How to Follow Someone In a Vehicle Without Being Seen

Before I get into this article I want to state clearly that these techniques could be considered illegal in some jurisdictions.  I'm telling you these things purely for knowledge and not that you will use them to harass people.  Be very careful because some laws will state that its considered harassment when the person you are following is threatened by your actions.  Since the person is in a vehicle you may not know when that point is.  That being said, these are techniques that are still taught to Private Investigators and Police.


Use at your own risk. 

Basics of Shadowing

When following someone you always want to have cars between you and the target vehicle.  Each car between you and the subject is called shade, each car being a "piece of shade".  2-3 pieces of shade is fine.  You don't want too much in between because you never know what the other drivers are going to do in front of you.  Sometimes you wont have any shade.  In that case, if there are cars behind you, start slowing down and randomly touching the brakes.  More often than not the cars will pass you and try to get in front of you out of frustration.

What if the Person is Beside You

Same sort of thing applies as above try and slow down and get some cars in front of you.  Your other choice is to slow down and change lanes in the target's lane where hopefully there are other cars.  If that's not possible you will have to try and stay in the subjects blind spot.  There may also be a rare time where there is far too much traffic and you cant do any of those things.  Just stay cool and try your best not to look over at the person.  Once you lock eyes, that's it, you're pretty much done.

Getting Hung at a Red Light

If you are approaching an intersection with a stale green light or yellow and you think the subject will make it through but you wont, try and get in the right most lane.  Quickly make a right, then do a u-turn and then another right to get back on the main road.  In most places u-turns ARE legal as long as its not at the top of a hill or otherwise marked.

The red light manuver is illustrated below:

If You Lose Sight of Your Target

Nothing is more stressful than losing sight of your target.  You have about 10-20 seconds to reacquire, after that the odds that you will find them or catch up will reduce drastically.  When you first see the target vehicle take mental note of the distinguishing characteristics.  Colour, make, model, rims and lastly licence plate.  The only other way to reacquire is to guess at where the target is going but if you cant then your day is done.

You Manage to Tail the Target to His Destination

Usually when the target starts going into tight subdivisions then most likely they are almost home.  Subdivisions usually don't have much traffic so you have to increase your distance from the target by a lot.  It seems risky but you need to be about 5-6 seconds behind.  If you still have sight of your target and they pull into a house, don't slow down and don't look over at them.  Just face forward and continue to drive.  Turn down the next street and then do a u-turn.

Remember use these techniques at your own risk and check your local laws.