"ON THE RIGHT >>>>> DRIVERS WITH UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR: THEY ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO MERGE AHEAD OF THEM, AND THEY TEND TO MAINTAIN LARGE SPACES AHEAD, EVEN IF TRAFFIC S

"ON THE RIGHT >>>>> DRIVERS WITH UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR: THEY ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO MERGE AHEAD OF THEM, AND THEY TEND TO MAINTAIN LARGE SPACES AHEAD, EVEN IF TRAFFIC SLOWS TO A CRAWL. MERGING IS EASY. SEE HOW MUCH FASTER THEY GO?" This is misleading 1)The actual throughput of cars through the constriction even in the animation is only slightly faster despite 'apparent' better speeds. 2)The animation does not account for drivers re-assuming their previous following distance. Regardless of whether your 'comfort' distance is half car-length or 5 car lengths, you will eventually resume it. Leading to a slowdown. The advice, and animation seems to assume both that we've merged (onto the highway in the first place) at a rate that can absorb those driving distances without additional slow-down and that we won't resume our previous driving distance (after merging past the constriction). In short, its moved the problem and then shown a window into the part that was improved. *edit: added parenthetics to improve clarity