Maybe that accounts for my attitude which is no sympathy at all for the complaints that ticketing speeding is just revenue raising (which is said here also). You know what the rules are, do the crime pay the fine, blah blah blah – get over it.

Yeah, I tried the “go with the flow” gig for many years, you know, maybe 5 over. Then a nice police occifer decided to pull me over and wrote me a nice little tickety ticket for that 5 over. Several hundred sorely earned dollars out of pocket (with a family to feed and crap wages) and a raise in my insurance for three years taught me enough of a lesson. So I said – FINE – (no pun intended) I can by God drive the speed limit. And so – I do. Know what? The tailgating WAS JUST AS BAD NOW AS IT WAS WHEN I WENT 5 OVER. No difference. Some people just gotta be in front, I guess.

I hear out east they are now doing $1250 fines for 10 over, I just read it the other day. Was it Delaware? Over 15 over the limit and they’ll confiscate your car and toss you in jail.

Oh yeah, this afternoon on the way home, this knuckle dragger in his “hot” Dodge Magnum hemi all wheel drive looked in his rearview mirror, saw my Prius and blasted off like he was at a drag strip, apparently in some kind of manly man thing (at least in his little mind). If only my wife’d been there, she’d have made some appropriate comments about “hmmm, big engine, little willy…”.

Yeah, I caught up to bozo at the next red light. As in, I was RIGHT behind him. Waved at him too….. heh heh.

Wow, with the Canadian $2000 to $10,000 ticket and loss of car for a week, I know for sure that I’m going to be going 100 km/hr in a 100 zone, and not one klick over.

BTW I actually DO stick to the right lane when I’m driving the speed limit (when there are more than 2 lanes total, I mean).

It’s quite amazing to watch marked and unmarked cop cars speed, run red lights, tailgate, ignore stop signs and drive exactly like the rest of the drivers, BTW. The word starts with an H…..

At the tender age of 19, (early 1960’s) I was turned loose under my own recognizance onto the German Autobahn road system in a woefully underpowered ’50’s something 180 Mercedes Benz 4 banger with 4 on the column. Getting it up to top speed of +/- 200 Klicks (Kpm ~ 120 Mph), was a tormentingly slow process. I felt proud of it and myself after that accomplishment, which was very short-lived, because I was already looking at flashing lights and listening to a blowing horn as a front bumper was dangerously close to pushing me out of the way. When I was able to safely pull to the right, I was left in the proverbial “cloud of dust” usually by a Porche, BMW, Opel Diplomat or larger Mercedes. When in Germany… I learned to do likewise and survived uncounted overtakings traveling at least 120 mph, sometimes bumper to bumper to behind an older VW, they were the only vehicles I could intimidate!

Saying all that just to say this: I enjoy driving through states where Interstate Highways are marked: Slower Traffic Keep to the Right. Texas also has many 2 lane hiways with car width stopping / parking lanes. It is common to see a slower driver to pull over for faster moving traffic. I joined the polite tradition when someone wanted to drive faster than I, which was usually over the posted speed limit.

The tailgaters you might be worried about are as worried about your safety, if you ever need to drive on the Autobahn system. Please decline if offered when visiting there. My Autobahn self-training still applies even now that I’m over 60. The cost of failure to learn at those speeds was your life. I still by habit move out of the left lane when I’m through passing or when I see a line building up behind me.

Just another point of view from a coast-to-coast 60’s something retired driver… Guess you might call me a tailgater ’cause maybe it’s what I grew up learning to do behind the wheel.

Ready to have your car torn-up, impounded while you are left alone in the middle of the road by the Canadian Po-Po?

Sit back, relax and read on….

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3542017

While I agree that tailgating needs to be hammered more (and it’s ignored here in NY State), giving meltdown prone imbeciles a chance to get so close at highway speed may not be the safest thing.

Is there a speed (maybe 5-10mph over the limit) where you can reduce such behavior AND where the cops give you a pass? That seems to be the sweet spot here in upstate NY.

I am just waiting for productivity and spending to be completely shut down when everyone starts refusing to drive anywhere for fear of a fine.

Had a cop in our church a few years ago before he moved. I asked him. Michigan cops don’t give out tickets for tailgating. I work in an industry where I used to look at MVRs for prospective clients. I never ever saw a “following too close” ticket written in Michigan UNLESS it also involved a major crash, and then only rarely.

Michigan drivers suck, tailgating is pandemic here, and nobody cares but me, apparently….

So I simply retaliate by going the speed limit in the correct lane and let the speed merchants go by. Trouble is, I live in an area with mostly 2 lane roads. Thing is, a lot of Michigan drivers are apparently sub-moronic imbeciles because they think they can intimidate my cruise control…. and just park a couple of feet off my tail.

Of course, this generally only lasts for awhile because 99.9% of Michigan drivers CANNOT and WILL NOT do the speed limit. So eventually, they do pass or turn off, or I turn off.

The only other people I know who actually obey the speed limit are Mennonite friends of mine. A 55 member congregation (at least 1/3 children) in a county of 65,000.

When we sign on the dotted line for a driver’s license, aren’t we making a social contract to try to obey the rules of the road? Just checking…

Excellent! I wish that was something enforced more around here. Not only is it annoying and dangerous, it’s pointless as well. If only more cops would stop targeting the guy in front going 15 mph over the limit and would instead pick off the man/woman TAILGATING him…