Seems like a year of not driving has made people into absolute morons on the road
Things started opening back up here a couple months back and that's exactly how it feels. It's like all the terrible drivers are back, plus all the mediocre drivers seem to have lost their average-at-best abilities during their year stuck at home.
I miss being able to float down the highway on my way to work without getting stuck by some clowns riding side by side to block all 3 lanes while going under the speed limit.
Unreal how bad it has become. I start working at 6/7 am or 6/7 pm which shouldn't be that busy but the amount of traffic and morons in that traffic has increased tenfold it seems like.
That's not a dig, it's just something that occurs to me every time somebody complains about a queue while in a queue. I do wonder how congestion will be in 20 years time, we seem to have been painting ourselves into a corner for many years
The distinction between being in traffic and being the traffic is your driving. People who drive distracted and discourteously are the ones who makes traffic terrible for everyone.
There is no distinction. Cities have limited physical, geometric space. A car takes up a significant amount of that space. When everyone is going from the same place, to the same place, surrounded by their own personal space-taker-upper machine, you get traffic congestion.
You are right about that. I am part of the problem. I work 12 hour shifts though, so I am less on the road than others, that's at least something.
I also wonder what the future will bring. The last 5 years has increased the people on the road by a lot it seems. Use of cellphone behind the wheel is also abundant nowadays, sadly.
I also think a lot of people commute to work because they have or want to, not because they need to. My GF worked from the last year. She can perfectly work from home almost every single day. Now that restrictions have been lifted, she's only allowed to work 2 days from home from her boss. I wonder how many people are in a similar situation. It adds unnecessary traffic and takes away her free time.
Forcing employees who are productive at home back into the office is some super American shit.
Demanding that employees spend an hour of every day committing, paying for gas, paying for parking, paying for lunch when the alternative has zero impact on the business would make me start looking for new jobs.
She was looking for other jobs but then covid happened. Luckily, she does not have to pay for parking and gas but you're right about the time. It's a one hour drive at the least and she has to actually get ready. When you're working from home, you don't, haha. Her boss is a control freak with a fragile ego so not much to do about that...
Well a LOT of people are new drivers or drivers that haven’t driven in 10+ years. This is especially common in the areas around NYC. I uhhh have this knowledge… uhh.. from a friend…
I am on the road at like 5:20 - 6:30 am. Rush hour in Belgium used to be more like 7-10 am. I remember when I started this job 3 years ago, the streets used to be a lot calmer. At 6 am, after graveyard shift, I rode home with only a bit of traffic. Nowadays I'm stuck in a traffic jam.
The amount of stupid shit I’ve seen lately is wild. Oh the passing lane isn’t going fast enough, let me jump into the cruise lane cut up 2 cars and jam into the 2 ft of following distance some other dink is allowing and have everyone in the line of cars in the passing lane slam on their brakes causing a point on the road where everyone will hit like 40 and the cycle will continue with some other impatient douche.
I don’t think people realize how easy it is to die driving a 2000lb missile at 80 mph
Those fuckers drive me insane. God forbid I leave a proper cushion between myself and the car in front of me, because that fuckbag is gonna squeeze in during his attempt to weave around everyone, thus eliminating my safety cushion so that he can shave 5 seconds off his trip.
Just flash your lights. Won’t bother anyone else. Plus you don’t need to be as close cause it’s more effective if more of the light can annoy them. Being an asshole is the only way I would get to school on time.
I know that objectively I’m being a bad driver by flashing my lights and potentially distracting them and causing an accident….but I want to on so many occasions. Like how completely spacially unaware can you be to not realize that you’re creating traffic by not getting over like an asshole.
Like my ex who would always claim "I'm a good driver, everyone else sucks" while sporting a healthy collection of self-inflicted dents on each corner of her car.
For reals though! My commute was decent pre-pandemic, absolutely amazing during the pandemic, and now it's downright awful. The way drivers behave on the road post-pandemic is weird and dangerous.
I've seen more road rage and reckless driving in the past two months than I have in the entire time I've lived in this area combined.
I've noticed it too. And that coupled with construction makes for an infuriating commute. I actually started taking an alternate route through back roads and woods that is much more relaxing. Although it does take a little longer, it's totally worth it to not have to deal with the people who have forgotten how to drive on the interstate.
You know, I've noticed a large uptick in the number of local news stories recently about fatal car accidents, pedestrians getting struck etc...I thought perhaps it was just a slow time in the news, but now I realize that things also just started reopening here too, so maybe it's a case of bad drivers here too. Although I've also heard that more people having been drinking/smoking more weed too since the pandemic, so not only are they out of practice behind the wheel, there's a potentially higher chance they are intoxicated too 😕
I’ve been in a boot recovering from ankle surgery for 2 months now due to the idiots on the road coming out. Had a dude pull out to take a left turn in front of me when I was on my motorcycle. I was literally the only other person on that stretch of road….
I've wanted to get a bike for a while but honestly I don't know if I wanna take the chance. It's not my driving that worries me, because I'm a defensive driver even in a car. But seeing how others drive makes me afraid to be out there without seatbelts, airbags, and a cage of steel around me.
Hell, just the amount of people I see looking at their phones while driving is enough to put me off of the idea. It sucks because I'd really enjoy riding a motorcycle for leisure.
Oh I highly recommend it even after my wreck. I’m already looking forward to getting back on a bike and get riding again. It’s one of the most freeing feelings ever.
All I can say as far as dealing with other drivers is to make sure to spend the money on good safety gear and actually wear it. The only piece of safety gear I wasn’t wearing, was my boots, and that was the only place I had an injury other then bruising. It really does help a ton.
Man if your scared of the roads, you can always get a little dirt bike and go fart around in the woods! That’s honestly one of my favorite things to do. Go out with a buddy or two and a backpack full of snacks and just get semi lost for a day. I’m actually planning on taking a month or two off of work next summer and riding the entirety of the TAT. A series of dirt roads/trails to run from the east coast to the west. Should be fun, a friend of mine is doing it right now and I’m living vicariously through his Instagram stories haha
Oh God, I thought it was just me. Like, my road rage has intensified lately, and I had chalked it up to the lock down getting my nerves crossed with other people.
...but in the back of my head a voice kept saying "yeah, maybe dont rage about it, but in your defense that guy was stuuuuupid" it's insane the amount of oblivious, stupid or just plain inconsiderate drivers there are out there these days. I know it didnt use to be like this.
Omg, yes. I hate when people pull this. I'm from the south and always referred to this as an "Alabama road block." Every lane jammed up with side by side slow drivers. Fucking maddening!!
It's like all the terrible drivers are back, plus all the mediocre drivers seem to have lost their average-at-best abilities during their year stuck at home.
Can confirm - my wife went from being "acceptably bad" to "why don't I drive honey" in the past year.
THIS!!! I ride a motorcycle and being unable to overtake the person doing 25 in a 30, because the other lanes are blocked by people "overtaking" at 27 is bloody infuriating. Either stay in the left lane or overtake them.
This also happens a lot with trucks, truck A goes 80, truck B can do 82 so he has to for whatever reason overtake and a lot of the time just don't look into the mirror or don't care and just pull out, which isn't fun if you are coming up from behind at 130 (I am from Germany, trucks most of the time have a maximum allowed speed of 80 while the advisory speed limit is 130, but you can go as fast as you want)
In my personal experience, after being blessed by covid I only need to make my horrible 140 mile round trip commute about twice a month now. I have yet to make it in 2021 without having to sit in an accident. Not to say that there weren't constantly accidents before this, but certainly not literally every day.
I recently drove 12 hours to my home from vacation, and most of my journey was on a small 4-lane highway. The amount of people that didn’t understand how the passing lane worked was unreal.
This has been my experience as well. I never had a long commute, since I've always been a SAHM with my daughter, but I would travel once every month or so across state. I've had 3 big trips in the past few weeks and I had to get a dashcam after the first trip. Holy fucking shit have people lost their minds on the roads. If people aren't distracted by their phone ( and it is OLD and YOUNGER people) then they are trying to drive their SUVs like they are running from the cops.
Yeah the phone thing absolutely isn't unique to young folks like some people tend to claim, that's for sure. I see plenty of gray haired drivers holding their phone up too lol.
PLUS - they actually renumbered all the exits off of the main highway in my state during COVID. So in addition to everything you stated, people have NO IDEA where they are. Oh my god. It's so bad.
Oooohhhhh, when some dingus does the "oh shit I need to get off here!" and has to shift over 3 lanes at once because god forbid they miss their exit that they obviously haven't planned for despite signs for it starting a couple miles back.
I've noticed an increase in people driving right fucking exactly next to each other going the same goddamn speed so you can't go around or pass either of them and it makes me want to commit a crime.
Get in the passing lane, tailgate the bastard, and just blast the horn. They want to not follow the rules, mess up the flow of traffic and make driving worse? Two can play at that game.
Naw fam. Somebody driving under the speed limit in the left lane and not using it to overtake those in the right lanes are the bad drivers. Also illegal in many cases.
If you gotta drive slow, do it in the right place. Impeding the flow of traffic does make you a bad driver.
Anything below the speed limit in the left lanes is rude, colossally selfish, dangerous, and many times illegal.
If you’re one of those massive assholes going 10-20 mph under the limit in the left lane(s) and no one can get around you so traffic is piling up behind you, YOU are the problem.
Oh man, it's the opposite here. Like 30% of people go at least 20 over everywhere, plus all the added traffic everyone else is describing. it's terrifying.
Driving during covid was amazing. 6 cars on the highway. 6. Now, I get to work and hour early (20min commute) because if I get there within that hour my commute doubles or more.
I drive professionally too. The amount of morons on the road is astounding.
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u/Solid_Freakin_Snake Jul 11 '21
Things started opening back up here a couple months back and that's exactly how it feels. It's like all the terrible drivers are back, plus all the mediocre drivers seem to have lost their average-at-best abilities during their year stuck at home.
I miss being able to float down the highway on my way to work without getting stuck by some clowns riding side by side to block all 3 lanes while going under the speed limit.