You've got it spot on there mate!
Especially with this 'sheeple' culture we live in today where nearly everyone feels compelled to hop onto the latest bandwagon/craze.
Having said that, petrol panic buying is far from a new phenomenon, and we've already been down that same old road many times before (no pun intended), most notably back in September 2000 (which seemed like absolute panic stations at the time) and sporadically throughout the rest of that decade (around 2005, 2007 and 2008 IIRC) and also around early spring 2012.
Still no signs of panic buying of other items (e.g, toilet rolls), at least not on my manor.