We've all seen it happen. Especially those of us who work in restaraunts or other public services - people always drive by, shop, eat, and do everything in WAVES. Is this voluntary?

When I drive to school in the morning, I get to the end of my road, and it branches to highway 62. As soon as I get to the road, there are 5-10 minutes of cars. If I sit and wait until it's completely clear, I can drive the 45 minutes on the highway without seeing a single car.

Is this a psychological problem that humans have? That they like to drive in packs? Or could it be completely coincidental?

I've seen the same phenomenon but i've always put it down to the way society works.

The great majority of us are working to pretty much the same clock.

Most people who have kids have to drop them off at a certain time to be at work at a certain time etc etc and this all leads to a mass of people with the same timetable ending up in the same place at the same time, theres also the fact that once they have congregated and go to drive away yes there is then the "pack" mentality thing.
Everyone keeps up with the one in front, if you were to slow down everyone behind you would feel they are falling behind and being held up and over take you to follow the leader, so to an extent its society to an extent its the effect we have on each other in groups...imo.

I'd say it's more to do with the way society is run, as psycho-cannon said. If 75% of a population have to be at work for a certain time, then they will be leaving their homes at about the same time. Of course the location of the work places has to be taken into account, as do the location of the homes and their distances from the work places, however with the establishment of cities, and with residential areas, a lot of people will be leaving the same areas, to be at the same places, at about the same time. I wouldn't say it's psychological at all really. :)

I can't argue that the way society schedules a workday can't be a factor in this - but has anyone ever taken a roadtrip?

Cars travel in packs on interstate highways, and surely they didn't get on at the same time.

If you need to see this for yourself - while you're driving and there are people near you. Pull over. Once all the cars pass, it can be anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds before another car comes, and he's usually surrounded by other cars. Also, on interstate highways this can't be a society schedule thing - because a lot of people on interstate highways are traveling. (Thus the many license plates.) Travelers don't have to meet any deadline or anything, they don't have to get to work on time - yet they also participate in this phenomenon.

Have you ever read <i>Desperation</i> by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King)? Maybe that's one reason why people travel in packs.

But, yeah, I understand you completely and it unnerves me to no end. I recently took an 8-hour drive across a couple of states in an old pickup-truck I was dropping off and yet I repeatedly ran across several packs of cars all in a line. No one wanted to pass any of the others up, so they just bunched up continually.

And, like you said, as soon as you pass up the slomo at the head of the pack, you find yourself with free driving-range that lasts for another 5-10 minutes. Then you're back to another group that can't break out of the mulepack mentality.

Then there are some people that literally have no awareness of a world that might exist in their rear view mirror. These cretins drive slower than crap and are actually startled when someone from beyond (behind them) manages to overtake them.

It most likely has to do with a lot of factors, as were mentioned: same time for work, school, hangouts; shopping, the mall; running errands. But I can't help but think the majority of drivers out there are on perpetual Sunday strolls through the neighborhood—obviously with no clear intent to get anywhere and as much time as possible to get there.

I guess it reinforces the idea that most of us are just a bunch of sheeple.