It's not like in kindergarten where kids point at each other yelling it was the other who started it. If someone does something dangerous around me, it absolutely concerns my family's safety, regardless of what triggered the dangerous situation. Thinking two steps ahead to prevent these situations from occurring in the first place is at the core of defensive driving philosophy and it's why it's often recommended that one pick going with traffic flow instead of going at the posted speed limit if forced to choose given traffic conditions.
I agree that in many roads, going above the posted limit is a very accurate measure of recklessness, but that isn't the case everywhere and it isn't at all uncommon that the flow of traffic is 10 or even 20 km/h over the posted speed limit on many freeways or countryside roads.
I disagree that going at the posted speed limit when someone behind me is going faster is dangerous, or that the person going at the speed limit is at fault. If anyone in this scenario is creating danger it is the person speeding. Generally it is not "everyone" who is speeding, only a percentage. If everyone is going over the limit and it creates a dangerous situation if someone drives at the limit, then there is some serious problem with that road and it needs fixed urgently (either by increasing the limit, or by enforcing the existing limit). It's unhelpful and silly to suggest that people must break the law to be safe, and it completely defeats the point of speed limits and the rule of law, not to mention common sense.
Defensive driving means looking ahead and predicting when someone is going to do something stupid, not braking hard if someone is behind you, being very careful when changing lanes, driving in a parking lot, etc. It definitely doesn't mean driving above the speed limit to keep people behind you happy.
> It's unhelpful and silly to suggest that people must break the law to be safe, and it completely defeats the point of speed limits and the rule of law
The law doesn't necessarily codify what's safe. You could go at 40km/h on a highway and be technically entirely within the law, but that's certainly not a safe thing to do. Similarly, you could go at exactly the posted speed limit on a snowstorm when everyone is driving slower and you would be entirely within the law, but you're probably going to get yourself killed.
Maybe if I always drive in the rightmost lane, being pedantic about posted limits is probably safe for a variety of reasons, but if I'm on the left lane of a 100km/h 3-lane highway, I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable going at 100 if everyone else is going at 125 (including cops).
It's not like in kindergarten where kids point at each other yelling it was the other who started it. If someone does something dangerous around me, it absolutely concerns my family's safety, regardless of what triggered the dangerous situation. Thinking two steps ahead to prevent these situations from occurring in the first place is at the core of defensive driving philosophy and it's why it's often recommended that one pick going with traffic flow instead of going at the posted speed limit if forced to choose given traffic conditions.
I agree that in many roads, going above the posted limit is a very accurate measure of recklessness, but that isn't the case everywhere and it isn't at all uncommon that the flow of traffic is 10 or even 20 km/h over the posted speed limit on many freeways or countryside roads.