Here’s a thought for you, people are a bit thick. A lot of drivers aren’t making the rational calculations people on here assume, they’re not mentally engaged.
Try this some time. In a supermarket check-out queue or airport check-in, let a small gap develop in front of you, say three feet or so, invariably the person behind you will become agitated at the lack of movement to the point of nudging you with their trolley, steeping on the backs of your heels and so on.
It’s bonkers, totally irrational, what slows things down is the bag check or check-out process and if people thought it through, they’d know that shoving their trolley into you isn’t going to make any difference to the time they spend standing there.
I reckon a lot of people do the same thing on the road. They just feel a sort of basic need to feel they’re progressing, they can’t help themselves. Rational thought has nothing to do with it and trying to project that sort of reasoning process onto some motorists – and some cyclists – is a waste of time.
Then again as a nation we seem happy to spend billions on a completely pointless nuclear deterrent so rationality clearly isn’t really our strong point… 😐
