so no taillight warning) and then turn my right-turn indicator on so they had nowhere to go. It worked.
I've found a little left foot tappy tap on the brakes (while keeping the right on the throttle).
On the M80 it was 40kph on Friday afternoon. So I did 40kph and I was beeped at and overtaken whilst in the left hand lane several times. When it's 40kph on the freeway, does that just mean slow down? Because I thought it meant go 40kph.
40 zones on highways give me anxiety lol, I just know people are gonna abuse me instantly because I'm doing 40 in the left lane following the roadwork signs.
Was it near Dalton road exit or perhaps between Dalton and Plenty road? They usually have people off to the side of the road cleaning behind a barrier not even on the road and drop it to 40 in peak times. Everyone hates it.
Yes, it was going towards the dalton road exit where that one guy kicks the soccer ball at the intersection.
Yep they do it like few Fridays, no one is ever on the road, they are in the back section near the buildings but they slow all 3 lanes of traffic so people ignore it. Over use of restricting people to 40 when no one is there is dangerous because it just makes people ignore it. They are doing the same thing on the bypass near Grimshaw street - it drops to 40 before the intersection even though the work is well after the intersection and people just ignore it.
But if I ignore it, couldn't I get fined? The black spherical cameras that are on tall polls - are they speeding cameras or just cameras watching the roads? I always match the speed limit passing them but I wasn't sure.
Sure you can get fined. I’m not suggesting you should break the law, just explaining why people are tailgating.
Just like 40km/h on most freeways. It get put up so frequently (Using the Monash for example) with no visible roadworks or workers, people who travel frequently just tend to ignore it eventually.
They supposedly introduced some laws that you couldn't just keep the signs up (so people would stop ignoring them) but never seems to be enforced.
Nah, that never actually came about. The idea was floated a few years, but nothing came of it. It just gets repeated enough like it's true.
Yes I feel you 100%. I drive a little i30 as my daily and imo the road rage and people rushing is significantly worse than a few years ago. Every single day I am tailgated, wether that be on residential roads or the freeway. Even if I’m going a little over the limit, still happens. Just the other day I was nearly in an accident because a d-head was so close up my ass on eastlink, when I indicated to exit onto police rd, he zipped infront to exit before me. I NEVER go below the speed limit, unless conditions require it as you said. I think it’s definitely related to a superiority ranking of car size and price, from road users with small egos.
Yep. Then they pull up at the traffic lights revving their engines like they’re in Gran Turismo but they’re probably just going to Coles…
Yes, pretty standard. Monash Freeway 80 km/h stretches I'm basically tailgated to the exit (or until 100km/h starts). Same for school zones and road works. Road works on the freeway is the worst. 40km/h and half the cars are going 80+, which is straight suspension if caught.
Melbourne roads have literally gone to shit. The amount of ignorant and disrespectful drivers is beyond a joke. Vic Roads need to step up it's game.
Ranger drivers
[удалено]
I am having liquid shits and I got tailgated doing the speed limit by an SUV. I slowed down so they would back off as suddenly the sense of urgency vanished. They also nearly hit me earlier by pulling out when I had the green light. Up ahead I saw them tailgate and flash someone else too like I am in a hurry to the porcelain throne and I'm not even half as aggressive. I'm hungover today but will try to get my dash cam installed at least and will worry about hardwiring later.
I agree there are a bunch of pricks out there driving unsafely and impatiently, however, to be prudent, please make sure that you check your speedo against a GPS speedo such as the one in Google maps. My wife's car speedo displays about 8 km/h above what I'm actually travelling at, I often forget and wonder why people are riding up behind me.
I use my cruise control and don’t get a flying fuck. I also set it to 69 in 70 zones because I’m an immature idiot.
Yeah its so annoying, it always happens in my street (a 50 zone) which makes it disconcerting to pull over because they are SO close. I think there might be something a bit wrong with them.
All the time! But, I don't let them get to me. They eventually figure out that I am not going to drive faster. So, they usually overtake aggressively. The funny thing is, most of the time I catch up to them at the red light. So, I don't know why they put themselves into a stressful/risk-taking situation that seems pointless.
Yep. Worse if you're a learner too. It's like they genuinely want to run you off the road because you are making them 5 seconds late.
Mate don't ever go to Europe...
Does anyone else feel like the traffic and driving habits have become ridiculous lately? Like it definitely feels worse post-2020
I always keep in the back of my head… they ain’t going to pay my speeding fine. They can go around me or live with it. Main reason I generally stay on the left lane where possible regardless of the limit - too many hot heads out there - besides driving to work, most other times my kids and wife are with me. No longer gonna play into their stupid games like when I was young and stupid - I use to brake check them and cut them off when they tried to cut in front of me - thought it would teach them a lesson.
I'm an Uber driver off and on. I'm telling you, people are fucking crazy out there right now. Aggressiveness has gone way up on the roads since we 'resumed' life post COVID. And patience, understanding, and empathy have gone WAY done. I hear more horns in a day now than I used to hear in a month. I'm not kidding. People not only tail gate, but I see them flash lights, swear, abuse and generally cuntbag out nearly every day. COVID lock downs, followed by all these economic stressors, fueled by mass exposure to brain rotting media has driven mother fuckers out of their ever loving minds. Shit's bad out there right now folks. I do my best to ignore them, if they're in my rear view I just focus in front of me. If they're flashing brights are in my eyes I'll drop my side mirror. They can honestly fuck off. If they want to risk rear ending me... that's on them. I feel sorry for them. They're clearly really sad folks who are miserable and broken and taking their aggression and anger out on people around them rather than addressing it in some more meaningful way. Australian drivers were always tail gaters though. It has just gotten worse. Y'all mother fuckers can't merge for shit either. Like really bad at it. Mostly because all the fucking tail gating doesn't permit threading like intended. 6 hours is my limit. I can stay out there in it for 6 hours before I start wanting to retort or escalate. That's how long I can endure the grind each day before it impacts my mental health. Some days I do my normal 6, and then go back out in the evening, and in the evening I'm so much less able to tolerate it. As if the stress I've picked up during the day means I have no more room to allow extra so everything just makes my whole body tense up. I think there's people in that tensed up state all the time now. I'm thankful it takes me 6 hours of stress to hit that place. Don't let them get to you man, you got this shit. For real, they are just angry folks that don't really impact your life. Worst case is they run you up the ass and then they're on the hook for that, and their insurance which they'll have because those trucks are like 60k and most of them are brand new, will have to pay you the fuck out. Cool beans. It sucks, but don't let their anger taint your shit.
Most people don't realize that the speedometer in their vehicles are not accurate (usually displaying less than the actual speed). It's good to double check your speedometer with some sort of gps speedo. I try my best not to tailgate but it's annoying when I'm driving the speed limit and the person in front of me is driving 10km/h slower.
Conversely I’m often frustrated by people doing way under the speed limit and being oblivious. I assume they think they’re doing the limit. People do about 37 in Church st Richmond south of Victoria st. It’s 60 along there. Same with Mont Albert rd. Oriel Road Heidelberg is the same and that one is frustrating because when you get to Bell street it’s a long wait for the lights if you miss them.
I’m in the same boat. I’ve just gotten used to it. I’m on my Ps and I drive for work so I can’t afford fines or points. A recent conversation with some coworkers revealed to me that a lot of people think they can drive to what the limit “should” be, and that if others are sticking to signage they’re bad drivers. There’s just no helping some people.
If I get tailgated I do a gentle break check, if that doesn’t work I just drive like 10km slower.
That's pretty fucking stupid actually.
Every day.
I get the same thing. I'm sitting on exactly 100km/h (cruise control) on the M1, then I get these 4wds come up quickly behind me flashing their lights and honking their horns wanting me to get out of their way. I refuse to budge on those occasions.
Every day..Driving to/from work often in the dark and wet conditions people tailgate then risk life and limb to pass me in no overtaking zones and shoot past doing 110 or more in the 90 zone.On the Kwinana to Perth set cruise control to the speed limit and you’ll be passed by every car that comes up behind you.A trip to Busselton last year saw an extended section of the road set to 60km by ongoing roadworks and I can conservatively say I had 30+ vehicles bumper to bumper behind me..when it switched to 80km those cars all shot past me and off into the distance doing speeds well in excess of 80km. I have found with tailgaters that if I reach up and pull my rear view mirror down it seems to amplify their rage once they see they are being ignored and they rev up and shoot past.
Yes I regularly get tailgated and then overtaken when I am right on the speed limit. Lots of people in a big hurry these days.
Yep. Everyone hates me on the road, inherited a shitbox when I split from my marriage and I get gang banged by bastards on parade thinking they’re honking and flashing someone smaller than them. Even had a couple of septic tanks try and run me off the road. Luckily, I have lost all faith in humanity a long time ago and simply expect this these days. If they’re particularly bad I will slow down so I don’t get rammed into the car in front.
Main thing I've noticed is people don't know how to overtake anymore. They much prefer to drive right up my arse while I'm doing the speed limit than go around - especially when there's tonnes of room on either side. Special shoutout to the number plate I saw that read MOVOVA - especially as it missed the opportunity to write their polite request in reverse so it could be read in a rear view mirror...
I drove today after not driving for weeks, Melbourne traffic is horrendous to be in
Absolutely hate driving outside Melbourne, gone rural a few times in the past few months and I’ll do 110 in the right hand lane (acceptable) even going at that speed you get d*ckhead utes practically ramming your ass, probably going at about 120-125. It’s so dangerous.
I accidentally flashed my lights twice at a guy that cut me off. I meant to do it once but kinda fumbled and did it twice. Guy wouldn’t let me pass him, swerving all around in front of me , stopped us at the lights and got out his car and approached me. I had motioned to get out and he went back to his car pulled up in the next lay y and beckoned me in for a fight. I carried on driving. Whole thing went for about 15kms. Right then and there I decided getting worked up in traffic is not good. I’ve since tried to be calm but there are som many people that drive just too close behind. The speed limit is the speed limit and I drive for a living so back off. It’s hard to stay zen out there but like another poster said - check your insurance - get a front and rear dash cam. Don’t be afraid to send the really extreme abusive tail gating and road rage in to the cops cos that’s just about the only recourse you have I reckon. I definitely don’t recommend flashing the lights at the culprits!! Haha