It’s time someone spoke up for the aggressive drivers of the world.  You know, the pushy ones who change lanes and wait until the last second to merge back when the lane ends.  The drivers who seek out the fastest moving track on the roadway in an effort to get where they’re going more quickly.  The ones who get ahead.  A recent letter in my local newspaper called us ‘miscreants’ and demanded an end to our ‘pushy’ practices because we clog up the traffic for everyone else, creating jams and cutting people off, as though we are a bunch of scoff-laws.  In response to this point of view, which is widespread, I feel the need to defend myself and others like me who are the miscreants.

The bottom line is this.  The aggressive drivers are the primary movers in traffic and their behavior increases the overall average rate of flow … for everyone.  Anyone who has ever watched a river move knows that slip-streams form and eddies occur in an overall pattern which results in the water moving at it’s greatest possible speed.  This happens because voids in the fluid are immediately filled from behind by the fastest moving particles.  Cars on the road should (and most often do) move in the same way, as long as the traffic laws are observed and safe driving practices are adhered to.  The surest way to slow down the overall flow rate is to impose restrictions which force everyone to remain in a straight line, one behind the other, with no chance for ‘chaotic’ movement.  It may appear to be more ‘fair’, but forcing every car to wait its turn would make commuting worse for all of us.  As unfair as it may seem that some people get ahead on the road,  give thanks that they do knowing you’ll arrive sooner because they did.