Traffic merging is a really curious study in human psychology. Especially if you've ever driven in Italy.
You have one culture, here, where people are generally and often forcefully/disingenuously polite. Traffic ends up with two groups: 1) Doesn't want to offend anyone, gets in line way ahead of time, sometimes before the lane ending sign is visible because they know it's there. 2) Continues well down the merge/ending lane, either due to being a dick or zoned out/unfamiliar with the area.
Both of them end up freaked out and hopping mad because group 2 are usually just angry in general and group 1 are pissed off at all the people butting in ahead of them, making them feel slighted and bullied.
This ends up hurting innocent people trying to merge the most because they're not aggressive so they aren't going to cherry pick a zoned out driver and gun it for an opening, or cut off a polite person. So they see that the lane ends, put on their blinker and try to merge. Unfortunately, they've now run into a member of group 1 who are completely bitter and pissed off and staying a quarter inch off the bumper of the car ahead. So they're left with only two options, stay there until they encounter a normal person or just start ramming and hope for the best.
That's in a "polite" society.
In Italy, I was warned how crazy people drive. What I found is that the chaos works flawlessly. It was like heaven. The first experience was at a roundabout. There are cars packed on the roundabout, all gaps are already filled from other directions before they get to mine. With no traffic lights, this could (and would here) continue until rush hour ended. The way it works in Italy is that you pick a car about 45 degrees away up the roundabout, and aim to hit him - just pull out and go to sideswipe. What actually happens is he slows down, makes just enough room for you and everyone keeps going. No honks, no psychotic middle finger waving by a bug eyed retard - because he just did the same thing to get on the roundabout himself.
The next was on the highway. The highway is a 100 zone if I remember right but one lane each way with no center median. Traffic is heavy. I come up on some old Fiat doing 60. What happened next blew my freaking mind. He pulled over onto the shoulder as far as he could (half a car width). The oncoming traffic IMMEDIATELY noticed this and started driving by us on the shoulder the same way as the Fiat. I pulled out into the middle of the road, passing the Fiat on my right and the oncoming traffic zipping past me, half on the shoulder, with a closing speed of close to 200... no flashing lights, no honking...
I couldn't imagine what would happen here. If you pass someone by going into oncoming lanes or heaven forbid, do a U-turn, people lose their minds like you're about to kill them, you and every puppy within a half mile radius.
I really don't know what the answer is, you can't just change everyone's mentality and I can only continue to play chicken with these freaked out morons for so long. Half the time you encounter one so out of his mind that he would actually prefer to HIT you just to be "righteous" in his mind. My car is more valuable to me than teaching him any lessons so I back off but it's still taxing on my nervous system.
