once when a woman slippped her foot off the clutch and bunnyhopped backwards out of her space into my side) avoided them. But it doesn't stop me getting annoyed at them almost causing an accident. I think "what if the next person they do that to isn't paying as much attention as I was?" or "what if it's a lorry with a longer stopping distance?"
more braintime left over, especially at junctions.
Correct, I don't think about them, but they use up subconscious time. The less you are doing the more you can concentrate on the things you are.
Another useful situation is when overtaking. You don't have to think "am I going quite slow enough to use third?", you just push the pedal right down. You can concentrate on getting past safely while the gearbox decides when you need to go up to fourth.