>After years of intense combat, I finally decided that all that zig-zagging, while exciting, didn't take 5 minutes off my trip, so I adopted the strategy of getting into to the left lane of the Long Island Expressway and keeping my eyes glued to the stop lights of the car in front of me while hugging its bumper to prevent any gap-filling.

True for other situations as well. Often I get passed by a car at least twice stronger than mine, doing 70kmh in a 50kmh street and on an intersection with a smaller sidestreet, or generally doing something nasty or outright dangerous... only to have me waiting right behind him few blocks later. Must be that military logic, "hurry to wait".

The difference is that they usually hit the pedal on any straight stretch of road. I do that when I start. If such a guy is behind me at the light, I'm beyond the crosswalk while he's still in the middle of the crossing, and then he feels he needs to teach me that 2 liters is a bit more than 1,1. Except that it's not the volume, it's the horsepower per kilogram that matters. Any seconds he gains on the straight stretch, he loses at the next light for not paying attention and texting or talking.