Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Rowe
My opinion on people cutting in is, and pretty well remains...so what? What's going to happen then? You'll need to back off to increase following distance, then another car will cut in. Back off more, and another car cuts in. So, your average speed winds up slightly lower than most other cars...but what else is new lol?
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I think you're not thinking it through. If someone cuts in as soon as you open up a 2 car length space, your average distance to a rear bumper is 1.25 car lengths, with some fraction of your time being at 0.5 length. If instead you keep a 1.5 car length spacing, you have a greater following distance all the time, plus you don't have to worry about the other drivers misjudging distance, braking immediately after they cut in, etc.
Of course there's some psychology involved, as you want to keep the max distance you can without tempting a cut-in. But IMHO steady-state conditions are almost always safer than abrupt changes.