This is something that I know that everyone’s done at one time or the other. Picture this scenario. You’re about 100 feet away from a traffic light that’s red. You’re on a four-lane road, with one car in front of you in each of the lanes in your direction.

Do you do an almost instaneous appraisal of the cars to see which one should get “off the line” quicker and position yourself behind that car? I do this all the time. It’s probably the only time in my life that I start weighing the acceleration capacities of the Pontiac Grand Prix versus the Toyota Camry, for example.

Of course, the game can be made even more interesting if there are multiple cars in the lanes or more lanes than two. “Hm…; there’s a Grand Prix and an old Oldsmobile in this lane; there’s a Honda Accord and what looks to be a Z71 in the other lane. Easy lane change. So long, granny!”

Of course, putting big rigs in the equation almost always tilts the balance heavily towards non-truck lanes. But if the truck is sufficiently close to the front of the line, that opens up a new game entirely: the “can I get past everyone up to and including the truck, switch lanes, and get an open lane” game.