Have you noticed an uptick in drivers who are aggressive, rude, or just plain bad over the past few years?

Since 2020. Covid broke a lot of brains. Once people started driving again, it’s like they forgot (or rejected) all the rules. Bad behavior that I rarely saw, like blatantly running red lights, aggressive driving, using turning lanes as passing lanes (even through intersections) went from rare to daily.

Hell yes, since the pandemic, it has been nuts. Especially how they behave in parking lots.

The same thing happened after 9/11 and lasted for months. People were stressed, upset and angry and it really showed up in their driving.

We now have the Republicans and their malignant narcissist glorious leader actively destroying this country. Medical costs, housing and grocery prices (among other things) are completely out of control and keep getting worse and Trump claims affordability is a "hoax" while adding more tariffs. Nearly eradicated diseases are surging again and children are dying. Our food has become unsafe to eat. We're in a war that was completely unnecessary and the dotard in chief is shitting his pants and pretending he's a tough guy while crawling into food carts to hide. Nero isn't just fiddling while Rome burns, he and his ilk are smearing shit on the walls and actually lighting more fires.

People are naturally stressed, upset and angry, and it's again showing up in our driving.

Not really. It sure can feel like it when you run into one, but people have been shit at everything since forever.

Yes. Society is very ill. (pats society on head)

The city I live in had 15 pedestrian deaths from cars as their previous record, this year we are up to 40.

Cars are rapidly increasing in size and weight, decreasing their visibility, and people wont get off their phones. I do also partially believe that covid hit cognitive function and that tough times are making people antsy and angry too.

I think the older we get, and the more we know how things "are supposed to go" we notice more when things don't go that way. I usually try to chalk it up to people that are inexperienced, elderly or not local. But there will always be people that are dicks because they can

It was way worse before phones were outlawed while driving. Now, people are back on their phones while it’s illegal. It’s a legitimate issue, and a hard one to solve.

People are braking like 30% later because of distractions inside of cars. More recent automobiles can tolerate braking so suddenly, but older ones cannot. Phones, funny enough, have gentrified the roads via producing unsafe drivers

I actively enjoy being a polite and considerate driver.

If you’re not in a 2024+ Tesla there’s every chance I’ll let you out, buddy. I use my turn signals every damned time. On country roads I leave a big gap between me and the vehicle in front in case someone wants to overtake and needs to pull in. I move to the side of the lane when motorbikes are coming up from behind me and make sure to leave space for them to pull in too. I let trucks out if one’s trying to overtake another. If someone’s tailgating me, I pull over and let them past, imagining they’re a bomb disposal tech heading to a school for blind orphans to save those poor kids. “God speed, you crazy bomb whisperer!”

Life is good.

People on their phones at red lights is insane. And then they have the absolute fucking nuts to look at you in the mirror when you beep at them for almost missing the entire turn arrow, like you're the moron. Blows my nuts off. I gotta get out of the city, man.

In France, during the past 10 years, yes. Most people around don't stop at stop signs anymore. They don't even pretend to slow down. It's like driving schools have stopped teaching the basics to young drivers (who are now 30/40 and still drive like morons).

If you're a shitty driver (BMW or VW), come to France! There are no cops on the road except once a year around Christmas to pretend they still exist.

People ALWAYS say that drivers have gotten worse since [date] or that [my-local-area] drivers are the worst. I remember people saying this 30 years ago.

I am aware that pedestrian deaths are up in the US, which can be attributed to phones and vehicles increasing in mass. Other than that, let's see the data.

It seems so, but I don't have any data to back this up so it's yet another anecdote. Speaking as someone who spends a lot of time on a motorcycle, though, I feel that I probably have a keener eyeball out for this sort of thing than most.

People kind of went insane during the COVID lockdowns and as far as I can tell remained at that approximate level of insanity in the years afterwards, whereas the number of vehicles on the road returned right back to its original level.

There are a lot of distracted drivers who think as long as they match the speed of the car in the lane next to them, no one will know they are doing something on their phone. Meanwhile, the whole road is blocked by people doing 10 miles under the limit because they're relying on each other to pay attention.

The number of people who will sit until honked at when the light turns green also seems higher. Motherfucker, if you're first in line you have an obligation to watch the signal!

No, not personally. Have you considered other factors such as a change in local population (increased traffic), new local stressors (stressed people drive aggressively), has your driving perspective changed (higher driving standards as you get older or have kids)? I'm willing to accept my local area may be an outlier too.

I’ve seen endless people not using their blinkers, and I’ve seen people diving over two, three, four lanes of freeway to make their exit, I’ve seen people changing lanes in the goddamn well-marked no lane change tunnel, speeders and super slow drivers alike,

and I think it would prolly be for the best if the standards to get a license were much, much higher.

nah it's fucked now. and as a result, I'm more aggressive as well

had a guy last night with LED bulbs in halogen housings pull up across the red light. put my highbeams on because I couldn't fucking see. he turned his LED highbeams on. when the light turned green, they swerved towards me.

funny thing is, that's similar to what I do when I'm being blinded - I drift towards the center of the road so I don't go into the ditch. but this guy thought I instigated the situation when I was just responding to him instigating the situation.

nobody won. we're both pissed off. it's stupid. but fuck the assholes, nothing will change unless there are consequences. so I'm gonna try to make consequences for them. and that means I appear as just one more asshole on the road to others.

another peeve of mine is driver aids. it's made people so goddamn bad in parking lots. I don't give a fuck that your backup alarm wasn't going, I'M WALKING HERE, and "I didn't see you" isn't a fucking excuse or apology for you being a dangerous shit driver. fuck you.

Yep. Coinciding directly with the proliferation of massive trucks with 10 seats and 600 horsepower engines and a bed too small for a TV to fit in.

Had a few people scream at me when I am cycling to work on the few sections I have to use roads with cars on.

Recent one I was cycling along and someone pulls out into my lane and expected me to move over for them. Nah, you fucking wait, this is my lane not yours. I can stand in the road with you shouting for a lot longer than it takes for you to reverse back to where you should be waiting.

I wish I lived in a first world country who could provide reasonable public transportation so I didn't have to deal with driving for EVERYTHING in my life.

No, in my experience it has always been bad

Not really. But the amount of asshole on e-scooters has gone through the roof!

The thing that is pissing me off recently is that when people stop at a light with wayy too much room in between their car and the one in front of them. I think it is a byproduct of many drivers not being able to visualize how large their car is Like seriously, most people leave enough room to fit an extra car or two at the stopped light. Imo it contributes heavily to how many cars can actually pass at a green light, and it makes traffic so much worse.

Reading over the responses from people here, I'm realizing that Philly drivers really are as bad as I believe they are.

Most of the responses here describe what I've been seeing in Philly for decades. Running red lights, blowing through stop signs, turning right on red from the left-turn-only lane. I refer to that as the "Philly Right Turn". There's also a "Philly Left Turn" (AKA, turning left on red from the right-turn-only lane) which is slightly more advanced because it involves crossing at least one additional lane of moving traffic.

I had a guy hit me because he went straight in the right-turn-only lane and the road had a dog-leg at the intersection because of construction. He said it was my fault because "everyone does it". His insurance didn't agree with his argument, and I got my deductible paid (thanks, dashcam).

When I was in college 30 years ago, I used to joke that Philly drivers should have their horns linked to their brakes so that when they leaned on their horn to warn other drivers that they were going to run the red light, the car would automatically brake instead. That wouldn't work since then because people stopped bothering with the warning honk.

The things I've seen change more recently is what I mentioned in my other comment: driving on the wrong side of the road and driving while staring at their phone.

Might be a couple of reasons. Corvid, economic downturn, political turmoil. People are just more stressed - and rightfully so, as the world is a clown show, currently.

I’ve noticed over the many years I’ve been driving (1) it depends on coincidence (sometimes there are suddenly ten jerks in a month instead of the average of two -plain statistics) 2) it depends on me (if I drive defensive, it seems every one does so too).

They're easy to identify around here, most drive a pick up. As for the uptick, a lot of people only were decent drivers because they drove regularly. COVID and they lose the constant practice they needed to remain just decent. Add in that there's a lot of anger directed by males, who I find a higher percentage of these drivers, to others around them and yeah. It's a breeding ground of shit drivers. Add in that younger drivers are hot blooded typically and it answers the majority of them.

I've certainly seen an increase in people driving oversized cars. Those are rude and dangerous even if the drivers tried to drive defensively. It's the physical embodiment of "fuck you, I got mine".

Last year things really escalated here. Between the never ending and always expanding construction, price rises and whatnot, everyone is pissed off all the time.

Yes, and the trend feels like it’s correlated with the number of Teslas around here.

Yes. Jackass drivers run through crosswalks and stop signs, then have the guts to yell at pedestrians. Cars act like they own the road. Bicycles are very common in my neighborhood, and yet drivers act like they shouldn't share the road with them too. (SoCal)

Yeah people seem more self centered now. They always have to go first even when pedestrians have the right of way. At least that's what I've seen.

Yes, because police stopped working after Antifa demonstrations in 2020.

Either way they get paid.

It's going to vary a lot by location, I'm not sure there is even a consistent worldwide tendency for vehicular aggressiveness. I haven't noticed one myself in Marseille or Mayotte over the 16 years I've been driving

Yep. And it gets worse every year.

I avoid major areas every chance I get.

Too many people with the me me me, and whatever aditude on the road.

I've noticed an uptick in people that drive with their high beams on over the last 5+ years

I wonder if the most recent people to switch to public transport and cycling were the nicest remaining drivers. Where I live at least, it seems this could be playing a major role.

Yes

Not really. The roads here have always been filled with jackasses that should never have been given liscenses. Ironic for a city that is pretty much iconic to car heads (American Graffiti was filmed here); full of dipshits that can't fucking drive.

Drivers were definitely more aggressive and dangerous 20 years ago than now where I live

Maybe a little more irrational and chaotic, haven't noticed much change in aggression or rudeness. Just more impulsive decisions, like switching lanes at the last moment. Just today I witnessed a near collision between three cars who were all abrubtly switching lanes simultaneously almost into each other.

Yeah and they all have student driver bumper stickers

Traffic fatalities in the U.S. have been pegged at 40,000 per year for decades, in spite of the number of drivers going up every year. So, by that broad statistic, things have been improving.

I have and wow is it bad. I see people blatantly run reds, including changing into the oncoming lane or the shoulder to pass people stopped at them every day I drive. Same with stop signs and even sometimes in school zones.

I know people have issues with self driving cars, but I’d rather the streets be full of Waymo’s than human drivers at this point. (Yes, I’d really prefer public transit and bikes, but that’s another matter)

yes but I would say more than the last few. It just another thing that makes the teens of this millenium noticibly worse than previous.

Yes, over the last few years. I haven't seen it get noticeably worse recently, but things like blowing through red lights and turning whenever you like are happening all the time.

A recent trends I've noticed is tons of people driving with one hand and holding their phone up with the other, looking at it.

And also people going very slow, like 25MPH in a 55MPH zone.

Actually no, just...more people on the road. Rush hour is rush most-of-the-day now, compound that by it's impossible to grocery shop at 2AM now.

Covid. Since then a loooot of stuff shifted. The time being isolated did not do well on some people.

People are more aggressive since then. Also that a Lot of bad stuff happens to everyone.. with Not recognizing where it comes from.

Yeah. World divided is easier to rule

As you age you’re likely slowing down, becoming more timid, and as a result of that are becoming an obstacle on the road for people to avoid instead of being a part of traffic. This perspective shift will make it seem like other drivers are being more aggressive than before, because to you they probably are.

I wish they would ticket the fuck out of people driving in the left lane for no reason. I get in front of them and drop my cruise like 1mph a minute until they get over then go back to 10 over.

I think it's a combination of fallout from the pandemic and BLM protests.

During the pandemic traffic disappeared. If you were one of the unlucky few who still had to go on-site to work, the first thing you noticed was there was no traffic. What was a 1.5 hour commute previously was a 45 minute commute during the shutdown. When people started driving again it was like they all forgot how to do it.

Regarding the change in driving habits, the most dramatic example I've seen is people crossing the double yellow line to pass cars. I never used to see that, but it's almost routine now. I've seen people do it in areas where they can't even see oncoming traffic. Crossing over into the other lane to pass 20 cars sitting at a red light. It's insane.

Apart from all that there's also so many more people with their eyes glued to their phone when they are driving. You see someone swerving all over the road for miles, and if you get close to them they are always looking at their phone.

EDIT:

Re BLM, in some cases police policies directed officers not to get involved in traffic stops. In other cases, I think butthurt cops decided if they weren't allowed to abuse brown people, they'd just refuse to do anything.