What would you do if you were being followed while driving?

Drive to the nearest police station.

In an emergency, you can use the telephone.

furthermore, if someone appears to be following you, drive to the closest police station. There are signs everywhere in New Jersey.

Keep in mind that in NJ, everyone drives on your bumper, though. heh.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic took the answer right out of my mouth. Also, if there is not a police station nearby you could drive to a fire station.

Hey! If using your cell phone is illegal and a cop comes by, isn’t that a GOOD thing under the circumstances?

Just stop in the middle of the road, and stare at the car behind me

I would speed drive!

@bcstrummer why would you do that?

To let them know, if you wanna fuck with me, let’s go, I ain’t skurred

Just don’t go to any place you frequent on a regular basis. If you can’t find the authorities, go to a crowded place and ask for help.

And if they pull out a gun, duck, reverse and gas it

it’s jersey. just flick a booger on their windshield.

someone lives in a movie….

I am a single woman, I live in New Jersey, and I do a lot of driving (and aggressively at times, so I have had road rage encounters that made me ponder this issue; thankfully, they did not go to extremes). As others have said, drive to the nearest Police Station.

@SuperMouse: Nearly all Fire Stations are volunteer in NJ, so odds are, no one would be there. A viable alternative that is also well-marked on the roads, would be the nearest Hospital.

I’d activate my face-sensing, infrared focused, automatic target acquisition sequence for the rear-facing bazooka, and let them get a taste of old Joe if things got a little to close for comfort.

Hey. Don’t tell me you never fantasized about blowing bad drivers and other creepy scabs off the road!

@daloon: and you said you can’t write sci-fi! That sounds like a concept you could expand upon… you could even open the story with that scene and grab the readers’ attention!

If someone (who I just happen to be afraid of for some reason) was following me I would get their license plate number, make of the vehicle, description of the person if possible.. then I’d call the police. Who is going to not use their phone because of “the rules” in such an emergency?

Failing that (if I didn’t have my phone), I’d drive to the police station or to a public place.. like a gun shop.

@hearkat Thanks for the thought, but I’m afraid that James Bond kind of took that idea already.

dude… car chase… you people need to live on the edge more ;)

Um….do people in NJ actually follow that “rule” about cell phones while driving? Because here in CT, people seem to ignore it completely. I see several people a day driving around with their cell phones held up to their ears. I use my earpiece for “hands-free” cell phone calls while driving. Is that illegal too in NJ?

I saw something once that said if you are being followed and fear for your life, drive to the police station but don’t get out of your car. Crash into the police station instead. Sometimes I wish someone would follow me so I could try that just to see if I’d get away with it. I mean, just to see if it would get the cops to arrest the stalker faster.

@MissAusten NJ and PA they ignore it constantly. it’s a non-issue.

I know a few driving techniques learned from various sources, and you’d be surprised how easy it is to ditch a tail, if you are familiar with the area you are driving in.

It’s also fun to pick a car out at random and follow them just to see how long you can get away with it before they realize you are following them. I’ve done that on days I was really bored and had nothing else to do. yeah, I know, I’m easily amused.

Bluetooth!

For PnL (if she reads this):
http://www.hulu.com/watch/78717/burn-notice-ask-a-spy

Do you expect other road users to stay a long distance back form you , could it be just paranoia kicked in and the driver is just driving the same way ?

@MissAusten: Hands-Free is legal in NJ, and as others have mentioned, I still see people on their phones daily.

Crashing into the Police Station? The article really suggested that? Chances are, the ‘stalker’ would take off as soon as you pulled into the station.

If I had a known stalker and was fearing for my life, I’d have been on the phone with 911 already, so they’d have directed me to the station and the Police would be notified in advance of my arrival.

If I suspected that I was being followed, but didn’t know the person who might be following me, I would wait in the car to watch what the other driver does. If the car moves on, I’m going into the station to place a report before the car can swing back around. If it pulls in behind me, I am calling 911 and laying on my horn.

Drive faster, and out of the area, try to get on a bigger road and maybe outrun them. At least that’s what I would do. It’s not necessarily what I should do, but that would be my instinctive reaction (and that’s what I actually did whenever this happened). Turning left and right in a zig-zag (but also random) motion will eventually help you get away, assuming you are near an area with many side-streets but at the same time can drive fairly fast (or at least faster than the car behind you). It all depends though.

@evelyns_pet_zebra So that was YOU following me? ’-)

Several years ago this DID happen to me. I worked in the office for a propane company in Texas. They were located out on the interstate. I was going to work one morning & a car pulled up beside me. He was frantically pointing down at my tires. I KNEW there was nothing wrong with my car, so I gunned it. He followed closely on my bumper. I just kept driving to the exit of my work & he followed right in behind me. When I pulled into the lot of the gas company, he kept going. I guess the thought that there were a lot of men around changed his mind at whatever he thought he was going to do. I was pretty shaken up, but I was thankful I had a safe place to go to get away from him.

Nothing, as long as they stay behind me. Besides, I pitty the fool that gets too close.

Wait, what’s wrong with being followed? Maybe the person is simply headed to the same place you are, or maybe they are simply curious where you are headed so are following you to find out? Why would this be an emergency?

@jbfletcherfan King of the Hill, eh?

@cyndihugs Well, I got lucky. I had a safe place to go.

My hubby says that’s why he bought me a BMW. So I can out run them.

@girlofscience well it depends on the situation. if you have reason to believe that someone is following you for a reason other than they’re just ‘heading the same way’, it’s probably not a good thing.

there was an older man who cut someone off – and i don’t believe it was done in an aggressive manner, but regardless – and the car he cut off followed him home, and attacked him, killing him.
also, my (young, female) friend said she was followed by an older man for awhile, in a suspicious manner. he watched her, waiting for her to pull out of the space, and then drove to the other side of the lot, and parked, and waited for her to exit it, before following her for some distance. she said she called her stepdad to come follow to make sure nothing happened, and i think the guy eventually got the idea and stopped.
these obviously aren’t overly common situations, but still.

drive fast!! brake check!! mess them up.. i followed people once, because he threw something on my window, it didn’t get in, but i was mad.. He obviously was scared cos he drove off fast.. lol i was close on throwing something like my baseball