I don't know what I would really do until I was put in that situation but I think I would hit the brakes. If I felt it was him or human life, it would be human life everytime. In the rain, like the situation Jim was in.. I wouldn't hit the brakes, too much risk.
In this state, if someone rearends you it is automatically thier fault for following too close unless, you pull out in front of them or cut them off(hard for the police to determine sometimes) or are intoxicated. Almost any accident in which someone is intoxicated, its automatically there fault(from what I've seen).
People generally don't tailgate in this state
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