A method and system that monitors the behavior of surrounding vehicles in order to predict and react to an upcoming hazard in the road, even in situations where the hazard has not been directly sensed. In an exemplary embodiment, the method monitors an area around the host vehicle and looks for the presence of one or more target vehicles. If target vehicles are detected, then the method evaluates their behavior, classifies their behavior into one of several categories, and assuming that their behavior suggests some type of upcoming hazard, develops an appropriate preemptive response for controlling the host vehicle. The preemptive response may include mimicking, copying and/or integrating with the behavior of the surrounding target vehicles according to so-called “flocking” techniques in order to avoid the otherwise unseen hazard.