Why do drivers tailgate so hard during the morning traffic rush?

Every morning heading south on 405 it’s the same thing. We’re in bumper-to-bumper traffic, nobody’s going anywhere fast, and yet someone is still glued to my back bumper like riding my tail is going to magically open the road.

They can’t get around me. There’s nowhere to go. We’re all stuck in the same crawl. But instead of just going with the flow, they’re constantly hitting their brakes because they’re following so close they can’t even react in time. It makes no sense.

Morning traffic sucks for everyone. We’re all tired, we all want to get where we’re going, and none of us control the speed of the freeway. Just breathe, leave some space, and stop acting like tailgating is going to fix anything.