Why are Americans driving more dangerously?
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- Motor vehicle fatalities are above pre-pandemic levels. Matthew Shaer, who wrote about the issue for the New York Times Magazine, joins CBS News to take a look at why that is and what can be done about it.
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This entire country is a pressure cooker people are stressed about their jobs about family life and about just life in general.
This is what happens when the rich keep squeezing every dollar they can out of the middle class (it used to be the poor 30 years ago, but there's no money to squeeze from them any more). The rich keep getting richer, which means some one must get poorer. If a rich guy makes 2 million dollars more this year, it came from paying less to thousands of middle class workers (or giving a 1% raise while inflation is 5%). The economy is no longer driven by the middle class, it's driven by the top 30%. This rate of inequality growth is unsustainable, we will soon be like most Latin American countries, where you have 10% of the population doing great, and the bottom 90% are in absolute poverty.
@@heyaisdabomb Preach. This is also why there's so much "culture war" fear-mongering over wokeness or whatnot. Gotta keep the populace upset about something other than the increasing wealth gap
@@heyaisdabomb Exactly in America there is no work life balance it’s just all work and in some instances it seems like the harder you work the farther you get behind lots of people use their vacation days just for rest days off it’s ridiculous how much pressure your job can put on you let alone if you’re having problems at home it’s crazy.
It's ironic that the most prosperous country in the world would be this way. But there's a price to pay for everything.
@@heyaisdabomb So then what is your solution then? Install socialism in the country then?
The behavior of people overall has gotten way worse since covid. People do not know how to act anywhere... Planes, stores, cars. I prefer to be at home now, people are crazy.
Exactly what i was thinking.
People are more threatening in general. I blame social media.
Anytime I think about going somewhere and doing something, I remember it's 2024 and trying to do ANYTHING is a bad idea. Anything you want to do there is some techbro douchenozzle waiting to manipulate and exploit you. Anything to get you to consume consume consume.
This boorish behavior many people have adopted started long before covid.
People will be worse just buy enough food to stay home for 3 weeks and be able to buy online groceries.
Its not just driving. I find our society in general seems to be more hostile and aggressive in all walks of daily life. Stand on a line in a retail store or fast food restaurant and watch and listen.
I've been saying the same thing for 20 years, since I was a teen. I've always noticed this kind of stuff. I was partially raised by my WW2 grandparents in a rural area where I was also surrounded by other similar people with old school values. As I was growing up I noticed the difference between the older and younger generations. There's a BIG difference to say the least. Good parenting has been in decline for decades, and what we see now throughout society is some of the inevitable results of that.
Influence of social media as well with everyone telling you that everyone is mentally ill & we're in a dystopian society, the daily, constant reminders do not help.
Because the economy is sh*t and everyone is frustrated.
@@yearginclarke its not a lack of "good parenting" its the inevitable effects of a declining society built upon greed and lies
@@sleepy7711 That's definitely one of the biggest aspects of it, and that pretty much goes hand in hand with what I'm saying anyway. But I maintain my view that parenting has been in a decline for some decades now. Over my life I've compared how kids grew up with crappy parents and kids who had respectable parents and the outcome is usually apparent. It's not like that in every case, but usually is.
As a professional truck driver over a million miles I've seen the driving being more aggressive from everyone it's really sad
including semi-truck drivers. theyre getting worse too. and theyre incredibly more dangerous in any type of accident
I see from my phone screen and the Hawkish gawks of passerbyers the decline in the general American dream. In each glance I see less light in people's eyes. The world grows smaller and smaller as they see others but never themselves in others.
@@drywater3559The long term drivers have been retiring in large numbers in the last few years and the industry is becoming saturated with very young American drivers and foreign drivers. Tons of Somali, Russian, Romanian, and Indian.
You can be doing 10 to 20 over the speed limit on a two lane back road and you’ll STILL BE TAILGATED where I live. It’s insane. Everyone seems to always be in a hurry, chill, why is 15mph over the speed limit still not fast enough for you?
Same here in the DFW area. I don’t drive slow and people are always tailgating me. It makes me nervous. I try to drive are safely as possible. It seems like people don’t understand how dangerous driving really is.
@@honeyashley8 it can be intimidating especially if you are in a smaller car and they are driving a behemoth tank SUV/minivan/truck and beaming their headlights into your mirrors blinding you
Set cruise control right at the speed limit. I leave early enough for work not my problem people don’t leave their house early enough. Plus driving at 65mph is unbelievably relaxing. Very easy to see things coming and just not stressful.
god i hate that so much
We’ll if it’s a 2 lane highway and ur blocking the left lane I’m tailgating cause that’s the vip lane
people are subconsciously tired of living.
Bingo.....I luv your point
There's an app for that.
True. Subconsciously they want to get in a wreck and end their suffering.
@@mistercarter333same here in Miami
@@mistercarter333same in New York. This is why I only drive on weekends, preferably morning when there’s less drivers. Fortunately I take the subway to work and that has its own version of crazy since covid.
Anyone else agree no one does 70mph anymore, it’s 80 on average or more? Doing 70 and people pass you like you’re sitting still
Yes speed limit is posted at 65mph yet everyone is doing minimum 78mph and on average you need to be doing 78-90mph to be equal with them or they will pass you agressively regardless of the lane you are in.
@@guardian8319 for real like you gotta speed to keep up with the flow of traffic
It’s crazy. I’ve found that leaving a few min earlier and cruising along at 65mph is way less stressful sure people pass you but it’s amazing how much more you naturally relax when your not flying along with all the other idiots.
Facts! I usually drive 5 miles above the speed limit and people are still coming up behind me and switching lanes like I'm driving like a grandma smh.
It's so stupid because your mpg will plummet going above 70mph for extended periods and you won't get there that much quicker anyways.
People are unhappy with their lives. The whole country is no doing well.
Boomers reshaped this country into a capitalist hellscape and they won’t relinquish power.
the country is doing fantastic
@@sirgeorgioalastrata4104😅
@@sirgeorgioalastrata4104lmfao what a clown.
@@sirgeorgioalastrata4104it's absolutely not go ask people. I feel like a second class citizen here. I'm looking into getting my passport to leave because I no longer feel free
They REALLY ARE driving more recklessly and angry.
A vindictively, like psycho levels where they purposefully put themselves and everyone around them in danger by passing when there's a line of oncoming opposite traffic imminently approaching because someone was going the speed limit.
They is always who? MEN MEN MEN
@niklay33 in georgia its both female and men! The younger ones are worse. Older people generally know to keep distance from the car ahead of you.
It's worse when other bad drivers defend the bad driving
@@niklay33- I was threatened by a guy with a gun on 30-mile-per-hour four-lane street for riding the speed limit with my electric scooter. The dude flew past me going 60, and at the red light, the passenger leaned out the window with his gun telling me to get on the sidewalk, backed by the driver of the car in front of me who temporarily got of of the car and started walking towards me.
Electric scooters are not allowed on sidewalks and mine could go 40 miles per hour. American car culture is literally killing people and all drivers can think about is "You're too slow".
A four thousand lb. truck gives control to someone who has none in most of their life. It makes someone who is unimportant suddenly feel like they own something.
TRUTH!!!!!!
What about a 5k electric car that can get to 60 mph in 3 seconds?
JMO, and I have a 2500HD truck I drive when needed (farm), I think vehicle registration and tickets both should be weight based even for smaller “passenger” vehicles. If I am speeding in my 6K# truck, that penalty should be higher than someone doing the same in a Honda Civic. No exceptions for EVs, the heavier you are the more you put others on the road at risk and the greater your responsibility to pay attention and drive safely. This is likely already the case for larger commercial trucks, but the same should apply to smaller consumer trucks (and other vehicles) as well.
@@Easyreclinergoes right under the truck they were trying to avoid. Or kills someone they didn’t even see because that truck has blinding headlights that aren’t aimed properly since somehow manufactures are allowed to install them higher and higher as trucks get bigger and bigger, and that’s before the owners decide to lift them.
Seriously, 0-60 times mean nothing as very rarely are collisions caused by someone flooring it from a light. I revved my car at a minivan once. Driver just laughed. People don’t race anymore. Those who do, take it to the track. If that EV is leaving you in the dust from a light, it’s because you’ve decided to stay under 2000 RPM, or left the light in third. They don’t have that equivalency.
Even weak under powered four cylinder cars from 20 years ago can drive reckless and speed 30mph+ over. You just don’t see many of those any more because driving one among all these massive monstrosities is scary. Even in a modern full sized sedan is dwarfed by the size trucks and SUVs are these days.
Yeah, when people treat me bad at work -- which they always do and deny me a pay increase, well, I got out on the road, drive their vehicle really fast, and don't care what happens.
They make me mad, I'm gonna make'em pay through some huge lawsuit and, hopefully, I don't know any of the people that are on other side when my truck causes pain & suffering.
I'm 68 and was never nervous when driving. Now it's a nightmare with these crazy drivers today! And these new blinding headlights need to be banned!
From the Chicago suburbs
Yes, I live in South Texas and I know what you mean about these blinding headlights, unbelievable how bright they are. I just avoid driving at night.
@@JKB3670 I try to avoid it if at all possible.
Well, every year, U.S. trucks keep getting bigger, and thus the light from the headlights moves higher and higher. This means if you drive a normal car, everyone's lights gonna be in your face!
@@-cheshire-cat very accurate. Great observation.
Those bright headlights absolutely need to be trashed forever. They're too bright.
The biggest factor is that ppl are SELFISH. They don’t care abt anyone else at all. They drive as if they are the only ones on the road & behave as if they aren't interacting with HUMAN BEINGS. It also feels like some ppl didn't even take driver's tests.
There's a lot of angry people in the US, and a lot of cars.
And when there's a lot of cars, it means little or no alternatives such as walking, cycling or public transit. And angry people getting stuck in traffic really adds fuel to the fire.
@@wturner777also infrastructure.
As an american I finally learned what a stroad was.....explains so much. There's a youtube video about it
@@wturner777Where I live in a major metropolitan area, there are tons of alternatives in walking, biking, scooters, and excellent public transit. But do people still drive? You know It. Driving has been instilled into our culture, and frankly sucks for those of us on bikes constantly threatened by drivers.
@@beefnacos6258 If it weren’t for Strong Towns and Not Just Bikes, I wouldn’t have even known the difference between a road, a street and a stroad. Growing up in car dependency, I’ve always known stroads were not a pleasant place to be in unless you’re in a car.
Here in Phoenix most people are walking around with grimaces on their faces. Nobody smiles. Lots of angry people and the driving is horrible. Also no traffic cops here. It's insane. I am looking to leave in the next year.
I have always believed that people were more aggressive behind the wheel because it gave them some anonymity; and now with people being ruder to your face, their driving has intensified to deadly actions
I think you’re correct. As a guy who’s done club racing and driver instruction on race tracks for 25 years, I’m shocked at the poor and unsafe driving on the road with zero regard for anyone. Fast cars with drivers that have little to no training is a bad combination. Many times friends have asked if it’s scary driving at speed on a racetrack, and I reply that I’m totally at ease there. The real issue is driving home with my race car on a trailer with my truck and the morons on the road constantly cutting in front of me to catch an off-ramp since the additional two seconds extra being behind me is just too much of their precious time.
This also relates to the masking during Covid behavior. Like in a grocery store with your shopping cart. Before Covid people were polite. With the masks we became blind to others, being rude. The mask gave anonymity, while “face to face”. It’s less prevalent in rural areas where you’re more likely to know the people you’re being rude to, when you know what everyone drives 😀
People are going to have cars have shut off systems wirelessly because that attitude they have. People will be forced to go electric and have cars controlled by other people then themselves.
I see your point, also I see the dreaded phone addiction. Why they have to endanger pthers makes no sense.
Having 900 billion people clogging up all the streets and highways certainly doesn't help things either.
I got fired from a professional driving company because I had to slam my breaks to avoid a collision with a man who ran a red light. Never seen so many just blow right through in this city. It’s so common now.
I saw someone last night who initially stopped at a red light only to blast right through the intersection. Thankfully there was no other traffic entering the intersection.
So you got a job elsewhere, I assume? Time for a dashcam
Signs of societal collapse.
Society has been around before cars.
@@circle11111 if only you knew how bad things really are.
@@jaypioh I would think everything was bad too if I had to drive everywhere.
@@circle11111 your perception of the world is too narrow to understand my previous statement. i really hope you eventually understand those words
@@jaypioh over complicating the problem because the only solution goes against your biases.
Also, a bad driver NEVER misses their exit.
That's harsh dude.
Right, they will risk your life and theirs to not miss that exit, although the next exit typically will take them where they need to go🙄
@@JimmeShelterit’s true
Accurate. No one else matters. They will drive over the concrete barrier just to get to THAT exit.
Men ☕️
People are so consumed with their own situation they don’t give a damn about anyone else. That’s why I see people running red lights several times a week now. Never saw that before the last few years.
No kidding because Covid lockdowns duh!!
You must live under a rock. 😂😂😂
Stop blaming covid. Nobody 'stayed home' even when it was suggested. Nobody listened to any lockdowns, everyone did what they always do. @@alexs1429
@@Ultimate-Guardian.you must live in the deep hood 😂😂😂
The death of empathy
I regularly see people driving 20 miles above the speed limit. It’s absolutely crazy
I see it everywhere at any given time.
The posted speed limits are too slow
@@bluethunder9102 Speed limits are designed for safety, not convenience. The definition of the speed limit in drivers manual is, “the maximum safe speed under perfect ideal road conditions”
@@user-hi7jk6fu3fModern Speed limits are designed to extort american taxpayers, not for safety. Nobody is going 55 mph on a 6 lane freeway that’s built for Triple digits. American interstates are designed off autobahn standards so we should have autobahn style license trainings and autobahn style speed limits, or no limits.
@@aimxdy8680 Well of course people drive faster on a straight highway. Even a cop likely won’t pull you over for going somewhat fast on a highway. Limits on freeway and interstate is different than local roads though. On local town roads you have more things to deal with like traffic signs, traffic lights, pedestrians, other poor drivers. Those are the roads where speed limits truly matter the most.
No one wants to be polite anymore now too. It's sad, really. It's just sad.
Anytime someone cuts me off, I just say "he/she probably has a worse life than me, no use getting upset about it."
Just get out of my way.
@@JimmeShelter dont drop the soap
I don't mind if someone wants to drive faster than me and passes me, but I get annoyed when they get in front of me and then slow down....only for me to pass them and then they again want to tailgate and go faster...
Nowadays, they're in a hurry to get to that 3rd job.
It’s either that or an emergency (usually unlikely) but I tell myself the same thing
Two things that would really help reduce the number of accidents: 1. Make passing laws like they have in Germany. You only pass on the left and you can't lane hog the passing/fast lane. Make the penalty for lane hogging pretty severe 2. Drastically increase the fines for distracted driving. It is terrifying to see how commonly people who are texting with both hands and have complete tunnel vision on their phones while they are driving.
The law says that the travel lane is the right lane…where people are also trying to enter and leave the roadway. - if you’re traveling and remaining in the right lane, you’re IN THE WAY and endangering the mission. The law is truly horrendous.
@@kenmarcouThat's why intervals are important. If people left adequate space, it would be much easier for merging traffic to fill the gaps.
Is this specifically for roads with at least 3 lanes in each direction?@@kenmarcou
@@kenmarcouslow down or move over
The elephant in the room is following distance. Most drivers tailgate routinely.
Driving in Arizona is a nightmare. You can tell there is anger in the air.
It's amazing to me how you can be in the fast lane on the highway going 20 over the speed limit, you'll still have people tailgating you, flashing their highbeams at you from behind, and passing you pushing 90+. Heck, even when there's bumper to bumper traffic, you still have people tailgating and flashing their highbeams at you as if your car can just magically grow wings and fly. American drivers treat driving like it's Nascar.
That's the main problem that makes people mad. Fast lane doesn't exist. It's a passing lane and people want to get to were they're going just like you. Pass and move. The passing lane shouldn't be crowded. That's how you know it's being used incorrectly. If I don't see the passing lane full, road raging doesn't happen.
As a truck driver I have a CMS system in my truck that happens to also track the speed of traffic in front of me. In 2022 I had 1 vehicle doing more than 100. In 2023 I had 27. Brake checking, running continuously with high beams on, total distraction of what is going on around them. Concentrated intensity of bad decisions makes a very bad recipe.
I had an a hole pass me on a motorcycle doing about 90 while popping a wheelie.
Retired trucker here, thanks for your input stay safe driver!
How many truckers have that system? I bet I set a record or two for them this year
Collision Mitigation Systems (CMS) has been in use for several years. It wasn’t until my current truck, 2021 Kenworth T680, that I found the tracking. If a vehicle passes me and comes back over within 4 seconds it locks and gives me real time tracking.
I thought that people were just using LED headlights right now but god damn are some peoples headlights bright. Glad I’m not the only one who noticed and thought to myself “we never did this back when I was learning to drive”
Weaving in traffic is an annoyance. 2 inches from my bumper isn't getting you there faster. ⛳️🕳
I remember some idiot defending himself swerving in and out of traffic, because it made him get home 4 minutes earlier. Sadly, the fool was serious with his argument.
George Jetson driving
That could be because the person in the passing lane isn't passing. This forces a driver to go to the center and/or right lane, then back again in order to do what they should be able in the beginning (pass via passing lane).
If someone is "on your bumper," then you should just go to the right and let them pass.
I avoid all that by bicycle commuting I can slip through places cars can not take trails or make them through the woods
When you're in the right lane travelling 10 mph over the limit and they ride your bumper despite the fact that the left lane is clear.
I just suddenly pull off and let them play that $hit with another driver.
People who road rage & act hostile to other drivers have anger issues likely mixed with stress.
While people who drive aggressive in the sense that they drive fast, speeding, hard braking, weaving, like they are in a rally race, they are likely more stressed & depressed. Sometimes when stressed it can feel good to mash that gas pedal.
But when you're depressed on top of it & feel the world is against you, don't have much to lose it's worse. A lot of people currently are feeling isolated, lacking friends, working dead end, sucky jobs that they feel enslaved to, feel that the country overall is falling apart, have no hope in a decent future, have less respect for or a negative view of the police. So they are less likely to care about their own safety or respect things like speed limit laws & other road laws.
In contrast, if the economy was doing better, more people had families, friends, decent jobs, felt like their country was going in the right direction, & felt like they mattered. Aggressive driving would drop a lot, people do less risky things usually when they have more to lose, have people they love, respect for the people around them.
Driving more dangerously is just a symptom of bigger issues going on in our society.
This 100%, I've noticed it in myself and have had to take steps to mitigate it, but I believe this is the root cause of the issue.
Personally I've been stressed out most of my life now at 38 years old, due to my own personal issues. But driving fast never really made sense to me. I don't get any kind of thrill or excitement from driving fast. I always drive the speed limit, or *_slower_* to get better MPG's if I can pull it off when there's not much traffic.
I frequently drive on single lane highways in rural areas in the early morning hours when there's barely anyone on the highway, so I'll put it in cruise control 5 mph below the speed limit. If someone comes up behind me I'll drive the speed limit and pull over ASAP to let them by, or wait until they can pass. The speed limit is usually too slow for most people, but I'm sorry I refuse to speed up for someone else's "hurry". Myself, I'm never in a hurry.
Totally accurate.
@@yearginclarkedamn, dude if you're only 38 years old and have drive lower than the speed limit on an EMPTY road, you need your license pulled asap.
There are also bigger cars and touch screen controls that are impossible to use without looking at them.
I remember several years ago taking a safe driving course (rather than pay for a ticket) and one of the points in the training was about people with 'weak egos'. A weak-egoed person is easily upset by what other drivers around them do, and are prone to react negatively when they perceive that someone has slighted them or disrespected them (such as someone passing you and then getting in front of you). They overreact because they have weak egos and need to compensate by doing something aggressive. The next thing you know, they're in a crash with another vehicle. Working in the transportation field, I can tell you that the term 'accident' is never used to describe vehicle incidents. They are crashes or collisions.
Racist
@@paceyourself5652sounds like you're one of those with a fragile ego
Good info thanks!
So suddenly a ton more people with weak egos started driving?
@@americancapitalist9094 No, you misunderstand. A ton more people's ego became weak due to various factors over the past 4 years.
Boy, have I noticed this! It's totally insane out there. I have nearly been tboned 3 times in the last few months by people running stop signs at speed..and that doesnt come close to what is happening on freeways.
I wonder if its these gig apps like door dash and Uber causing this uptick in dangerous driving. We do know this workers are not paid enough so they probably very aggressive to get more tripa done.
Yeah I used to handle auto claims and some people are just crazy. I have people insist if their turn signal is on, they can change lanes without looking because they signaled first.
Maybe drive more carefully dude. You are probably part of the problem if you've been hit 3 times in as many months
I thought it was just me that notice how aggressive and rude, angry people are driving behind the wheel. I am almost afraid to drive sometimes
It’s probably a lack of patience from what’s happening to our attention spans
Phones, lack of cops handing out tickets, entitlement…the list is long.
If you voted for the Donkeys then you have no reason to complain
@@coinco4651 I voted for Ric Flair.
@@coinco4651... right, ooga booga tribalism is the answer... as if both partisanship tribes aren't completely ridiculous and irresponsible rn
Work from home reduce traffic.
Took the words I was going to say out of my mouth I totally agree
I don’t think people take driving serious enough and aren’t really aware how dangerous and deadly driving is because we do it every day
I don't think they care anymore. I have gotten the impression that if they get in an accident they will just blame the other party and sue. People seem more sue happy these days and do not care if others die. General society degrading I guess.
Too many safety features give drivers a false sense of security.. if they drove strapped to the front of their car, there'd be far fewer accidents. 😆
@@pujabelgian agree 100%. It's like people who think 4WD means they can speed in all conditions with no consequences and then can't figure out why they ended up in the ditch with ice on the road.
"Risk vs. reward"
Bottom line, the root of the problem is impatience.
impatience is caused by other factors, that's not the root.
That's not even close to the root of the problem. The root of most people's problems tend to be the political economy. As in, the way the economy is organized to exploit you and make your life sad. Sometimes sadder than a medieval serf's.
I live in NY state & I thought it was just me. Nice to know everyone is seeing this too. Very upsetting! You take a chance every time you take to the road-its just crazy!!!
Driving in ny is crazy!❤
It's gotten so bad around my area, I ended up selling my motorcycle because I was having way too many close calls and finally had one too many. The aggressive driving, phone drivers, and mindlessness of Uber/Lyft drivers became a massive problem after the lockdowns ended.
if you are having many close calls on a motorcycle it is probably your own actions causing them, poor road positioning, speeding into path of travels\motion induced blindness, riding in other vehicles blind spots
@@coreysuffield Untrue. You can factor in all the safest riding habits that can avoid and even eliminate most scenarios but in a major city with dense traffic you don't always have the options you listed and there are way too many variables to be 100% risk free.
@@coreysuffieldwhile that is possible, we cannot blame riders in all situations.
That was probably wise. This is what is keeping me from getting a bike at all. Just seems like I'd get creamed by some idiot. I get cut-off all the time now in my car. It would be much worse on a bike.
Cannot blame you , I live in Minnesota so only ride 6 months a year but watch my back!
Everyone drives like they are late for work! There was a time when semi-trucks were slugs on the road. Now they are driving even faster than cars. I truly believe the decreased presence of police, as well as just common courtesy is a factor.
Naw police are all over my area and people still drive like lunatics
Society is breaking down, it won't matter how people want change. But, it ain't gonna happen. The world is ending soon, and Jesus is coming back. Hope I die & go to Heaven.
They're conditioning you to believe it's falling apart @@PoeLemic
The increase of truck speeds began suddenly on December 19th, 2017. Why? E-log mandate.
Police in Buffalo for example don't pull people over unless you're speeding above 100MPH. I have seen people speed right next to a cop and the cop didn't do anything. I have even seen cops running stop signs, red lights and driving badly just like everyone else. Buffalo drivers are some of the worst I think in the US. Driving badly doesn't even phase the cops here!
I remember near-misses and road encounters were so rare back in 2005. Maybe twice a year. Nowadays *every time* I drive I’m dodging someone and when the light is green for me I HAVE to assume someone is running their red light. I’ve come close to getting hit when my light is green twice.
I took a 50% pay cut to get out of my commute. I had PTSD from driving from the foothills to the Bay Area for years.
Lmao
Look at the bright side. No commute, no gas, no insurance payment.
A tank of gas now lasts me 3 weeks instead of 2.5 days. My back has healed. I don't have to call people in tears needing moral support just to make it through the week.
Good for you. California driving is crazy aggressive.
I stay in the far right lane. It's usually faster even with the on-ramps and you don't have to worry about someone tailgating you because you won't get over. My drives have become fairly peaceful since. All of the crazies are in the left lanes.
Since most don’t use the left lane as a passing lane, I call it the stupid idiot lane. Speeding along at 80+ tailgating each other in the rain. I stay out of that lane & away from harm.
No they just cut you off to exit. I drove a semi and I can’t tell you how many times cars would’ve sped up to get around me only to cut me off to exit.
Right lane is the least dangerous and having super cruise…is also a life saver…we definitely need to get self driving figured out…I find I feel much less stressed on supercruise highways…stay left…set it to a max of 8 mph over the limit and adjust distance for 2 car lengths and listen to something calming. It’s made the commute less troublesome…
I’ve found that to be true in very dense traffic situations. When I used to go to L.A. frequently for architecture projects my firm was working on I learned that far right lane actually moves a little faster and calmer. More semis moving in and out but it’s actually pretty safe following a Semi when you are paying attention. You can stop faster than them and they block the visibility of most folks trying to cut in. They act like blockers in football.
On a freeway, it's actually safest to be in the middle lane. Cars that want to go faster can pass you on the left & you're not interfering with cars trying to merge onto the freeway (which you are doing if you're in the far right lane).
Reasons why
Stupidity , stress, periodic moments of emotional enbalance ....
Sounds like at least half of America right now..
@stickynorth you're under estimating
@user-rl7mt4gh3o This is true, your response is actually the root cause of what I stated .If only we had some sought of solution to the madness we're living in..
Imbalance*
@@MT-yx5cu
Wage or salary imbalance.
Fatalities have been up 10% year after year since 2020. People are absolutely insane these days!
I live in SE PA, drivers have VERY noticeably gotten worse especially since the lockdown. MANY NYers, Jersey people etc moved here and its gone way downhill.
People act like they were never taught how to drive.
There is a trend among teenagers to not want to drive because there are so many manic drivers who should not be driving.
Most people are not. Drivers Ed isn't a thing anymore
We weren't. Also, everyone THINKS they themselves can drive.
I still see it every day. There are little to no consequences of reckless driving or extreme speeding because there aren’t enough police and state patrol to make a difference. The extreme narcissism and impatience of the typical American is astonishing.
Bro we already live in a tyrannical, militarized police state the last thing we need is more tyranny. What we need is to alter our infrastructure to literally make it impossible for people to speed. The way you do this is install harsh speed bumps and elevated crosswalks everywhere to force people to slow down and then get rid of a lot of stop sign and stoplight intersections and replace them with roundabouts to make up for the loss of efficiency with the speed bumps. Also proportional traffic fines based on income should be implemented to make things fair and to deter rich people from speeding.
As a cyclist who rarely drives their vehicle anymore, motorists absolutely terrify me and everytime I ride my bike I feel like I'm in danger. I take this issue personally to be honest.
It's bad out there
What are you going to do about it?
@@vintagesteelYou’re talking about tyranny while also promoting bigger fines for wealthier people, for the same crime…
Yikes
@@mightytaiger3000ok so we're just going to let wealthy people do whatever they want on the roads because the fines are nothing to them? Should we also allow them to buy themselves out of jail, do insider trading or lobby our politicians to change all the laws in their favor? I have an idea! How about we just create a system for the rich ruling class that only benefits them and gives them all the power while oppressing MILLIONS of other people because that's not tyranny, right mrmightytiger3000?
Well, if EMPLOYERS would go back a telework or a hybrid work model when clearly some employees prefer and benefit from it, maybe these numbers would drop.
But then who will appease your Commercial Real Estate overlords?
As someone who is a huge car enthusiast I utterly despise this country’s ultra dependence on vehicle ownership. The fact that I have to share the road with countless individuals whose mental states cannot be confirmed or trusted and that any one of them could cause hours long delays due to accidents is absurd. Cars should be more of a luxury than a necessity, and general mass transit should be in place like it is in other countries with far smaller GDPs. Hell even if I still owned a car in a country like that I have no doubt I would opt for taking the train for my daily commute. Not to mention how insanely inefficient it is to have every individual pilot a multi-ton box with a generator in it that could run a house for days, rather than many people in a single large vehicle (a train or bus)
We used to have Drivers Ed is school, we used to have the police give tickets for bad driving. We used to have stricter DMV test. You literally see people driving just how they are thinking, Idocrazy is alive and well on American roads. Phones are a huge problem, now drugs.
The police still write tickets. You can find vids of them even lying in order to write one.
@@crowdnine878 Yes that is correct, but has nothing to do with what I said. The police are losing ground on that they would never lie and are honest. That ship has sailed Having cameras are necessary to protect your innocence. But shoving a camera in a place mans face and demand their name and badge number and cussing at them helps no one.
not that idiocracy nonsense this is just late stage capitalism goodness
@@sleepy7711 So when a person gets pulled over and is given a verbal warning, instead they either attack the police officer or run from them that is Capitalism not Idicorazy? Correct?
@Moondoggy1941 cops are not trustworthy because they serve to protect capital and peoples behavior reflect society at large maybe they grew up in extreme poverty or have behavioral issues and were failed by an underfunded school system
I live in NJ and I have never seen more reckless drivers. Younger generations are driving their cars like a motorcycle. I've never seen anything like it before. I've always seen motorcycles acting recklessly, and you shack your head and pray for them. Now driving your car that this will cause an accident and affect others on the road.
What surprises me is how many old people I see driving while holding their phones and scrolling on it! I can understand an 18 year old doing it but old people should know better.
I think a significant part is that there are just so many people on the road
If only we had alternatives to driving - like reliable public transportation, high-speed rails, walkable cities, and protected bike lanes.
In my area, people drive very fast and aggressively. My car insurance rates have increased because there are so many accidents in this state. The roads are very congested with traffic. The roads were not constructed to handle the high volumes of traffic now.
And when DOTs studies show that roundabouts and narrowing roads and speed cameras and other sensors people say no to these technologies that can save their lives or others.
@@robertlee8805 those "studies" are flawed. Speeding as a cause of accidents is flawed concept, because speed as a factor in accidents is correlation, which by definition, is not causation. Yes, some accidents are clearly caused by speed, like going 100 mph around a 25mph off ramp and flying off the road. But speed is attributed to any accident in which a car was going over the speed limit, regardless of whether speed actually played any role. Because it's impossible in most accidents to determine if speed played a factor, it's a game of "what if". It's hypothetical, not factual. It's based on opinion, not fact.
@@heyaisdabomb where in the world are you getting this? It's very cut and dry that slower speeds reduce both rate of accidents and severity of accidents. You can look anywhere in the first world using any methodology you want. I don't think you find a single traffic engineer who says, "It's impossible to determine if speed played a factor," and we just can't know if certain road features are safer than others.
@@heyaisdabomb Even if speed doesn't play a factor in the crash itself (unlikely), it increases the likelihood that a crash will result in death
@@wolfumzHe clearly has no clue what he’s talking about 😂
People are stressed the F out
No they are entitled! The seriously believe they are more important!!!
@@cardozoinator It's a combination of the two. They're angry and entitled.
@@cardozoinatorhow can the not be entitled when all the infrastructure is car based
@@circle11111 I don't understand your statement. So you believe that b/c we have freeways that we are giving permission to drivers to act like entitled AHs?
@@cardozoinator yeah if you scale down car based infrastructure people will behave differently. Studies found that wider roads and shoulders create faster drivers.
They're racing from their second job to their third during their fifth panic attack of the day.
Nobody is patient anymore on road. Always unhappy, stressed and in hurry.
Political climate, corporate greed, pay inequality, entitlement, distractive driving, lack of capacity on roadways, it's a pressure cooker that's about to blow.
I moved out of an area that was packed with dangerous driving (one of the reasons I left). When I moved back to a rural area, it was a lot better. But it depends on where you live, how stressed and angry people are. I'm lucky to live in a place where people are pretty chill and nice so that helps. But yeah I definitely noticed an uptick is dangerous driving a few years ago. I didn't feel like I could actually drive normally, I was just avoiding crashes like I was in a demolition derby.
I'm thinking of selling my home and moving based on the driving habits of others. Said no one...
The last graphic in the report should make you question your decision. 60% of traffic fatalities are in urban areas and 40% are in rural areas-the places where very few people are. So the likelihood of dying in a car accident are, in fact, far greater in rural areas. You are far more likely to die in an accident on a two lane undivided farm road with a 60mph speed limit than on a divided multi-lane highway in the city.
@@tomindenver1331 Correct. Too late now tho. She sold the home and moved away to be near more courteous drivers.
@@tomindenver1331 LOL. Some of us are just not city people regardless. Urban living is just not everyone's cup of coffee. We like living more out in the rural and countryside areas, where their just not a whole lot people.
@@tomindenver1331 Well I actually grew up in a very rural area so I already knew this like 20 years ago, grew up around firemen who responded to violent crashes on rural, dark, back roads all the time. You're telling me nothing I already don't know. And cities actually have more types of roads than just divided multi-lane highways, so the info is a bit weird.
People have let the “I can do anything I want as long as I think it’s okay” mentality carries over to every aspect of life; including driving.
I have definitely noticed the change in driving behavior. There is a noticable lack of courtesy. I usually have a child in my car and its stressful when people drive selfishly and competively. Its not a race or a competition, arrive alive. Also, the uptick in DUI includes the legalization of marijuana. A breathalyzer can't detect that.
I dealt with a road-rager recently; I was driving back home after work Friday night on I-225 and I'm passing in the passing lane doing 75 (the speed limit is 65, and my vehicle's governed speed is 100MPH).
I'm not passing quickly, but I am passing with my 2.4L Nissan. Only, the rate at which I was passing wasn't quick enough for the GMC tailgating me, apparently.
When I returned to the center lane, buddy sped up to like 90 and nearly clipped my front bumper by cutting diagonally in front of me without signaling, then brake-checking me and cutting someone else off without signaling before punching the throttle and weaving across all 3 lanes aggressively. Must have forgotten they were in a full-size pickup.
Like dude, fr you have twice the number of cylinders I have, I'm only rocking 150HP, be a bit more considerate.
I signaled my intentions, I used the appropriate lane to overtake at a speed correlating to current road speed and traffic conditions, I passed 3 vehicles and I promptly returned to the center lane to allow faster traffic to overtake me... there's no need for all that extra stuff, guy. That's the sort of reckless behavior that gets people killed.
I've been driving for 18 years (since I was 15), I still haven't been in a collision or gotten a speeding ticket behind the wheel. I drive for a profession, I had a CDL permit at one point and drove vehicles up to 30ft long inter-state and I've hauled up to 10 tons of heavy machinery up to 6 time/day along I-25 (notorious for bad wrecks).
The trick is to not use your cell phone, pull off the road if you need to be contacted, assume everyone isn't paying attention, assume every crash is fatal, and assume everyone is going to do the stupidest thing behind the wheel at any moment.
You'd be surprised at how much your vehicle "talks to you" once you've eliminated all distractions. I've avoided many collisions simply by driving with the seat of my pants. I basically adopted many of the same disciplines I practiced when learning to fly VFR to learning to drive, and the results speak for themselves.
To paraphrase my flight instructor, "good landings are when you get to walk away, great landings are when you get to use the plane again". Turns out that logic works equally well if you swap "landing planes" with "driving vehicles".
you have no job
@@avanulaneway8418 In order for me to not have a job, everyone would either have to a) agree in totality to give up driving cars, or b) agree to do all their own work on their own cars from now on.
Frankly, I don't see either happening any time soon.
If you have to pay over $1000 a month for a $80'000 pick-up truck you will be more stressed and angrier.
Hopefully they have a legit need for the pickup. I've seen countless who don't. But they still insist on having a big truck for the "image" or whatever.
My first house cost $75000
Most definitely! I was in a tight parking lot and the dude behind was so impatient because I wouldn’t speed through the parking lot.
I also think these new cars have faster acceleration and menuverbility,which makes people want to drive it like a race car ..
Yep. Watch the car companies' commercials: Shaking camera, screeching tires, sliding sideways in the sand and the pavement, fake exhaust noise, "Look at all the tech we have to make it easier for you to drive" (you don't have to pay attention now) "Look how safe our cars are" (you won't get hurt) Plowing through snow drifts, you don't even need to hold onto the steering wheel! And you are correct: The actually have commercials where they show their pos Hyundai Elantra driving next to a Formula 1 car.
Less enforcement, less consequences when you are ticketed, increased selfishness.
at the most, you pay a fine and continue as normal. Fines aren't a deterrent to reckless driving or crime in general. If the system was based more on providing incentives to do better, I think people would act different.
@CAS671 So not paying fines, not having more expensive car insurance, or not going to jail are not enough incentive to behave? What do you suggest?
Here in Phoenix there are almost no traffic cops. People do what they want. It's ridiculous.
i feel like so many people bought cars to avoid public transport during COVID but they didn't actually bother learning how to properly drive
Do they have a license?
I have 4 failures to pass the drive test.
It really has gotten so much worse in the last few years. It seems every time I get on the highway there are at least 2-3 close calls with reckless drivers. It really makes me nervous about driving now. It seems like everyone just went crazy all of a sudden.
Everyone is entitled and everyone feels privileged. Hard part is there aren’t enough cops to actually enforce any of the traffic laws.
Because they can’t look away from their phones
Also daydrinking.
Any country that cares about the well-being of their people would require hands-free cell using.
Also car centric and unsafe infrastructure forcing nearly everyone to drive.
Bingo, its the technology
@@ljacobs357 It is required, and it hasn't solved the fact that people still break laws.
driving creates a social barrier between other people and people drive so much so they start being antisocial
social stratification is a real thing, with car centric design being a large factor for sure.
I don't think driving is the real issue, more of we lost our moral compass as a society nowadays. People have been behaving worst on other modes of transportation too. Back when i was kid in the 1999's, you didn't really hear of this fighting and brawling on passenger jets, that we have been hearing about on the news often recently.
@@KenKen-ui4nyI would argue that morality has generally gotten better over time
Bottom line, people today HATE any kind of rules or absolutes, including driving laws.
Get off MY road!❤
The morning rush really is something. I’d be driving 10 over and I see traffic coming from behind going 20 over. It’s crazy.
Newer cars have LCD screens that distract drivers. Should bring back real buttons for less distractions to drivers.
I guess that really depends on the person more than it does the car. I drive Teslas every day for a living and that screen has been more of a help than a distraction.
Cars without LCD screens are ILLEGAL now!
Because everyone has a car now.
Let that sink in.
If you design a world such that everyone is forced to drive to accomplish anything, you will only recieve a world in which bad drivers are also forced to drive to accomplish anything. None of this will be solved without road diets and public transit.
And they have more than one car, usually a huge SUV
I'm glad I live in the UK where I can walk places. Still, I avoid walking next to main roads as much as possible because you're never safe from unhinged drivers, even when you're not on the road with them.
There's a huge amount of people texting, calling, and being on speaker phone while driving. Two other factors I've experienced is that there is an incredible amount of people smoking Marijuana because you can smell it from the sidewalk. The other complete distraction is an incredibly loud car stereo. This prevents them from paying attention to the road, pedestrian crossing, other drivers, and as you say signs. Pedestrians are at a great risk right now. Especially seniors. Drivers do not like a slow-moving senior or handicap individual crossing. They get yelled at and drivers will always go in front of them speeding.
Reasons why I hate driving. I don’t want to deal with these idiots.
Ive commuted for over 20 years. I did remote for 3 years and we were highly praised for having record productivity. We had to buy home setups out of pocket which i was fine with since it was less tyan commuting costs. Then suddenly everyone must go back in without any logical explanation given. Ive never walked past a superior office setup just to drive over an hour to a less productive inferior one. Never before have i been so anger while driving, because its now looked at as a punishment.
I’m in the same boat as you. I believe the “logical” explanation is the top brass shareholders hold a lot of Shell, Exxon Mobil, and ConocoPhillips stock…Those companies do not make as much money with people not commuting.
Same. My job said it was so that we could "collaborate" better in person. But 90% of the time I'm in the office, we just email each other instead of walking over to their cube, LOL
They should have also discussed the increase of technology built into vehicles like touch screen entertainment systems, or stupid design choices like teeny tiny buttons in Toyotas for climate control that distract from focusing on the road.
Exactly! All the new technology in cars now have become distractions.
Abso-friggin-lutely! Built in distractions that force you to take your eyes off the road to do basic operations. Also blinding super bright LED lights and idiots who don’t bother to dim lights for oncoming traffic anymore.
I drive an old car. I can turn on or change the radio, use heater controls WITHOUT taking my eyes from the road.
Right answer!
Agreed, the manufacturers don't care if their cars are more distracting. The more accidents you're in, the more they can send you to their recommended repair facilities, or you can get an insurance claim so you can buy one of their new cars... if you survived the crash.
Im glad this has been reported. Thought it was just me noticing. People are so impatient.
I see this every single day. It was like a flip of a switch with people. The behavior of drivers on the road these days is mind-boggling. The outrageous things people are doing on the road is not only insane but dangerous. I'm dogging potential car accidents left and right
i'm currently taking the bus to work because I don't have a car. Not even sure yet if I'm going to use the money saved to get another car; doesn't seem like it's worth the trouble anymore, honestly. Though my commute is much longer this way, I often feel like not having to deal with the burden of driving is a worthwhile tradeoff. And I've driven for over 10 years, so I never expected to feel this way
Public transport suck here so we’re forced to drive. Every neighbor’s house I look at has at least 4 cars in their driveway. Every that lives in the house has car. Ridiculous.
People don’t realize how less stressful public transport is.
What are they doing ?
Building more highways, while the buses are running 2 hours late. They even removed some stops.
@@jolourdesalcinor4180 exactly. public transport could be so much better but almost all resources are poured into car infrastructure. And trust me, i'm all too familiar with being the only one walking around the neighborhood, while you can tell almost everyone in each house has a car so that's most of what you see outside. Anyway, i'm probably going to be forced to start driving again soon.
uhh because no one GAF anymore...
My county (Cobb County, GA, in metro Atlanta) no longer seems to have cops on the road. Pre-COVID, there were several speed trap locations on my short 8-mile commute to work. These days ... none at all. I almost never see police on the roads right now, and secondary roads which have a speed limit of 45 have a de facto speed limit of 65-70 these days. It's crazy.
If you cause an accident, you should have to retake the driver road test over again or lose your license. There are too many bad drivers that should not be driving.
The built environment is a huge contributor.
Cities need to prioritize people over cars when building infrastructure. Rise sidewalk crossing (serve as a speed bump and helps disability crossing), protected bike lanes (drivers won't be stressed trying to avoid bikers), road diets, better bus and subways. The United States has given the automobile industry way too much power of citizen's lives. We should not subsiding the car industry by widening massive highways and keeping parking minimums.
100%
Facts
All these things make it worse. I live in nyc and it literally takes 6 minutes to take one loop around the block from the garage on the side of the building to the front of the building. Theyre trying to increase people’s reliance on public transit but it is dirty, unsafe, and unreliable
@@Dragon228833 Those qualities are not inherent to public transit. Public transit can be dirty, unsafe, and unreliable, if not designed or maintained correctly, but it can easily be much safer, more reliable, and is virtually always more cost efficient for riders than vehicle ownership is. If you got rid of NYC public transit, and further discouraged walking and cycling, it would take far longer than 6 minutes to make that drive, because vehicle traffic would increase even more
Born and raised in Miami, moved to Denver 8 years ago. Miami is notorious for bad drivers, and when i first moved to Denver, everybody was calm and driving was ok. Now, its the polar opposite. People here now are cutting each other off, taking reds, speeding, etc. I go back to Miami, and people are actually driving the speed limit and giving each other space. What happened?
For those who are new drivers, always remember to never ever distract yourself to anything. 😵
It doesn’t help that the average height of trucks are 50+ inches. Instead of getting tossed up onto the hood and having a chance, you get completely annihilated with a full body hit.
At that point you also have the new superbright headlights everyone has (I'm sure a contributing factor to people being unhinged on the road) coming in directly to your rear view mirrors.
I simply call it " driving angry ". I've lost count at how often I'm taligated so close , drivers are on my rear with less than a second of following distance to spare. And speed??? Did I miss an Amendment that states that Americans " have the right to treat 70 mph limits as if it's equivalent to 90"? Just seems to me that there's a correlation involving two major events in 2020. The height of the Pandemic,& the chaotic Presidential Election.
Bingo on that last part
I've always felt, if someone voted for Trump and thought the election was stolen, they would be rebelling by not obeying laws because "Biden doesn't".
I am a former long-haul trucker who is 35. The decline in driving behavior was going on WAY before covid. I think it is generational. Fewer teens are getting their licenses at 16 and their permits at 14. I believe it is due to the fact that ridesharing apps and food delivery apps exist. There is no incentive to learn to drive until you are 18,19,20 and you HAVE to drive yourself to work. There is an entire demographic that is on the road with the big dogs trying to commute to work, but they lack the valuable experience from drivers ed, parental guidance, and driving in low traffic conditions after school. No one has taught these young adults proper driving etiquette like NOT tailgating and NOT driving with your high beams on all the time.
I've been driving since 1975, and people were driving about the same way that whole time. The number is up because there are a few million more drivers.
People aren’t smart enough to put their cell phones down.
One of the things I see around where I live is a lot of people buying big trucks and then they add lift kits on them making them even higher and when you drive a truck at 40 miles an hour it feels way slower than 40 miles an hour in a car so they drive faster.
They buy expensive 4WD pickup trucks with mud tires to impress their neighbors but won't drive their precious status-symbols off road anyway because they are afraid to get their trucks muddy.
I drive a construction truck z71 with off road tires every day for work, I hate it, the speedo is inaccurate by at least 5 miles, and the heavy tires and poor brake choice sucks, I'd hate to daily drive that truck further than I do
@@oscargrouch7962you couldn't of typed that better. My area is similar. When my grandpa was alive and sold firewood at his home an alarming number of guys told him stack it in the bed, don't throw it in. 'I don't want my bed scratched' several said.😂 Not work trucks anymore, just luxury vehicles.
As a NH to Boston commuter for about 10 years, it’s gotten exponentially worse… People are nuts.
The same problem exists in Canada. People drive aggressively, speed more excessively and flat out ignore basic right of way laws. Like many others have said, I think it has a lot to do with stress levels due to the cost of living and people being stretched so thin by life that they snap and act foolishly. Also being perpetually tired causes people to be emotionally unstable which causes poor judgement and lack of care for others. Although more enforcement would certainly help, the underlying cause is our quality of life in North America has been decreasing significantly in recent years.
I think it's simply more to do with the number of drivers on the road in a small area vs anything about individual malice. We don't have any alternative methods of transportation so everyone has to drive. Sure you can make the roads wider but that only buys you a little time before you run into the same problem a few years later when more people move to the area.
Good point. Areas are getting more dense in cities where people need to go to find work, and housing the size of a prison jail cell putting more and more people in condensed areas, it's natural for more people to be there.
1))))) lack of prosecution
2))))) millions on the road without a license or registration
Oh really? So ppl with a license and registration don't drive recklessly?
3. And lack of alternatives to driving. Angry sociopaths have to get around, too.
@@traviskitteh Tell us all about what is it like being an angry sociopath, Travis.
Another reason to continue to work from home--safety from road rage and distracted driving.
Boo hoo
People are broke, tired, overworked, burnt out, fed up and can't take much more of this country and the hopelessness that now pervades it..