That is just known as tailgating, it is 100% more dangerous, and the mentality that leads to it is a minor form of road rage -- getting annoyed at other drivers and rationalizing dangerous behavior because of it. And all you're doing is, very definitively, rationalization -- tailgating is never safer. That is a form of "I am very clever and counterintuitive" rationalization or how otherwise fairly smart people wind up making dumb decisions.

If you allow enough space -- which should really be well over a semi-trailer of space -- then you allow people to "cut you off" but everyone is ultimately safer.

You get where you're going at basically exactly the same time as well. Even if you get caught at a light, you'll probably make it up at some other light where you'd never make it anyway because the backup is 2+ lights long anyway (or else you're driving somewhere at some without any traffic and it doesn't matter anyway).

It also greatly helps to just get the fuck out of the left lane entirely and get out of the mentality where you give any fucks over it. That goes equally as to if you are one of the left-lane speed police OR if you're one of the left-lane-is-for-passing police. Both of those people are actually road ragers. Stick with one of the other lanes and open up a nice wide gap in front of you and watch people zip over to the left lane and get into each other's headspaces.

And you'll get to wherever you're going within a minute or two of whatever your maps app predicts.

And often the left lane isn't any faster because half the people think they drive faster than everyone else and zip over there and crowd it up.

> Note that I've never rear-ended anybody, but I've certainly had some exciting panic stops.

I can't remember the last time I ever had an "exciting panic stop". I'm pretty certain I can guess which of us is a generally safer driver. So that should be your answer.

I've observed much the same thing. After a certain distance, you will find people taking extra risks just to find a way into that space. Then once they have managed to weave their way into a position where they can move into that space, they will frequently do so mere feet in front of you. They will not take advantage of the giant space available and simply get in front of you at all costs as fast as possible.

It's really not about somebody getting in front of you, as it is discouraging them from risking their life, yours, and multiple other people's around you, to get into the somewhat larger space available.

If you're commonly seeing that, you're likely doing something to antagonize other drivers.

Tailgating in order to prevent that is rationalizing unsafe behavior.

Speaking of a "stupid, hazardous fad," this self-congratulatory twist-of-thought is rampant and dangerous right now.

"The theory that things that improve our safety might provide a false sense of security and lead to reckless behavior is attractive—it’s contrarian and clever, and fits the “here’s something surprising we smart folks thought about” mold that appeals to, well, people who think of themselves as smart." -- Zeynep Tufekci

And I'm not going to carefully research something that should be very obvious if you have any experience driving at all. You can go out and talk to a thousand driving instructors and police who will tell you the same thing.

Anecdotes can also be right. You can't prove something wrong by screaming N=1 you can only argue its not proof. So prove my experience wrong with statistics and data (I will bet you that you cannot).

Unless you’re stuck in traffic, easing off of gas to allow for 2-3 cars of space ahead of you isn’t even going to be noticeable in your commute time.

This is not the logical conclusion of not following too closely behind the car (any car) that happens to be in front of you.

Letting people in isn't going to increase your drive time by more than 5%. Probably closer to 2% on average.

I'll sacrifice a little extra time commuting to see my family again another day.

It's not that. It's that following a bit closer is arguably less mental work then dealing with the unpredictable encroachments, merging cars pacing you exactly versus speeding up or slowing down to merge, etc.

The problem with putting out the engraved invitation is it means never passing the big trucks. I don't like following directly behind big trucks because of visibility and fumes. But it you leave a big space, people will keep passing you on the right to get into that space, and then you may as well sit in the right lane behind the truck, because you're not going to pass it.