Imagine being a cyclist stuck in a pack of roaming wolves.

I'm not saying cyclists can't be asshats (they can, I've seen plenty), and most drivers are perfectly fine around cyclists, but being on a bike on a main road with traffic streaming past you inches away can be pretty terrifying. A lot of drivers slip into auto pilot mode, or don't have the best spatial awareness, or get distracted, or they've had a long day and are slow to react. If you're in a car and a cyclist hits you it's annoying, if you're a cyclist and a car hits you it's life threatening.