[pilom]

Other peoples poor driving shouldn't make you drive worse. In the Drivers Ed classes I've taken, the recommended advice is that if someone is tailgating behind you, you should leave EVEN MORE space in front of you so that if you need to hit the brakes, you won't have to hit them as hard and thus won't be as likely to be rear ended.

[geocar]

and then pushed into the car in front of you.

Same reason to use the handbrake at a crosswalk/zebra crossing: You don't want someone reckless behind you to make you cream some poor folks.

[loeg]

That's not a reason to use the handbrake over the brake pedal. Typically the brake pedal is more effective (all wheels, ABS) than the hand brake (sometimes 2 wheels, probably no ABS). The handbrake is just for emergencies and parking.

[geocar]

When I learned to drive in the US (Washington state) I received advice similar to that, however when I took lessons in the UK, I was advised that when you are rear ended, you will have a hard time keeping pressure on the break pedal so you should do both.

[loeg]

Fair enough.