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Other good techniques include watching about 1/4 mile up the road to see what the general traffic flow is doing, instead of just a couple cars directly in front of you.
Driving for what's happening behind you: this means adjusting your following distance to give more space in front of your car if you're being tailgated, and in so doing, giving the tailgater some more stopping distance if the traffic flow comes to an abrupt halt. This allows you to slow down over a greater distance so the clown behind you can realize things are stopping -without hitting you in the process.
And when everything comes to a stop on the freeway, leave some extra distance between yourself and the car in front, in case someone is going to come skidding into you because they didn't notice the whole freeway had stopped until it was too late.
This can give you some options to move, either forward a bit to give them more skidding distance (and so come to a stop without the help of your bumper) or if there's an opportunity, to drive out of the lane and let the skidding car have more room -or let 'em hit somebody else.
Finally if you see you are going to get rear ended while sitting still in a backup, DO stand on your brakes once you've made the evasive adjustments above. Your car is going to get bubble-gummed anyhow and no advantage in getting the guy in front of you involved in the litigation against you for rear-ending him when you're pushed into that car.
-Also you have better support in the rear of your seat against a rear-end collision than you have in front of you against a front-end collision. -Thirdly it's better to have to fix the back, where there is some crunch-space than fix the front where the delicate suspension and engine sections are. You can usually drive with the back end crunched; with the radiator wrecked and hood in your face you are done.
Driving for what's happening behind you: this means adjusting your following distance to give more space in front of your car if you're being tailgated, and in so doing, giving the tailgater some more stopping distance if the traffic flow comes to an abrupt halt. This allows you to slow down over a greater distance so the clown behind you can realize things are stopping -without hitting you in the process.
And when everything comes to a stop on the freeway, leave some extra distance between yourself and the car in front, in case someone is going to come skidding into you because they didn't notice the whole freeway had stopped until it was too late.
This can give you some options to move, either forward a bit to give them more skidding distance (and so come to a stop without the help of your bumper) or if there's an opportunity, to drive out of the lane and let the skidding car have more room -or let 'em hit somebody else.
Finally if you see you are going to get rear ended while sitting still in a backup, DO stand on your brakes once you've made the evasive adjustments above. Your car is going to get bubble-gummed anyhow and no advantage in getting the guy in front of you involved in the litigation against you for rear-ending him when you're pushed into that car.
-Also you have better support in the rear of your seat against a rear-end collision than you have in front of you against a front-end collision. -Thirdly it's better to have to fix the back, where there is some crunch-space than fix the front where the delicate suspension and engine sections are. You can usually drive with the back end crunched; with the radiator wrecked and hood in your face you are done.