by Jennifer E. Brown

Created on: August 09, 2008

I've had it with tailgater's, aggressive drivers, and men who think that they own the road. I'm not saying that women don't do it, but it seems like men take the majority. They're the most who appear in my rear view mirror riding my bumper, speeding up to me as close as they can get then passing, passing in the opposite lane on a two lane...you get the idea. I'm sure you've ran into these people too and found them extremely irritating. What's worse is when you're on a country road late at night driving home and they're tailgating while beaming their brights at you. Stomp, stomp, stomp. "Back off *bleep*!" usually flies out of my mouth. So, to all you tailgater's, here you go. I dedicate this post to your obnoxious, rude, irritating behavior. It's unnecessary, and maybe you can learn something.

Top Excuses To Tailgate

1. I'm running late to work.

I'm not going to say I've never been guilty of this because I am practically everyday. I even speed occasionally when I know cops won't be there. However, I have never tailgated another person. I've never been in that big of hurry to push another person into driving faster. I guess it's not in my personality, but if it's in yours you've been conditioned. I'm sorry for you, but you can be changed. Only you can change your own behavior. Perhaps you should think about this.

2. The person ahead of me is driving too slow.

Just curious. Could the driver ahead of you be driving defensively and be a law-obeying citizen? They may be going the speed limit because they have kids in the car that depend on their survival, or that may be the only family car. If they speed up for your satisfaction, they get the ticket-not you. That's selfish and makes tax payers angry because the other driver was influenced to speed. This is wrong and I don't agree with it.

3. I have a need for speed.

Good for you. Go for it, but stay away from me and every driver on the road. Save your aggressiveness for the open road. you're more typical to get an outrageous ticket in a construction zone, and I would laugh. I would feel no pity for someone who endangered lives of other people. If you don't control your behavior, you risk injuring or killing yourself and others. Could you really live with yourself if you killed a child in another car? In your car?

4. I have bad driving experiences.

I'm really sorry to hear that. Honestly, I give you full sympathy. I have bad experiences with driving, too. I learned to drive with people yelling in the car. Then my seizure medicine was never stable so I had a string of car accidents. However, I'm still not an aggressive driver. I do have a lead foot, but I also obey the law. I never, ever tailgate. I think it's wrong and nobody deserves it. I don't care how big of a hurry you're in. High speed can only lead in disaster. The most recent case is the case of Nick Hogan who nearly destroyed a life. He, too, does not get my sympathy.

5. I got distracted by my cell phone.

Cell phone carriers have an awesome feature these days-hands free! I am constantly using it when I'm behind the wheel of my car. Besides, are you aware in some states you can get pulled over if you have a phone up to your ear while driving? Some states require hands free cell phones in the car, and when I'm in the car alone it's on speaker. This allows both hands on the wheel and focus on the road. It's much safer. Please consider it.

I have tried to do this in the most respectful manner I could possibly consider for the tailgater. Although I don't like them, I will always have to tolerate them. They were just too obnoxious today!

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