A phenomenon that may not occur elsewhere as frequently as it does in my region is the "clumping" of traffic on the Interstate highways.

Small groups of vehicles, all travelling at about the same speed, form a clump or cluster in which the cars in front are the slowest. Cars behind, in the cluster, have caught up and can't get past to drive at their preferred speed.

As I generally plan ahead and drive at a speed comfortable to me, often 5 to 15 mph less than the posted limit, I almost never catch up to one of these congested clusters, but may be fairly frequently overtaken by one. Since the cluster - if it catches me - is, as a whole moving a little faster than I am, when the "passing lane" jam clears me, the cars pinned behind the idiot in the lead are free to pass "wrongside" (which is illegal but expected) and are able to proceed at their preferred speed. Cars in the legal "slow lane" usually are unoffended, and will mostly wait their turn, and will pass after the "passing lane" has been cleared.

I have thus performed the useful service of "sorting the clump" by the preferred speed of the drivers previously locked into it, and within the space of a mile or so, the entire "pack" is dispersed and leaves my vicinity, and I once again have the entire road to myself to relax and enjoy my drive. The "speeders" can proceed to catch up with the next clump, where they can resume their cursing at each other. All of those formerly friendly drivers string out and enjoy their "new found freedom" to select their own preferred speed, until they catch the next cluster.

I can usually enjoy about 20 miles of "open road" before the next bunch catches me.

I see it as a public service that gives all of the idiots in the cluster a few safer and more comfortable miles.

It should be noted that I use other methods and modes of driving where the particlar phenomenon doesn't occur, and adjust my speed as needed to the conditions prevailing; but I do enjoy driving on a good road without constantly competing with closely packed mobs of other drivers, and that purpose is served quite well by simply driving at my own comfortable speed.

On "back roads" where I actually do most of my driving, I will usually run at about 10 mph less than the speed limit, since this is the minimum speed difference that allows an overtaking vehicle to pass safely without speeding excessively. I will generally speed up to the limit for stretches where I know there are no safe passing areas, if someone comes up behind me, but I'm not in too much of a hurry to assist anyone in getting around if it appears they want to go faster.

On the back roads, when someone comes up behind and there is another vehicle ahead of me, I will back off to at least double my normal safe following distance, to let the one behind know that they're welcome to pass me and pull in while looking for a safe place to get around the one(s) ahead. (There are very few safe passing areas on most of these roads where one can safely pass more than a couple of vehicles at one jump.)

I also give special consideration to commercial truckers, since I know that they have no choice in the schedules they need to maintain. Although rarely necessary, I do have a CB I can use to talk to one if there's a need to agree on a safe way to get them past me.

Of course, I'm in the rather unique situation of having nowhere I have to be if it causes risk or undue inconvenience to other drivers. I'm sure there are few others for whom that consideration applies.

John