Is tailgating assault with a deadly weapen?

Answer 1

If it is ever brought to court and this is specifically what the prosecution decides to charge you with it can be.

This all basically comes down to how a judge and lawyers interpret the law and how they interpret your intent.

Because the definition of assault can vary slightly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction lets use this generalization as our definition: a threatened or attempted physical attack by someone who appears to be able to cause bodily harm.

Tailgating may be construed by legal officials as careless driving or an act of trying to run somebody off the road. Which in the case of tailgating another driver that you may be angry at can be defined as assault, or an attempt there of.

In the past cars have been described in a court of law as a deadly weapon. To use your car in a way that can kill someone would be to make it a deadly weapon. The use of a car as a deadly weapon is not a rarity in the criminal justice system.

So if you put these two definitions together you can see how the law may see tailgating as assault with a deadly weapon. However, the prosecution must show that you had intent to injure or intimidate the other driver rather than this just being a case of bad careless driving.