Nearly everyone else in America (and probably Italy) is going to think this sentiment is insane, but you're right on here. The way this comes about has to do w

Nearly everyone else in America (and probably Italy) is going to think this sentiment is insane, but you're right on here. The way this comes about has to do with the suburban model. When you're in an environment where traffic is commonplace, you can drive defensively or aggressively. During traffic crunches, defensive drivers are completely walked all over by aggressive drivers, and will easily double their time sitting in traffic. Leaving a safe distance means leaving room for people to dangerously merge. This leads to a nash equilibrium of aggressive driving, and now you literally have Americans criticizing the idea of "brake-checking" tailgater as a way of signaling their displeasure at being tailgated (literally just tapping the brakes to slow down). It's a completely messed up system, and it terrifies me that it seems to be spreading to other countries.