Q: for LEO conserning tailgating

[Cokebottle]

Woman for some reason thinks climbing up to less than 10" now is a good idea, I think she's an idiot ( my perception here) she continues this poor behavior & close's the gap even more.
When reaching stop sign she pulls on me to the point of zero inch's now. I'm taking this as a sign of aggression at this point. She obviously has a stick up her butt, IMO. Just not sure why.

Okay, you've established that she is an immature person.

I make her pause at stop (I'm second car back) for an extra 12-14 seconds
then after stopping at sign added another 8 second pause because she won't get off my *****.

Why? This was your first mistake.
How is stopping longer than needed to ensure cross traffic is clear going to make her get off your *****.?

Now turn right head down to pick up wife from work, this lame excuse for human a life now follows me like I just side swiped her truck.

Further establishing that she is immature and you SHOULD be attempting to get away from her.

At this point I'm thinking I should confront her, but unwilling to exit vehicle to do so, as I believe she will likely run me over.

Only smart thing you've done after this BS began.

I turn around to come along side to tell her what a POS she is,

Why? What do you hope to accomplish by this? She is an immature person. She KNOWS what she is doing, telling her what she already knows is not going to correct the behavior.

I flash my lights at her as to say u-suck,

Again, why? what do you hope to accomplish with this? You are now escalating the encounter, and witnesses could state that you were the aggressor.

so I yell out the window what a rotten & dangerous driver she is, & to learn how to drive !.

Again, why? What do you hope to accomplish by this? She is an immature person. She KNOWS what she is doing, telling her what she already knows is not going to correct the behavior.

Now the security guard thinks that YOU are the immature person who can't control his road rage.


I provide traffic video to the cops of encounters like this all the time, and guess what... even when the cop points to the camera and tells those involved that they are going to review the video, the story of BOTH parties rarely matches what the video shows... and on a number of occasions, BOTH parties have gone to jail.

[Cokebottle]

1. At what point does the act of tailgating become Dangerous or Reckless ?

2. An when does the dangerous driving become Reckless vehicle use for Intimidation ?

3. Is she in her right to drive like this, is this even a driving offence, I say this only because I've never heard or seen anyone anywhere be sited for such driving skills.

1 - Following too closely is an infraction.

2 - Her actions certainly qualified, however, you did not get her license plate and call it in... instead you decided to play into her stupid game.

3 - She can't be cited for an infraction unless an officer personally witnessed the actions. It IS a violation, but the escalation would have required you to call in for assault with a deadly weapon.

[Country_Jim]

Sounds to me like you got into a d|ck measuring contest and lost. To a woman. Better luck next time.

Post of the year.

[CG11]

You asked the questions then reject the answers. Perhaps you forgot some of the story?

[AidenHK]

Why post here when you have a rebuttal for everything?

Typical CG brainage like you say? Most CG are pretty intelligent and can use spell check

My suggestion take a deep breathe and speed up and get out of the way as soon as you can.

Once again: where does one pull over when there is no place to pull over ? into oncoming traffic ? as that is all that's left.

Once again vehicle merged in front of me, do I
1. keep speed to satisfy the tailgater an plow vehicle that merged ? that's smart
2. Apply brake to slow to avoid colliding with said merger an avoid accident ? but doing so decrease collision speed with tailgater if it comes to that ?

With CG brain trust, just like Sacramento, there is no win.

Maybe I could of handled the stop sign differently, but this bit** was off her Meds, & screwed in the head, not unlike some here.

Maybe very soon you'll experience something very similar, & no one will believe a word you say, & you eat Shat for it, on that day you'll come to the realization that your know it all attitude will bit you in the rear HARD.

Thanks again for the back up, this is why we lose our rights, we take each other apart & throw conjecture out, to look good to fellow CGners of same mined set.

You guys are AWESOME !

[AidenHK]

One more thing...I hope OP does not have a CCW.

[WalterTheDogC@t]

@OP you asked LEO's a question and you got an UNBIASED LEO interpretation on the VC code involved. I too have been tailgated in my smaller car by big fast trucks for no apparent reason. Does it piss me off - yes. Have I slowed down to be a d-ck - yes. Should I have slowed - no. Why poke a pissed bear with a stick. I(and you) further exacerbated a bad situation creating a potentially deadly situation on a public roadway. I don't do that crap anymore because I learned to choose my battles. I hope you do too.

In closing, if you don't like the VC code and interpretation offered here by LEO's perhaps head over to a Prius drivers forum. But remember what you asked for.

PS - not a street cop here just a lowly CO.

[code_blue]

In case it wasn't clear, LE, for the most part, cannot do anything about an infraction not committed in their presence. Even misdos have become a gray area due to certain recent and ridiculous CA statutes.

You, as Joe Citizen, do not have any legal authority over this person in this case.

Point: You cannot do anything other than to ensure your own safety and the safety of your wife considering that this woman allegedly followed you. Who knows what type of crazy was behind the wheel of that vehicle. Agitating the potential crazy further will do nothing to ensure your own safety and the safety of your wife.

I'm glad that no one got hurt. Learn from this incident.

[nedro]

You stick to boring 4 wheel vehicles. I'll keep my liter bike racing experience.
I swear, some people's children I tell ya!

[movie zombie]

you had another option: get up to speed limit and let the woman behind you deal with the merging car.

you want to be polite to the merging traffic but not the traffic already on the road.

your choice, your consequences.

[Blade Gunner]

You stick to boring 4 wheel vehicles. I'll keep my liter bike racing experience.

I swear, some people's children I tell ya!

[readysetgo]

Can I just say...

The road rage witch was probably...

Tere Hanges!

She can be a feisty little lady.

But really, OP got punked by a little chick in a brodozer.

[retired]

I'm not buying your apology to P5Ret re your comment about his daughter either. In fact, I'm not buying your whole decorum in this thread. You chose to come to the leo forum to ask a question of a leo. By inference, this means an active or retired leo, since most of us retired leos can answer most leo related questions.

P5Ret took the time to respond and since you didn't like nor appreciate his answers, you attacked him and his daughter. You also attacked non leo members and called everyone who disagreed with you a lefty. As some said, disagreeing with you doesn't mean anyone is a lefty, they just disagree with you. BTW, I guess you can call me a lefty also since I agree with P5Ret and others who stated you did not act appropriately in your interaction. Also, if I was still in the field and was able to determine your actions (stopping for an extra period of time to teach the other driver a lesson) were intentional, I might be inclined to cite you for unsafe driving in addition to citing her for her actions.

You will not have to worry about any leo in the leo forum disagreeing with you in the future since you will not have access to the Leo forum anymore. For your sake you should take the advice given in the thread re calming down in any future dealings with an angry motorist. Since you did not once admit you made any mistakes during your encounter with the woman in the truck, I would not be surprised if you did not