[barrkel]

At 80mph, 2 seconds is about 240 feet (72 metres); 3 seconds 360 feet (108 metres). I'd expect to have my safety buffer merged into with a three second gap. It can still happen with a 2 second gap, but it's a lot less likely.

[kbutler]

So you are willing to reduce your safety to stay ahead of the guy in the other lane.

Traffic flows best when drivers allow merges, not when they try to close gaps to prevent merges. Most aggressive mergers will quickly merge out as well.

You may even get some "thank you" waves...

[barrkel]

I'm not talking about closing gaps to prevent merges, but leaving a compromise between continuously merging traffic in front of you - requiring you to slow down continuously but randomly - vs maintaining a steady speed with a predictable buffer.

[sangnoir]

> I'd expect to have my safety buffer merged into with a three second gap.

Does this happen frequently enough for you to ignore safety concerns? If so, you should be able to live(or not) with the tradeoff you are making.

[barrkel]

The large gaps mean you need to continuously slow down for the people merging in - overall it decreases safety, IMO.