Woman driving on motorway has perfect response to tailgater without braking

A driver was left baffled after using a simple life hack to get someone to stop tailgating her as they were driving on the motorway.

Tailgating is when a careless driver follows another vehicle too closely, usually to encourage them to move out of the way, drive faster, or just to be inconsiderate and annoying. This also means they're ignoring The Highway Code which urges people to keep a distance of at least two seconds behind the vechicle in front of you.

By driving too closely to the car in front, not only is the practice illegal, it's dangerous and could result in serious damage to both cars should there be an accident. Despite this, it remains one of the most common offences made on the roads, studies have found.

But what many might not realise is there's a simple and safe way to get someone to stop tailgating you. While some might lightly press the breaks to get the breaklights on, or just use the warning lights, this might not always be the safest option.

Instead, drivers have figured out a new way to stop tailgaters, and people found it even more effective than breaking or turning the warning lights on.

"Whoever first said to clean your windshield when someone's tailgating you on the highway, you need hit," one driver named Cat said at the start of her TikTok video, where she talked about having used the hack for the first time.

She went on to explain a grey Audi Crossover had been tailgating her as they were driving on the motorway. Cat went on to say she'd been in the faster lane at this time, as someone in the other lane was driving slower, so she was in the middle of overtaking them.

In order to stop the tailgating, Cathrine remembered someone told her about the windshield trick, which sees the driver being tailgated having their rear windshield cleaned with screen wash as they continue to drive, resulting in some of the substance ending up on the car behind them.

"Tell me why they back up, and they have to clean their windshield because I got it all wet," she told her viewers, before bursting out laughing by how effective the tip had been.

People soon took to the comment section, as viewers had different opinions about whether or not it was a good idea to follow this tip when dealing with tailgaters.

"Even better if you have rear wipers, mess with the nozzles and baby we are playing Mario Kart," one person said, while another viewer replied: "One of my nozzles are a little off and I deliberately haven’t fixed it. It works SO well on tailgaters."

Another user shared: "I did that and then they drove up next to me and matched my speed and flipped me off."

However, not everyone agreed with the hack, as someone else argued: "Folks gotta just start moving and letting people speed in peace. I’m not saying they’re right for being on your bumper but if you were going slow then you are also in the way."

"People would do anything but get out of the way," a second person wrote.