When driving across town at a high-traffic time of day, I notice the worst-behaved driver and study their technique. The tailgating, the constant lane-switching, the perpetual cycle of accelerating and brake-slamming. What I've observed is that, without fail, at the other side of town, all of their efforts have caused them to be many *car lengths
behind me, when all I've done is drive respectfully in one lane.
I attribute this to what I call "selling low" in traffic. Think of the stock market: you "buy low" and "sell high" in order to maximize profits. In traffic, if you wait until something bad happens before changing lanes, you never see the "high" side of that lane. By "selling low" these spastic drivers are guaranteed to experience the worst conditions possible. And, they
waste alot of gas.
*(Incidentally, these "car lengths" translate to almost nothing as a measurement of
time...)