How could that scare you? On a related note, I promise that the vomit on my desk was from food poisoning and I'm not shaking, your eyes are just twitching. *shudders*

Only if they put in some extra fake exhaust tips.

If you’re not “paying attention” to the car in front of you, you darn well shouldn’t be tailgating. That said, it happens a lot.

Fair enough, if people are really slamming on their brakes when tailgated because they're "scared" then they're either lying or really dumb.

No minivan anymore, but it sounded like a good idea at the time! (Okay, so I never put on racing stripes, but that would be awesome)

He definitely lost some speed, but not a bunch, and I definitely feel that the tailgater is at fault in this particular case.

I also am happy to use my turn signal to let people know I’m not going to loiter in the lane. But if you’re so close that I’m already uncomfortable from a safety perspective, I’m going to point it out as clearly (and as safely) as I can. If you're giving me less than 5 feet of space at highway speeds, I'm not…

My point IS that people are unpredictable and I'm reminding them of that.

As I’ve said elsewhere, what generally happens in my experience is that the tailgater then “anticipates” an immediate lane change and speeds up even more. If I’ve got adequate space to feel safe and I’m planning on moving over, I’ll turn my signal on early to let them know that I’m planning on getting out of their way…

And again, I don't mean slamming on my brakes, because that is far less safe. I mean flashing my brake lights without losing significant speed to get their attention because they're too close for safety reasons.

Thank you for telling me exactly what I think. I was dead serious.

Usually I find that that just results in even more egregious tailgating as they "anticipate" my lane change before I have space.

Also, GM tried to hide the issue well after they were aware, IIRC. Intentionally covering up is just as bad as intentionally cheating if the crimes were equal (Which I would argue they were not).

True. However, as a non-GM and non-VW fanboy, car issues killing people are a heck of a lot worse than car issues creating pollution. Both should get hammered by the government in my opinion, but the media coverage against GM felt awfully gentle compared to the media coverage against VW.

I realized I should clarify that what I consider a brake check doesn’t involve rapid deceleration, but rather flashing your taillights while generally maintaining speed. If “Brake-checking” only means braking hard and decelerating quickly, then yes, that's idiotic because it puts you in a lot of danger.

Touche. I should have removed the racing stripes from my minivan.

I should clarify here. To me, a “brake check” is where you use your left foot to show the tail-lights without slowing down. If you’re actually decelerating with a rapid reduction in speed, you're an idiot.

Not really. You just want the person to not be behind you in an unsafe position. It's scary as hell when someone is giving you less than 3 feet of space at 70+ miles per hour and there is unpredictable traffic ahead of you.

I won’t go so far as to say the guy “got what was coming to him” but the tailgater IS at fault here. The reason you shouldn’t tailgate is you cannot predict the person driving in front of you. Perhaps the person saw a squirrel and panicked. (Not that I believe that is what happened, but it’s something that you have to…

Why didn’t they say anything at all???? I would have been saying all kinds of things, mostly profanities and invocations of deities.