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Even moving slower will not prevent stop and go traffic if the road has reached its capacity, due to the various different accelerations and decelerations of cars.

My overarching point is something like this video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Suugn-p5C1M

There simply is not a way to avoid the consequences of being near or above a road’s capacity. Of course, I recommend everyone to play it safe and stay far enough back to avoid any liability of being too close to the car in front. But the reality is we make lots of calculations and choices in driving and at various times, we choose farther distances and other times nearer distances (even though we know it is riskier) and these collective decisions will propagate down through the whole road.




> due to the various different accelerations and decelerations of cars.

Right, changes to the flow of traffic.

> There simply is not a way to avoid the consequences of being near or above a road’s capacity.

I agree, that is a valid bullet point. But that is certainly not the only cause of congestion, and driving aggressively in congestion and attempting to justify it by keeping the roads clearer doesn't hold a lot of water I don't think.

But I see you're saying you're not advocating unsafe driving so that's good, and I take your greater point, thanks for expounding on it.




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