Speed and Courtesy

For the past year or so, during my commute to and from work, I try to erase traffic jams using the techniques William Beaty describes here. The basic idea is to gradually add space between me and the car ahead of me so that when events occur that cause traffic to back up, I have enough buffer so that I don't have to slow down much, if at all, and the cars behind me don't have to slow down either. Instead, we continue at a nice steady clip. The biggest challenge that I have with it is finding the happy spot where I build enough buffer, but not so much that the drivers behind me get angry.

I think some the anger I perceive is irrational. It is true that in order to build buffer I have to go a bit slower than the car in front of me. But once I have enough buffer I drive as fast as everyone else. But even though I am driving just as fast, when drivers behind me see all the space in front of me, they assume I am not going fast enough, and perhaps should be driving in one of the slower lanes. It seems most drivers take a very short view: Actually getting there faster with less stop-and-go is less important than the feeling they are going faster that comes from being right up on the tail of the driver in front of you. In some ways I can't blame them, as I would sometimes rather drive out of my way, and be moving, than sit in stop and go traffic.