I'm with you on the safety cushion, Little Hawk. I've heard people say they don't do that because "other drivers will just pass you and fill that gap"; they don't seem to understand that's why it's there.

I used to have a friend who was a trafffic cop and he explained why so often it is the last car in a line of speeding cars that gets nailed.

He said, Inside a line of speeding cars it is safer to pretty much stay with them. However, the *last* car in the line is not being pushed. That car has the option of going the speed limit.