Musings on traffic flow

More musings... why is it (in Australia at least, although I've seen research on some of this from other places) that drivers do any or all of the following:

(1) On the freeway especially they will stay in the 'slow' lane (here it's left but right in the US) only if there is no-one about. Any sign of other traffic and they head for the middle. Why is that? Fear of having to change lanes at some point, so let's get it over with now?

(2) Again, on the freeway, when faced with increasing traffic volume the centre lane (assuming 3 lanes each way) is vacated increasingly and the far right (or left, y'know - the 'fast' lane) becomes over-crowded. This continues until saturation is really obvious, so more cars are in the fast lane, fewer in the centre lane and often very few in the so-called 'slow' lane. Why is it so? What is gained by saturating (and often tailgating) one lane to the point where it's actually no faster - and possibly slower - than the 'slow' lane?

(3) I mentioned tailgating, so I'll ask 'why'? What is the gain in driving too close to the vehicle in front? Is it fun? Even more so when the road is wet?

(4) Lane changing. What is actually gained by constantly adjusting your lane? Anecdotally I would suggest nothing, or very, very little over most journeys. It may be fun, perhaps, as you get to do more driving (especially accelerating and braking to get into tiny spots).

(5) Accelerating to bridge a gap and shut the door on others. You know, you are 10secs behind the cars in front and you feel the urge to get closer, as in 2 secs maximum. Why? What's wrong with holding station at 3-6 secs? Do you feel there's safety in numbers? Are you hoping to draft the car in front to save fuel?

I'm going to suggest that risk is one aspect in common, in that some people like a bit more than others. But I suspect ignorance plays a role too, in that many people do not self-analyse their actions and thus don't even realise that what they are doing is actually contributing to the slowing traffic flow. That urge to catch the guy in front, even when all you are doing is catching up to traffic and adding to it, is one twisted competitive urge that really doesn't need to be expressed on public roads. Does it??

Cheers, Rob.