Which of the following should you do if you are being followed by a tailgater?
- Change lanes and allow the tailgater to pass. ✓
- Tap the brakes to signal you are moving at a slower pace.
- Increase your speed to match the speed of the vehicle.
Answer: A. Change lanes and allow the tailgater to pass.
When a tailgater is behind you, keep your course and speed and, once it is safe, move right into another lane so the tailgater can go past.
Why this is the answer
The California Driver Handbook lists a tailgater behind you as one reason to open up more space in front of your car. It tells you to hold your course and speed first, then merge right into another lane when it is safe and let the tailgater pass. Holding a steady speed keeps your car predictable, and moving over gives the impatient driver room to get by without you having to react to them. Nothing in the passage says to brake at them or speed up.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Tap the brakes to signal you are moving at a slower pace. — The handbook never tells you to tap your brakes at a tailgater; it says to maintain your course and speed, and sudden braking in front of a close follower is the opposite of steady, predictable driving.
- C. Increase your speed to match the speed of the vehicle. — Speeding up goes against the handbook's instruction to maintain your speed, and it also removes the space cushion the passage says you should create.
Remember it
Think of a tailgater as a hint to make room: stay steady, then slide right and let them go.
Official handbook: California Driver Handbook (DL 600), Section 8: Safe Driving, p. 57