As a driver, don’t you wish you had the ability to communicate with other drivers? For instance, if someone is tailgating you, don’t you wish you had a variable message sign in your rear window that might say “Too close — back off!” But we don’t, and communication with other drivers is almost impossible.

So, what can you do if another driver is exhibiting some kind of poor driving behavior? Although the following countermeasures are not guaranteed to work, there are some things that you can try that might help while at the same time not aggravating the other driver. Your objective here is to get the other driver to do something and ultimately appreciate your nudging him/her to do so without causing anger.

Car coming at you with bright lights on; the best thing to do is to flash your high beams for a second then back to low beam. Shift your eyes to the right (fog line) to avoid the glare. Remember, the oncoming driver doesn’t have to switch to low beams until 500 feet from you, so don’t give him/her the high beam flash too soon.

Car coming at you with no lights in rain, snow, fog, or dusk conditions; similar to the previous situation, flash your high beams for a second or so to hopefully send the message that his/her vehicle is difficult to see given the conditions. Some drivers think flashing your high beams to an approaching driver is illegal, but it isn’t.

Vehicle following you is tailgating; this situation can be a bit tricky. You can always pull over to the shoulder to allow the vehicle to pass more easily. What you should not do is brake suddenly – you could be rear-ended. A counter-measure that I use successfully is to put on my hazard lights (4-way flashers) for a couple of seconds; this works most of the time, but not always. I only invoke this if the following vehicle does not pass me when there is a safe opportunity to do so. Generally the other vehicle either backs off to a safer following distance or passes — either way, problem solved.

Approaching vehicle drifting into your lane; this is a very dangerous situation, as it could easily result in a head-on collision. Safety experts recommend pulling as far to the right as you safely can, sounding your horn if possible. Almost never steer to your left, as the other driver may realize he/she is in the wrong lane and try to correct by steering back to the correct lane, which is to your left.

When a red light turns green, the vehicle in front doesn’t move; give the driver a good four or five seconds, and if still no movement, a light tap on the horn is usually sufficient.

These are only a few tips that you might try in the given situations. If you have a good countermeasure for a situation, send me your idea. I might do a follow-up article if enough respond with sound suggestions that are within vehicle and traffic law. Email me at dwerner151@verizon.net