Bandits are not the problem in my opinion. Bandits rob you but they don´t kill you. People who "camp bambis" are another thing but I think it´s more of a community thing. I usually play in a team of 2 and we try to "clean" the server we are on and helping bambis/freshspawns with food so they can get energized easily. So far it works ok but if I see someone with a weapon I usually shoot him except it´s not a mosin/m4/sks and or the player has it shouldered. If you go in a group it´s less likely that you get just "shot down" on sight. But if you don´t want to see people you don´t have to. The amount of loot on the map is crazy and the people who kill others for fun&giggles are usually at the coast/airfields. I got shot 2 times now in 61hours of playing and I am always at the hotspots. I met a lot of funny people there a lot of "killers", once a bandit who robbed me but I don´t see a real problem with testing the game because of the players who shoot others. I agree that there is a bit too much ammunition though. A bit too much of everything kinda. I am running over the map being energized, hydrated and healthy all the time without carrying anything but some rice with me.
A good solution might be to connect the loot spawns (once added) to the amount of players. Like an empty server doesn´t spawn too much loot where a full server does spawn more loot. This way you have less server hopping and more interaction between the players. Put that together with the ability to communicate better, like using signs or "streetart" of some kind and we are able to better connect strangers. Once military weapons are less common people will think twice before engaging others because the engaged one might have someone covering him and so the attacker dies too. But right now you need ~1hour to be fully equipped with high tier gear so it´s not a problem to die and lose everything.

For us seems way too easy.

You eat rice, you drink from pond you are fine for more than 8hours at least in the "food area". Just drink a lot if you sprint all the time but we are running from north to south and, along the coast, through towns and we eat once per session (8hours) except we got shot or something. We don´t even carry food with us besides some rice and never water since it´s simply not needed. Once you are energized it takes forever till you need food again. If you sprint a lot you need water every ~15minutes to keep the bright green hydrated status but I never went lower than darkgreen ever. To me us it is a bit too easy and even if you start fresh you can get around >20cans of something in every town plus rice, milk cereals. Best is to eat what you find till you find rice. Eat rice and make sure water is near. This way you get the bright green status for water/food in no time and from there it´s a cakewalk.