This space also enables you to time the lights, so you do less accelerating/decelerating, and increases your buffer for breaking, so driving is safer and less stressful.

Also somewhat related, if there's a slow vehicle in front of you when you're going down the on-ramp to the interstate -- slow down even more so you have many car lengths to merge.

Nobody else I've ridden with will do this (I've suggested it). Instead, they tailgate the slow car, curse like mad, and then almost cause a wreck when the try to pass the slow car in full-speed traffic as soon as they enter the interstate.

If you leave enough space you can easily get up to interstate speed and pass them quickly and effectively.

Except that people who want to go faster than you will pass you and get in front of you. This leads you to either keep slowing down to maintain the space or start shrinking the space.

Yes, many people will pass you and go in front. That's not such a big deal since many of them switch into yet another lane (Some will even exit the freeway only to immediately re-enter) as they try to gain even half a car-length on everyone else.

I don't feel like competing with them.

Personally, I'm not trying to fix traffic for everyone. I'm selfishly trying to make my own commute as pleasant as possible. By following the advice in this old article I've managed to greatly improve my own drive, and I find the amount of time I spend in the slow pockets of traffic greatly reduced.

I'm concerned that when cars doing this are the minority, with other traffic constantly going around them, they just become an obstacle in traffic. If you inspire other cars to change lanes to pass you, because you're intentionally driving slower, you may be making traffic less safe.

This is a fair concern. I have not seen this in practice, though, and it might be a matter of the part of the world where I drive vs where other people drive. But let's cut to the chase with how the system works:

You are not supposed to be driving slower. You are supposed to be driving in average speed with the traffic. You may have had to slow down in the first place to do this. If you are just starting out, a good rule of thumb is to just leave space between you and the vehicle in front of you; keep pace.

The key is to maintain enough space between you and that vehicle that you can

(1) allow people to freely pass through (they are going to do something crazy to do it anyway if they do not have the space)

(2) absorb traffic waves

It is likely you will not be able to do #2 consistently. But you can let off your gas and not hit the break. Hitting the break is an instantaneous warning signal to people behind you, causing something of a reflex for them to also hit the brake. You are trying to avoid the brake-light wave. Letting off easy generally does not cause as much reaction.

What if you end up in a traffic jam anyway? Leave space anyway. It does help.

Aren't more accidents are caused by people getting panicky as they try to cross lanes of traffic that are closed to them? They force their way in or speed up to get around a bunch of people?

It is all about leaving that space so they are comfortable. Everything begins to move faster. And you are more relaxed in your driving because you are not freaking out at what is going on in front of you, allowing you the freedom to react as necessary to all the other kinds of problems traffic can bring.

Intentionally driving slower over a long distance is a misapplication of the principles. As the article points out, it is all about the average speeds. Frankly, very rarely does anyone get "pissed", and all they do is pass around you. And then they end up hitting their brakes and shifting out quickly. Passing != bad thing; we are not trying to win a race here. I have never been honked at.

"But you can let off your gas and not hit the break. Hitting the break is an instantaneous warning signal to people behind you, causing something of a reflex for them to also hit the brake."

...As long as you're careful about doing this, of course. If the people behind you aren't paying enough attention to notice a slow decrease in speed (and can't see the reason you're slowing down), they'll be hitting the brakes hard to slow down when they're suddenly too close.

In hilly city driving (hi, SF), I will actually intentionally use my brakes to signal to the people behind me I'm trying to slow down, because there's often not enough space to notice when your line of site effectively stops at the next intersection's brief period of flat road. And yeah, this behavior was inspired by seeing someone rear-ended right behind me.

Yeah, I am sure I am not alone in despising tailgating. It is the exact opposite of what we are talking about in this thread, a product of impatience and bad assumptions. You simply cannot stop some people from hitting the brakes repeatedly. You can just work to reduce it by not causing the reflex response in most situations.

I also refuse to be pushed by people who ride my tail; I maintain my speed and ignore them (which is oodles better than slowing down to teach them a lesson, which actually does the other thing I was warning against here, causing a ripple in the traffic). It is my rebellious nature against their several ton weapon.

Trying to drive competitively in a traffic jam is always unsafe. Actually, at least around Seattle I haven't noticed traffic "constantly" going around me as I do this. By making it easier for people to merge into the lane in front of me I'm actually making it a lot safer for them.

They honestly don't go around you that much in my experience. When I've tried it, people seem to usually fall in line behind you - I think they're not really sure what's going on.

Except that by doing this you can (in theory) make traffic actually move faster, so there will ultimately be less passing.

In the real world, where I have tried this, this doesn't turn out to be a real problem. It happens a little (not as much as you'd think, since traffic is jammed to the left and right of you) but by and large I'm consistently able to keep several car lengths open in front of me, even as people merge in from adjacent lanes.