Am I driving unsafely?

I was thinking you agreed with me that tapping the brake for a tailgater wasn't. Good idea.

 

I do agree. I thought I missed something else. Cars do this to me sometimes on an open highway. I have no idea why. Especially when there's open road in the next lane they can get in.

 

Yep. Tony needs to use a wide mouth Mason jar for his pee bottle.

Joking aside, I do understand the point of view that all forms of braking can be considered brake checking. However, I think if tapping the brakes and engaging the 4-ways without slowing appreciably to help alert someone behind you that there's danger ahead that they can't see is a bit different than braking to slow suddenly in order to have someone run up hard on your trailer. Tapping the brakes can be a courtesy and help keep the folks behind you safe, while braking to slow hard is a dangerous tactic meant to "send a message" that doesn't equate to alerting of danger ahead (unless you are alerting them that you are the danger).

 

Whatever you say. Did you ever think of trying to get on the radio?

 

I completely understand your point ...just don't agree. You are assuming that the car/vehicles behind you are gonna react in the correct way....You do know what happens when you start assuming stuff...I'm not saying this to sound like I know everything about driving...because I sure don't...but , I am saying that if you stay off of the brake....use your marker lights to do the exact same thing , then you know for a fact, you aren't slowing down at all....the vehicles behind you might still paNIC... but, you'll be moving ahead still.....Oh BTW...thanks for fixing my mess...not too computer or typewriter savvy.....

 

Well said Tony. That's food for thinking folks.

 

I think you're picking nits, and a quick tap of the brake pedal will reduce velocity no more than a lift off the throttle for 2 seconds. There are reasonable assumptions and not so reasonable assumptions. If they panic it seems reasonable to assume that is going to take the form of going for their brakes.

The "best practice" response to tailgating is adjusting velocity to fit the following distance of the 'gaiter. Assuming you can't slow at all as some sort of safety measure to avoid a crash is not reasonable.

 

Respectfully disagree...no such thing when you're discussing safety.....we've had this discussion before , you look at safety in a different way than me. No sense having that debate all over again. My record speaks for itself.....Not perfect , don't make the claim to be , but in 3 million + safe miles and a more than 30 year career...I was doing something right.