En route altitudes and safety

a wrote:
A recent thread reminded me it might be worth discussing an personal
flying practice. When en route, as a way of reducing the likelihood
of a midair by about a binary order of magnitude (that's a factor of
two for the non mathematically inclined) I fly the nominal altitude
less 100 feet VFR, or the assigned altitude less 50 feet IFR. The idea
of course is if the unseen/unreported converging traffic is at the
correct altitude or on the high side of it, we'd miss. I chose lower
because I fly a low winged airplane, and of course I would agree this
makes a very unlikely event only slightly less likely. On the other
hand, I don't see that I've significantly increased other in-flight
risks much by doing this, What (if anything) might I have overlooked?
To the wiseguys, yes I in fact do hold altitude pretty closely when
flying.

Do any of you have similar odd real life habits you think enhance
safety?


I fly at the assigned altitude, period. I put my trust in the
controllers and would hope that the PIC's sharing the airways with me
are just as trustworthy (and professional). Someone that thinks
deviating from an assigned altitude by as much as 100 feet (plus or
minus) is "OK" should spend a few hours with an instructor that's going
to rap your knuckles with a ruler when you try pulling something like
that in the name of "safety".