It’s not safer. Assuming that they disconnect peers who send them invalid blocks, it just means that RDTS nodes split off two difficulty periods earlier, if only a minority of the hashrate is in support of the soft fork.

> if it never reaches the 55% threshold then activation stalls

No, that's not what the BIP or the activation client code says.

> > Standard BIP9 uses a time-based timeout that transitions to FAILED if the threshold is not reached. This deployment sets timeout to NO_TIMEOUT and instead uses a BIP8-like, height-based max_activation_height. **The deployment transitions to LOCKED_IN at height 963648** (one retarget period before max_activation_height), then to ACTIVE at height 965664.

> > Similar to BIP8, this deployment enforces mandatory signaling during the retarget period immediately before mandatory lock-in (blocks 961632 to 963647; lock-in happens no later than block 963648). **During this window, blocks that do not signal bit 4 are rejected as invalid.** Mandatory signaling ends once the deployment reaches the LOCKED_IN state.

True, if it never reaches the 55% threshold then activation stalls — that’s by design. The “safer” part is mostly about avoiding premature enforcement. It ensures that nodes don’t start rejecting blocks under the new rules until enough of the network has signaled. Basically, it trades speed for coordination....