'Platoons' are potential pile-ups++. My wife used seek these out. She said she thought of them as being like a group 'hug'. It's much safer to spread out a bit.

'Platoons' are potential pile-ups++. My wife used seek these out. She said she thought of them as being like a group 'hug'. It's much safer to spread out a bit. The instantaneous risk incurred by speeding away from the group for a bit is usually far lower than the sum of sustained risk it averts. Slowing down only helps until there's someone behind you. The real issue is traffic density. If it's 2AM and you're the only one on the road, you couldn't cause a wave if you tried. Traffic density can be reduced by increasing the speed of traffic and or the number of lanes as well as by reducing the number of vehicles. Waves are an interesting phenomena to keep in mind but if everyone were to slow down, there'd be problems at the on-ramps (in addition to the cost in time just from being slow). You need the guys at the front to speed up until they can move right/exit to a less-traveled road.