You're riding solo on a two-lane road.
A car comes up behind you and hesitates for a while (causing more cars to slow behind him) before finally passing you.
He gives you a wide berth.
Observation: the next car passes you by inches.
As if to compensate for the aforementioned wide berth.

I don't know how many times this has happened. But it seems to be every time.

Haven't noticed. But, I'll look for it.

Yup. People are idiots.

Yes, but I always figured it's because the second car didn't see me with as much notice as the first car (probably because they were tailgating the first car wondering why it was slowing down). I try not to take it personally.

This is undeniably true. But I've never noticed the second-vehicle brushback, either.
That hanging-back thing drives me crazy, though. i ride on a lot of two-lane, most of it wide enough and with good enough visibility for cars to pass easily. I move to the right, motion them by, wave frantically, but they just keep on trundling at 13mph.

I think often the second driver gets annoyed at the first driver for taking too long to pass and takes it out on the most defenselss person available, the bicyclist.

You should just yell at them.

I tend to see trailing drivers follow the lead of the first to pass me. If the first one brushes me, they all do. If the first one goes over into the oncoming lane, so do the rest. Except, of course, for the occasional jerk, who brushes me just to send a message.

Related: a car is delayed a few seconds because of an upcoming curve or hill, and then finally passes (safely or not), and then just to prove a point or something, swerves WAY over to the right in front of me (where I will be riding in a few seconds.) It's almost as if they're saying, "yeah, I went around you this time, but this is where I COULD be driving..."

Or maybe that's just something I'm imagining

Then start a thread about it.

I've seen that as well. I figure it has to do with the second car not having as good a view of the road ahead (because it's obstructed by the first car which has pulled wide) and thus no. 2 is cautious about pulling as far into the other lane as the first car did.

Guys, come and ride in Bombay, India. Here, in the city, all vehicles, particularly two wheelers and to some extent buses almost always brush past you. And a fast moving bus can really disturb your balance by the sideways draft it creates. I have got so used to being brushed past, that this does not even cause a break in my conversation now.

I will presume you prefer cremation.

Doesn't happen to me. I ride a rigged chariot. In the arena there are no rules. Many are killed.

From my experience, it is the second car ... often the tailgating car ... you have to watch out for. The first one sees you and slows down and/or pulls over. The second one ... and especially if it was tailgating the first ... does not see you and either passes with inches to spare or swerves suddenly to avoid you.

If the vehicle slowing up behind me is something fairly large, I pull way over close to the ditch assuming that the vehicle which may be behind it won't have the faintest idea I'm there.

yes i have observed this and i think it is because the second car is getting hot under the coller about the car in front of him and doesn't bother looking around. his whole attention is the slow car blocking him.

i have also noticed that cars that hesitate when passing are a pain in the ass. they hang on far too long right behind you and that is intimidating evn though it isn't meant to be. i try to wave them past if safe to do so. they obviously don't have the confidence to move quickly away.

^^this^^

The second car is frustrated by the first car's unwillingness to pass and wants to get by you quickly (and dangerously) as if to prove to himself that it shouldn't take so long to pass.

The described scenario has happened to me many times...most noticeably several years ago when I was passed by a white Bronco who gave me plenty of room...the following police cars were not nearly as cautious.

I also find that if the first car brushes me and I give him the close hand Italian salute of 'What the Hell!' (Read, no middle finger)...

That all subsequent cars give me a wide berth....

I assume that they notice that passing within a foot is still too close...

Fixed for accuracy.

Hmm, I always thought I noticed the opposite. The first car sets the theme for how much or little room the cyclist is going to get. I guess our biases color our perception of reality.

The hanging behind me too long doesn't bother me as much as knowing that I'm probably going to be passed by a bunch of cars continuously does. The other thing I've noticed is, after passing up several very safe places to pass with good sightlines these people almost invariably pass around a blind curve, the top of a hill, or some other place where it's not that safe to pass.

It's not the dude that hesitates to pass you that you have to worry about... it's all the impatient clowns now stacked up behind him who see you as the reason they didn't reach the next traffic light 10 seconds sooner.