Have you ever done this while driving?

[Spin Doctor]

Once in a while I will notice that a person has been following me for quite a long time. i.e. off the highway/freeway, down a few streets, not too close but not too far. This especially happens if I feel that I've been more aggressive that day with my driving. I start to dig a hole in my head.

• "Did I piss this person off?"
• "Is it just a coincidence?"
• "Maybe it's a rapist/kidnapper?"
• "Should I keep driving towards my house?"
• "I'm gonna mess with him just to make sure..."

I will do things like signal my blinker left or right at a stop sign, but keep driving forward. I will sometimes just let them pass. If I'm closer to home or really paranoid I will take a round about on this small street before my house (I've only done that once at night). Speaking of night... I really don't like followers then because it's too dark to tell whether its a cop or not so I'm afraid to drive fast. Anyone experience anything of this sort?

 

[Nezumi]

I don't do that. But I do get paraniod when a car with a bike rack on top is behind me in the dark. They look like cops at night. Like their silhouette. And I quickly start trying to check every mirror from every angle to try and see if its a cop or another bike rack.

Its always bike racks lol

 

[Deleted member 1424]

I've had people try to follow me on a number of occasions, so I am aware of it.
Can't say it really bothers me though, people are easy enough to lose.

 

[Adrift]

Those bike racks... they are annoying.
I don't usually get to the degree of paranoia but I do wonder after while. It usually ends with me remembering that not many people know me. Why would a stranger follow a random car?

 

[TheScornedReflex]

That is why you own a bike. More mobility. Speed and acceleration.

 

[Wolf18]

Once in a while I will notice that a person has been following me for quite a long time. i.e. off the highway/freeway, down a few streets, not too close but not too far. This especially happens if I feel that I've been more aggressive that day with my driving. I start to dig a hole in my head.

• "Did I piss this person off?"
• "Is it just a coincidence?"
• "Maybe it's a rapist/kidnapper?"
• "Should I keep driving towards my house?"
• "I'm gonna mess with him just to make sure..."

I will do things like signal my blinker left or right at a stop sign, but keep driving forward. I will sometimes just let them pass. If I'm closer to home or really paranoid I will take a round about on this small street before my house (I've only done that once at night). Speaking of night... I really don't like followers then because it's too dark to tell whether its a cop or not so I'm afraid to drive fast. Anyone experience anything of this sort?

If you're really concerned and you're on a highway, try getting off the highway and then back on. If they're still behind you, you know you've got trouble and you should probably call the police.

 

[BigApplePi]

I think you should switch to driving one of these:

Spoiler

https://www.google.com/search?q=hum...r%2F2003-humvee_military_vehicle%2F;1600;1200

 

[Duxwing]

Hummer? Nah, get a Stryker with the 360 degree 105mm anti-tank gun. If anyone bothers you, just holler "ON THE WAY!" and send a red hot round of high explosive anti-tank screaming down range. Also, if available, choose the .50 Caliber BMG as opposed to the 7.62mm; the larger round of the Ma Deuce works wonders on materiel targets.

-Duxwing

 

[redbaron]

Has anyone ever actually turned out to be following you?

 

[Spin Doctor]

Has anyone ever actually turned out to be following you?

I think, once. I was on my way home from the bank and this guy had been on me for 2 highway exits since, which I found odd because I go pretty damn fast compared to most. When I noticed I did the blinker thing 3 or 4 times and he fell for it each time. I don't know what he was thinking at that point, but I ended up losing him shortly after. It was just kinda weird to me.

Just for the record, I don't do this all the time. I'm not some paranoid schitzo. Its just that I live in a very rural area. So when I'm coming back from the mall, and someone's still behind me within 5 miles of my house, its a little suspicious.

 

[BigApplePi]

Yeah. One could get one of those, but wouldn't it give the police an excuse to pull you over?

 

[Nick]

I can relate to this, not to the extreme extent you've described, but when cars are behind me I feel like it's someone I've pissed off/ wants to run me off the road/ ect... and 99/100 times when they pull up next to me or pass me, and I glance over.. I just laugh since it's a 90y/o little lady or something equivalent.

It's just our thinking kicking into overdrive, no pun intended. We see a pattern (same car driving behind us at a steady speed!), associate it with a 'worse-case-scenario', assume the worst, and our minds just jump into a feedback loop, churning our more and more what-ifs and possibilities of what could be happening.

What we should do is just tell ourselves KISS, think of Occam, smile, turn the music up and our mind down.

 

[Buck Shane]

I was followed twice. Once was because I had chosen to be the wrong race - 6 men in the car. I was on a country road, so I accelerated away from them. I went around an s curve and drifted in both turns like an expert. Then it occurred to me that I didn't know how to do that, and if I continued to drive that way, I would kill myself.
So, I changed plans. I slowed down. Got my big flashlight our from under the seat, and when they came roaring up behind me, I jammed on the breaks. The driver must have been very good - he just missed me. He slowed, then blocked the road with his car.
OK, I win. They were in a two door car. I could crash into one of the doors, get to the other side of the car and cause some head injuries to anybody trying to get out the other door. "Well, officer, what was he doing parked across the road with his lights out?"
The driver started to get out of the car, and I hit the accelerator. At the very last second, because of the look on his face - knowing he was going to die, I decided to go up the grassy grade on the side of the road and go passed them. I never saw their headlights again. I wish I'd had a cell phone back them.
The second time, I was on a bank run. I had to take a night deposit. I blew though a stop sign to test him, and he did too. I drove 110 MPH on those country roads and pulled into a police station. He drove on by. That was the last bank run I made unarmed.

 

[just george]

I was followed once, and thank God I had my gun.

I was on my way to a friends farm that was about 100km away in a secluded part of the northern territory. As I was driving, I noticed a white 4x4 behind me. I decided to leave the bitumen and go onto a dirt road, to see what was going to happen. The 4x4 turned off with me. I raced down the dirt road and made a series of left right turns to see if I could lose the vehicle. I thought I did a couple of times, but they somehow caught up.

I dove deeper into the swamp land surrounding the farms, made some crazy maneuvers to lose the 4x4, but couldn't shake them. I finally decided to pull up in an area commonly frequented by hunters, thinking that there would probably be other men with guns around.

I jumped out, grabbed my shotgun, slipped on my 50 shell double layer bullet belt, loaded 2 shells into the gun, and within a few seconds, the 4x4 rolled up next to me with a mean, angry looking man with a couple of gold teeth inside.

I looked at him. He looked at me. And then finally I said "Okay dad, fine, you know the way to the secret spot too. Now hurry up the birds are going to start flying"

 

[Buck Shane]

Boooo

 

[just george]

 

[redbaron]

The driver started to get out of the car, and I hit the accelerator. At the very last second, because of the look on his face - knowing he was going to die, I decided to go up the grassy grade on the side of the road and go passed them.

Lame.

Next time don't miss.

 

[Duxwing]

Yeah. One could get one of those, but wouldn't it give the police an excuse to pull you over?

Solution: Drive an 18-wheeler and keep the gun in the trailer with fold-out doors on top.

-Duxwing

 

[Duxwing]

I was followed twice. Once was because I had chosen to be the wrong race - 6 men in the car. I was on a country road, so I accelerated away from them. I went around an s curve and drifted in both turns like an expert. Then it occurred to me that I didn't know how to do that, and if I continued to drive that way, I would kill myself.
So, I changed plans. I slowed down. Got my big flashlight our from under the seat, and when they came roaring up behind me, I jammed on the breaks. The driver must have been very good - he just missed me. He slowed, then blocked the road with his car.
OK, I win. They were in a two door car. I could crash into one of the doors, get to the other side of the car and cause some head injuries to anybody trying to get out the other door. "Well, office, what was he doing parked across the road with his lights out?"
The driver started to get out of the car, and I hit the accelerator. At the very last second, because of the look on his face - knowing he was going to die, I decided to go up the grassy grade on the side of the road and go passed them. I never saw their headlights again. I wish I'd had a cell phone back them.
The second time, I was on a bank run. I had to take a night deposit. I blew though a stop sign to test him, and he did too. I drove 110 MPH on those country roads and pulled into a police station. He drove on by. That was the last bank run I made unarmed.

More stories!

-Duxwing

 

[Spin Doctor]

I can relate to this, not to the extreme extent you've described...

C'Mon man! Read my other post! Now I feel like a freak...

 

[Nick]

C'Mon man! Read my other post! Now I feel like a freak...

FREAK!

I just don't think I've ever used blinkers to 'dissuade' someone... in thinking they were following me... I mean comon... if they were following you really think they would turn even though I never turned... that has to be some stupiddddddddd person!

Nor have I driven in excess to make sure someone is following me... that's what the super-bright flashlight/ baseball bat is for, if there's confrontation to ensue.

No matter how freakish you think you're, just remember, you're one of us... one of us... one... of... us....

 

[Spin Doctor]

I am not confident in my combative abilities whatsoever. I'd sooner pay the aggressor off and avoid conflict.

 

[Buck Shane]

I am not confident in my combative abilities whatsoever. I'd sooner pay the aggressor off and avoid conflict.

Or, arm yourself.

 

[Spin Doctor]

Guns v. guns in a road rage situation comes down to who wants to go to jail more.

I'm not willing to assume that the person in the other car isn't armed as well.

 

[Nick]

Better to have it and not need it vs. need it and not have it. If it came down to me being killed in cold blood vs. killing in defense and having to deal with the bureaucratics afterwards... still alive... I'd choose the latter. Then again, I'd worry more about why that person is following me, especially the events that lead up to there being a price on my head/ the reason why someone wants to kill me. The world is a pretty tame place, here in the 1st world counties, if we go beyond that, then most reasoning goes out the window.