paradocs98

The following may be a bit off-topic, but I believe this is the best forum to generate a meaningful discussion. Aside from the occasional good-natured ribbing, this forum seems to generate the most thoughtful and mature responses within rennlist.

I've noticed in the last couple of years an alarming increase in aggressive and selfish driving on public roads. For context, I live on Long Island in the suburbs of NYC. Driving habits have always been poor around here, a toxic mix of the clueless/wandering/slow/elderly/distracted and the impatient/hurried/aggressive/nasty. But I've been living and driving on Long Island for 20 years now, and things are dramatically worse now than even five years ago. It's becoming common for drivers in my town to speed along in a left turn-only lane, bypassing a long line of cars in the right lane, to then cut everyone off at the intersection, making a right from the left turn lane. Similarly, yesterday a driver was next to me at the front of a line of cars waiting at a large intersection. He was in the left turn-only lane, and I was in the leftmost lane to continue straight. As the light turned green for both going straight and turning left, he accelerated straight ahead to cut off all of us continuing straight. It was obvious that he hadn't made a mistake being in the left turn-only lane; he was just using it as a means to cut ahead of traffic at the light. On area highways and expressways I routinely see people switching into entrance merge lanes and even breakdown shoulders to accelerate ahead and gain six or seven spots in the line of traffic. In addition, high-speed, aggressive lane changing seems to be at an all-time high, both on local surface roads and highways. Drivers are cutting between other cars with maybe a 2-3 foot gap on either end, at 60, 70, 80, 90 mph. All it requires is the car ahead to unknowingly brush their brakes and disaster would occur. And it seems to involve all types of drivers, in all types of vehicles. Men and women, in cars, pickups, minivans, of all brands.

A quick google search shows that aggressive driving has indeed been on the rise, both during COVID shutdowns and in the aftermath. Drivers are reporting an increase in aggressive driving by others, and interestingly, by themselves (self-reported in surveys).

So this raises a number of questions, and I encourage comments from forum members throughout the country and abroad:

• Is this a regional phenomenon, or are people seeing this aggressive driving behavior all over the country, and throughout the rest of the world?
• Typically as one gets away from major metro areas, overall driving behavior becomes more courteous. Is this still the case, or has this aggression permeated more rural communities as well?
• Why do we think this is occurring? There is concern that young children isolated from others during COVID have lost or never learned socialization--the basics of sharing, cooperating, etc. Does a similar effect apply to adults with driving? Or could it be that risk-taking drivers had free reign during COVID shutdowns, a time when they could drive at high speed and aggressively knowing that there was little enforcement, and now they've continued this behavior even after everyone else has returned to the roads? Are people simply stressed-out, anxious, hurried and acting out through their driving? Or are these aggressive drivers getting an adrenaline fix, behaving dangerously for the thrill? If that's the case, do they have no appreciation for the potential consequences of their actions? It's in many ways sociopathic behavior. One interesting aspect is that, in this area of the country, if you honk at an aggressive driver who is doing something dangerous or about to hit you, they respond by honking back at you. They don't give a wave or a gesture of "sorry--got caught" but instead double-down on the antisocial behavior. It's craziness.
• Is this overall behavior a reflection of what's happening in society at large, where our leaders, politicians and media encourage conflict and an "us versus them" mentality? Gone seem to be the days of civility, cooperation and working together towards a common goal.
• Is this phenomenon, as with many others, a pendulum effect, and in time things may settle down again?

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts.

Veloce Raptor

It is definitely not regional. I see it in nearly every urban and suburban area. I think it is definitely an us versus them thing combined with the rapid increase overall in the narcissism in society. It's all me me me me me. So many people seem oblivious to the fact that they are not the only ones on the roads at that particular moment, and everybody seems to feel entitled to do whatever the hell they want whenever they want without any accountability. In addition, the absolutely moronic policies of defunding the police around the country have cut to nearly 0 the routine traffic enforcement we are used to seeing in urban and suburban areas. If ever there were a time to practice defensive driving, and to have one's head on a swivel constantly, it is now.

RSA964993

I agree with VR on the enforcement part. I remember a time where there was visible traffic enforcement almost every where. It was common to see people pulled over for minor traffic infractions and that alone kept people behaving. Besides a random speed trap, I rarely see any police cars patrolling traffic and ticketing for moving violations. I imagine people drive accordingly if they feel there are no consequences.

MSR Racer

100 percent true!

dgrobs

Seeing it more and more every day.

Elections have consequences people.

Does anybody really think that a country who can’t keep murderers and rapists behind bars is really gonna give a chit about traffic enforcement? Really?

I know I know, go ahead and delete this post for possible political overtones.

But, elections do have consequences….

Veloce Raptor

Truth.

ldamelio

Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt

Just by coincidence, I have been noticing the same things as OP. As a road cyclist, I have an additional layer of concern over aggressive/narcissistic/distracted driving. I stumbled into the existence of the book above as I am currently reading something by the same author. It would seem to agree with OPs observations and may offer some detailed insights. I have it on hold at my local library - even the cover notes are pretty interesting. I'll chime back into the thread if it's still active after I finish the book.

In response to OPs bullet points, and for what my opinions are worth, I do think it's somewhat regional. Worse in urban areas to be sure. Outside of big cities, I think it has a lot to do with local demographics. The nuances of those are infinite.

Without throwing gas on the political fire, I don't think it's a consequence of any recent election. I think OP hit the nail on the head with the 'us vs. them' polarization of society and the increasing narcissism fueled, IMO, by social media.

LuigiVampa

Don't we already have a BMW driving school thread?

stownsen914

You don't have to choose political sides to notice large doses of idiocy and aggression, all over the place. Add a pandemic to the mix, and some people have gone off the deep end.

I have to wonder too if various car features intended to increase safety, and "self driving cars", have given people too much confidence in the ability to safely drive fast, and exacerbated the issue.

dgrobs

No doubt. And those self driving features on the new cars don’t always work as intended to add to the stoopidity.
In my 58 years, I’ve never seen driving like what I see today. Just a mess.
(Also, anyone check their insurance premiums for your next renewal? We got a letter from our umbrella carrier talking about a 20+% renewal increase, and one of the main reasons they gave in the letter was automobile claims are through the roof).

fatbillybob

And people need to stay off my lawn!!

stownsen914

Oddly enough, I literally had an idiot drive on my lawn today lol

bgiere

What type of election would influence driving behaviors ? Where's the correlation ? I'm not claiming to know but I'd wager it has no bearing. I'm just curious is all.

Nickshu

In our area (Colorado) I almost never see police on patrol anymore. I run radar detectors in all my cars and in the past 2-3 years almost NEVER see police clocking speeders anymore, whereas before that I would pickup 1-2 per week.

jdistefa

/win

I would have cut multiple people off at an intersection in order to be the first to recognize this comment.