You're right. The lap people are worse because they are trying to hide what they are doing in a way that makes it more dangerous!
> I apologized. From his perspective it was a dick move; I got it. The look of shock on his face when I apologized was priceless; he almost looked dejected.
As a cyclist I talk to a lot of drivers. I'd guess, just based on my intuition, that about 1/3 of drivers will apologize outright for dangerous driving when I talk to them. I'm not surprised this would disappoint some people but I think it's the right response. I myself have tried to get better about pausing to evaluate my situation when I've been accused of doing something bad and apologizing if necessary. It takes practice.
I'm not sure if it really matters that much. Humans are very bad at paying attention to more than one thing. It's the attention that really matters, not so much the vision. Besides, peripheral vision essentially just tracks movements, and traffic is always moving regardless.
I suspect that if there is a difference at all, it will be smaller than you'd expect.
One time I switched lanes rather abruptly as the person in front of me was erratically speeding up and slowing down. (No, I wasn't tailgating; I think they were drunk or maybe having an argument.) The person in the next lane apparently got pissed that I merged so closely behind him and a few blocks later pulled up alongside me to yell. I apologized. From his perspective it was a dick move; I got it. The look of shock on his face when I apologized was priceless; he almost looked dejected.
People get so self-defensive; it doesn't make any sense. It's like people turn 18 and stop growing up. Their loss, I guess.
Whenever someone cuts me off or wanders into my lane, rather than getting angry I try to remind myself that that's me during an inattentive moment, which we all have regularly. We just don't realize when we have them because, well, we're distracted.