^ Very good. Encompassed in my "watch your six, nine, three and noon."
Terry
Thanky, but I can't take credit. Those are the "5 Keys" to the "Smith System" of defensive driving. I was certified to teach that system some years back. These days I teach another system that works along the same lines called "LLLC".
Look Ahead
Look Around
Leave Room
Communicate
I have my own system of dealing with tailgaters, which I will iterate on request, but I wondered what techniques you use, Doggy Daddy.
Terry
Slow down
gradually to encourage them to pass. If they don't take the hint, I make sure to increase my following distance behind the vehicle in front of me so that I can brake even more gradually than normal so as to give the knucklehead behind me more reaction time so he/she won't hit my ass.
Which is why I change lanes very slowly. I told one of my sons that "I signal with my whole car."
Terry
Being a 3rd party tester/certifier, I have to recertify on a regular basis with our DMV. Part of the recert (which is done with a group of 3rd party certifiers all recerting together) is to take turns acting the part of a testee as the others all score. Naturally, all scorers should come up with the same, or close, score. When acting the part of the driver, we are asked to make some "safe" mistakes to see if the testers catch them. For me, that would include things like rolling over the sidewalk at turns, aggressively waving at attractive pedestrians, etc. One of my favorite "subtle" mistakes is to take an abnormally long time to change lanes. Like maybe a mile. Earns an "auto-fail" pretty much every time.
I teach students that a lane change in a commercial vehicle should take about 5 seconds from the time you turn the wheel to move over until you turn the wheel back to straighten out.