Always_Ask_Questions,
“two lanes narrow into one into a turn to another highway.” … What are the options? … 2) Accept suffering as punishment for other avonos
Sounds like you are describing the merge to get from I-70 eastbound to I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) heading north, in which case yes you are definitely there to atone for your aveiros.
“90% of cars organize into one lane long before the turn and move slowly for 5-15 minutes. 10% of cars speed by and then merge in right before the turn. Of course, more than 10% ends up merging in, significantly delaying the rest.”
My take: 1) Some of the people “speeding by” to merge further up are not in your good-behavior lane because your good-behavior comrades are not letting them in. So many times I have tried to merge into a slower moving lane, either to queue up as in your example or because I need to exit, and not a soul lets me in. I’ve almost taken to not even turning my blinker on, because the blinker signals these friendly people to pull up right to the bumper of the car in front of them. 2) Part of the big delay is because the beneficent souls who are in the “correct” lane care more about being vindictive towards those they perceive as being in the “wrong” lane than providing as smooth a flow of traffic as possible for those behind them. 3) Bottlenecks are not always due to human failings – vehicles cannot double their speed when the lanes halve into a dangerous curve and merge.
What are the options?
If you had your eyes in your gemara or on your cell phone, or your coffee mug like civilized drivers, you wouldn’t even notice the maleficence around you. You wouldn’t even notice the slowdowns in front of you!
“3) count how many Jews fly by”
That would be antisemitic.