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You don’t have to brake and maintain a hard 3 seconds between gap. Just let off the gas a bit let it slowly restore itself. That gap is there so cars can move in and out as freely as they need.

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merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Depends on how aggressively someone merges in front of you, and what they do once they’re in your lane. Some people will merge way too closely. Some people will merge then slow down suddenly. Sometimes you do need to brake.

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- 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  If they merge in your lane and then brake, then thats on them, not you. Yes, you will have to brake, but its not you that is being the bad driver. Just create more space between you and the car in front of you again.
  
  You could also look into merging into a different lane temporarily until space is restored.
  
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  - merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    It may be “on them, not you”, but if it keeps happening because of the way you’re driving, then fundamentally it’s on you.
    
    The fact is, if someone drives too differently from other drivers they make things less safe for everyone. It doesn’t matter that if everyone adopted their way of driving it would be safer. It’s still the case that driving too differently endangers everyone else.
    
    In some cases, leaving a 3 second gap is going to cause more dangerous conditions than it alleviates. That’s especially true if you’re really rigorous about that 3 second gap and noticeably slow down to create a new gap when someone merges in front of you.
    
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    9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    You don’t have to rigorously slow down though. Just ease it into existence. Its not a race. It might take a few seconds to replace that space, but thats fine. You don’t even need to hit the brakes 95% of the time. Just go a mph or two slower and let it balloon out over time.
    
    The person behind you can usually recognize that someone just whipped out in front of you and will give you some grace time to adjust.
    
    And keep in mind, if someone is merging into your lane, then whatever lane they came from now has additional space, which lets those lanes work better. Its a win win.
    
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