Post 501: Skidding to preserve life

Almost killed this morning! East on Route 12 (Park Ave) towards Route 2.. A silver VW Jetta turns in front of me very abruptly, into my lane same direction, from the left. Murat squeezes brakes, shifts right and gets pushed into the gutter. Then I suddenly find myself in between the curb, and the Jetta who now frantically needs to make a right turn. This is when I left a lot of Conti rubber on the road, probably about two meters worth. "Nice mooooove!" is what I manage to scold her with, but her windows are rolled up and I can't hear her mouthing off to me too well, but try to read her chicken lips. Something about having to get to work or something. A teenager in the passenger seat seemed embarrassed. Not to offend anyone (oh who am I kidding?) but why does the typical bike-hating near-miss, almost-killed-me driver turn out to be an unattractive middle aged woman of extra-ordinary heft and girth, who usually has a cigarette in her left hand and a cell phone or a DD Mega Big Great One in the other?
I often smirk to myself when I wave to drivers who are kind enough to yield (this is a good habit- waving and smiling are the two of the most important things we can do as cyclists on the roads, right after obeying the law) But why am I waving, really? Is it:
1. So that they know how much we appreciate that they thought enough of us to touch their brakes and wait an extra 3 seconds? They are more likely to repeat the courtesy for others, right?
-or-
2. Is it really a "Thank you for not killing me, thank you for letting me live" wave?
I just realized when I went to edit this post- it's No 501.