What I don't get...

[David75]

Vengeance:
you drive too slow for my tastes, you stopped me from overtaking you multiple times. Now that I'm in front and "won" here's my brakecheck and then how it feels to have a slow car in front blocking you...

Road interactions are more like MadMax than they are like highly intelligent and sentient beings...
Come to Paris streets if you don't believe me

[Buffalobiian]

You guys are right in that I forgot about the overtaking-then-slowing scenarios.

My thoughts on that I guess, is that if you merge in front of someone then cause an accident, you're at fault for not merging safely - even if your car could physically fit into that space.

If there's enough of a delay between the merge and the braking, then when someone merges, the car behind should start slowing down to ensure the safe distance is met. The behind-car's slowing down should start once you've mentally registered that someone's merging into you (and will successfully do so), but will end up with an unsafe stopping distance.

[Kraco]

If someone merges in front of you haphazardly and even ends up braking, making you brake as well, I'd just call it poor traffic behavior (that happens often enough), but not really brake checking. Brake checking assumes an intention of doing it just to scare or piss off the driver behind, or at worst cause an accident deliberately for fraud purposes.

I haven't personally ever seen brake checking personally. It can't be overly commonplace over here, fortunately.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't recall ever being brake checked personally. I remember dad doing it once to someone who was right up his ass, but he tapped the brake while accelerating so the brake light came on but he didn't actually slow down. It's not common at all here from what I can tell. Maybe youtube just makes it seem common elsewhere.

[David75]

brake lighting: I've been forced to use that for some people who don't realise they're way too close when they can easily overtake.
A long time ago I had a car with very powerful cleaning jets. So powerful some of it splashed over the roof to a car that would be way too close
By the time they find their wipers, they are the right distance.
I'm very careful with cars behind and somehow people are way too close, and not because they are overtaking. Maybe it's a french thing.

[Buffalobiian]

Talking about French things and driving (though maybe not actually uniquely French), is the parking technique where you actually hit other people's bumpers as you parallel park. That's not a thing in Australia - if you touched someone else's car you're doing it wrong.

On the other hand, I've only recently learned that undertaking is illegal in some parts of the world. Here that's just normal, free-for-all driving.

[David75]

Parking without touching bumpers in Paris? Are you sure you want to search for a another 50 minutes or more? hahaha
Undertaking is prohibited in France.

[Ryllharu]

Undertaking, aka "Passing on the right" is something I have grown to accept as simply necessary. Hogging the passing lane is not well enforced in America. Germany we are not. Drivers either "don't want to be bothered" with on-ramp traffic, feel that they are policing the speed of the freeway/highway/interstate, or want to diddle away on their mobile phone. Make it quick, do it decisively, and aggressively, and it's fine. My personal record is 11 cars in a line.

But brake-checking? Reckless behavior and is always road-rage. It's not fun or righteous or deserved when someone does it to you for HOURS on the interstate. I've had it happen to me, it's honestly terrifying. It's indicative of the behavior that acts as a red flag for, "Do not Stop, Do Not Pull over, and Do Not Confront another driver exhibiting road rage in the United States...that's how you die [read: get shot]."

If another car is riding your ass, the correct procedure is to let off the gas and coast until you are going so far below the speed limit that they realize what they're doing and back off or pull over and attempt to pass you...where you then resume back up to the speed limit and/or flow of traffic. Problem solved.