diff --git a/daemon/pool.go b/daemon/pool.go
index 09362c7..376eb46 100644
--- a/daemon/pool.go
+++ b/daemon/pool.go
@@ -43,14 +43,16 @@ var (
 	errDriverStopped = errors.NewKind("driver stopped")
 )
 
+const defaultPolicyTargetWindow = 5 // enough to prevent flickering
+
 var (
 	// policyDefaultWindow is a window for the average function used in the default scaling
 	// policy. The window will be divided by policyDefaultTick intervals to calculate the
 	// size of the window buffer, so this should ideally be a multiple of policyDefaultTick.
-	policyDefaultWindow = mustEnvDur("BBLFSHD_POLICY_WINDOW", time.Second*3)
+	policyDefaultWindow = mustEnvDur("BBLFSHD_POLICY_WINDOW", 5*time.Second)
 	// policyDefaultTick is a tick rate for the goroutine that re-evaluates the scaling
 	// policy for each driver pool.
-	policyDefaultTick = mustEnvDur("BBLFSHD_POLICY_TICK", time.Millisecond*100)
+	policyDefaultTick = mustEnvDur("BBLFSHD_POLICY_TICK", 500*time.Millisecond)
 	// policyDefaultScale is a default increment for an additive increase scaling.
 	//
 	// See AIMD for more details.
@@ -253,9 +255,9 @@ func (dp *DriverPool) runPolicy(ctx context.Context) {
 			return
 		case <-ticker.C:
 		}
+		dp.drivers.RLock()
 		total := dp.running.Value()
 		load := dp.requests.Value()
-		dp.drivers.RLock()
 		idle := len(dp.drivers.idle)
 		dp.drivers.RUnlock()
 
@@ -847,45 +849,71 @@ func defaultScalingPolicy() ScalingPolicy {
 // DefaultScalingPolicy returns a new instance of the default scaling policy.
 // Instances returned by this function should not be reused.
 func DefaultScalingPolicy() ScalingPolicy {
-	window := int(policyDefaultWindow / policyDefaultTick)
-	return MovingAverage(window, defaultScalingPolicy())
+	windowIn := int(policyDefaultWindow / policyDefaultTick)
+	return TargetMovingAverage(defaultPolicyTargetWindow, MovingAverage(windowIn, defaultScalingPolicy()))
+}
+
+func newMovingAverage(window int) *movingAverage {
+	return &movingAverage{samples: make([]int, 0, window)}
 }
 
 type movingAverage struct {
+	samples []int
+	next    int
+	sum     int
+}
+
+func (m *movingAverage) AddSample(v int) int {
+	if len(m.samples) < cap(m.samples) {
+		m.sum += v
+		m.samples = append(m.samples, v)
+		m.next++
+	} else {
+		next := m.next % cap(m.samples)
+		m.sum = (m.sum + v) - m.samples[next]
+		m.samples[next] = v
+		m.next = next + 1
+	}
+	return int(math.Ceil(float64(m.sum) / float64(len(m.samples))))
+}
+
+type loadMovingAverage struct {
 	sub   ScalingPolicy // policy that will use an average
-	loads []int
-	pos   int
+	loads *movingAverage
 }
 
 // MovingAverage computes a moving average of the load and forwards it to the
 // underlying scaling policy. This policy is stateful and not thread-safe, do not
 // reuse its instances for multiple pools.
 func MovingAverage(window int, p ScalingPolicy) ScalingPolicy {
-	return &movingAverage{
+	return &loadMovingAverage{
 		sub:   p,
-		loads: make([]int, 0, window),
-		pos:   0,
+		loads: newMovingAverage(window),
 	}
 }
 
-func (p *movingAverage) Scale(total, idle, load int) int {
-	if len(p.loads) < cap(p.loads) {
-		p.loads = append(p.loads, load)
-	} else {
-		p.loads[p.pos] = load
-	}
-	p.pos++
-	if p.pos >= cap(p.loads) {
-		p.pos = 0
-	}
+func (p *loadMovingAverage) Scale(total, idle, load int) int {
+	avg := p.loads.AddSample(load)
+	return p.sub.Scale(total, idle, avg)
+}
+
+type targetMovingAverage struct {
+	sub     ScalingPolicy // policy that we will average
+	targets *movingAverage
+}
 
-	var sum int
-	for _, v := range p.loads {
-		sum += v
+// TargetMovingAverage computes a moving average of the target instance count.
+// This policy is stateful and not thread-safe, do not reuse its instances for multiple pools.
+func TargetMovingAverage(window int, p ScalingPolicy) ScalingPolicy {
+	return &targetMovingAverage{
+		sub:     p,
+		targets: newMovingAverage(window),
 	}
+}
 
-	avg := int(float64(sum) / float64(len(p.loads)))
-	return p.sub.Scale(total, idle, avg)
+func (p *targetMovingAverage) Scale(total, idle, load int) int {
+	target := p.sub.Scale(total, idle, load)
+	return p.targets.AddSample(target)
 }
 
 type minMax struct {
diff --git a/daemon/pool_test.go b/daemon/pool_test.go
index f36f1d3..86cc8d5 100644
--- a/daemon/pool_test.go
+++ b/daemon/pool_test.go
@@ -205,7 +205,8 @@ func TestDriverPoolExecute_Parallel(t *testing.T) {
 	wg.Wait()
 	require.Len(dp.Current(), runtime.NumCPU())
 
-	time.Sleep(policyDefaultWindow)
+	// need approximately two full windows, times the inverse downscale factor
+	time.Sleep(policyDefaultWindow * defaultPolicyTargetWindow * time.Duration(1/policyDefaultDownscale))
 	require.Equal(1, dp.State().Running)
 
 	err = dp.Stop()