I was looking for a term to describe a phenomenal I often see so I searched dictionaries and encyclopedias for the correct term. I actually found four terms that describe my story below.

Herding Instinct
A social tendency in humans to identify with and model many behaviors and beliefs after a larger group of individuals with whom they identify.

Herd Behavior
The tendency of a group of individuals (a herd) to react coherently without there being any coordination between them. How individuals in a group can act together without planned direction.

Spontaneous Order
A term that describes the spontaneous emergence of order out of seeming chaos. It is also a social theory that describes the emergence of various kinds of social order from a combination of self-interested individuals who are not intentionally trying to create order.

The Bandwagon Effect
People tend to follow the crowd without examining the merits of a particular thing.
 

So what the heck am I talking about - this herding instinct thing? I have had a drivers license 47 years and it seems like I have driven a zillion miles in my lifetime. Since I am driving slower due to fuel cost I have noticed the herding instinct phenomenal more often than when I drove faster.

Cruising down the road in the Dutch Star with the cruise control set on 62 mph Linda and I enjoy the ride and beautiful scenery. I check the mirrors often and many times see little traffic and sometimes there is not one vehicle showing in the side rearview mirrors.

Then I peek into the mirror again and see them coming - anywhere from eight to twenty vehicles - rushing at me like a wild herd out of control. Everyone in the pack is breaking the speed limit and cutting from lane to lane trying to get an advantage on the vehicle in front of them.

They merge into the left lane and I watch them streak by our motorhome and then take both lanes again, switching back and forth, turn signals blinking, brake lights flashing, and again vying for an advantage over each other. The lane changes and flashing lights continue until the herd disappears a distance down the road. Linda and I still slowly cruise down the road and wonder about those drivers and their need to be first in the pack. Surely their blood pressures are boiling and their brains are ready to stroke.

About ten minutes later I spot another herd approaching from the rear identical to the first herd - driving dangerously fast, switching lanes, hitting brakes and probably cursing the drivers in front of them for not getting out of the way.

It took a lot of research and I learned this is the herding instinct. I had rather be a loner than part of the herd.