Sometimes we let ourselves get drawn into a collision trap in front of us by trying to avoid a problem behind us, such as a tailgater. The temptation here is to speed up and move away from the vehicle which is following too closely behind us.
How do we avoid a situation like this?
We do it by actually increasing our safe space to the front.
We do this by gradually reducing our speed by one mile an hour until we have doubled our 3-second following distance to 6 seconds. That gives us 3 seconds for our car and 3 seconds for the car behind us that's encroaching on our safe space. This give us room to maneuver in time to stop if something goes wrong up ahead.
Most tailgaters follow too closely because they want to go faster than the car they’re following. So when you slow down to increase your safe space, they usually take the first opportunity to go around you. Then you can re-establish your normal following distance.
By using this procedure, you have also eliminated the potential for a collision from the rear, as well as the front.