Yup. Agreed -- it's largely about jealousy. When I got pulled for splitting lanes in VA, the cop noted in court that "the other drivers were cheering as the cop wrote me a ticket," presumably because it meant that I was stuck in stopped traffic too. This was proof of guilt in court, by the way.
And yes, I've read reports that indicate that you're better off beside a car than behind it, in that you won't get rear-ended.
What's ironic, of course, is that cops ride motorcycles so they can -- you guessed it -- move through traffic. I've seen DC cops split lanes so often it hurts.
--Jaeger
