I suppose there are different characteristics in different types of congestion. Stop and go congestion is usually caused by disruptions to the flow of traffic, while slower than usual congestion is indeed caused by over-capacity as you indicate. Just moving slower would be all such times would experience if not for people tailing and cutting others off, leading to the stopping part.
My overarching point is something like this video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Suugn-p5C1M
There simply is not a way to avoid the consequences of being near or above a road’s capacity. Of course, I recommend everyone to play it safe and stay far enough back to avoid any liability of being too close to the car in front. But the reality is we make lots of calculations and choices in driving and at various times, we choose farther distances and other times nearer distances (even though we know it is riskier) and these collective decisions will propagate down through the whole road.
Right, changes to the flow of traffic.
> There simply is not a way to avoid the consequences of being near or above a road’s capacity.
I agree, that is a valid bullet point. But that is certainly not the only cause of congestion, and driving aggressively in congestion and attempting to justify it by keeping the roads clearer doesn't hold a lot of water I don't think.
But I see you're saying you're not advocating unsafe driving so that's good, and I take your greater point, thanks for expounding on it.