Impatient Driver Issue Getting Worse?

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Am I imagining it or have drivers become more impatient and therefore careless just over the last year?

My theory is that people are becoming more and more disconnected from the physical world around them, with more time spent in front of the TV and the computer screen. How many drivers now actually replace the air filter on their car or change a battery? The numbers decrease year after year. With this detachment from physical work they lose an appreciation of the dangers that an improper action can create.

The impatient drivers tend to buy SUVs so that they can intimidate other drivers with their physical size. Driving seems to have become a race from stoplight to stoplight and roads are treated as race courses. Our wildlife pays the price with an enormous number of raccoons and squirrels run over every day. Drivers speed through residential streets without any consideration.
 
YES; my theory is technology is forcing people to compete harder and allowing people to get ahead at work - it's forcing people's brains to go faster and faster in the human rat race, hence people drive faster and more aggressively to get to work and where they need to go. That and the basic V-6 car now has 250+ hp, so it's easy to speed.
 
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I spend most of my driving time looking in the rear view mirror. I can usually tell by the look on their face whether they're in a hurry or not. I don't put my car at risk; I move out of their way.
 
Every year about this time, my town swells with thousand upon thousands of Canadians that come to sunny Florida to enjoy the weather and winter here, rather than back home. And for the folks that live and work here, it sucks. A usual commute to work that took 20 min now takes 30 min. Mostly because people use the left lane as some sort of travel lane where they go 5 to 10 mph under the speed limit, when historically the left lane is used for passing and those that want to go 5 to 15 over the speed limit. It’s infuriating trying to get to appointments on time thanks to these folks that don’t care about left lane courtesy.
 
I have notice more people running red lights. I ease out of certain intersections, check both ways, then proceed. Just heard someone T-Boned by red light runner. Two people in one week reported they noticed more of this dangerous behaviour.
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Every year about this time, my town swells with thousand upon thousands of Canadians that come to sunny Florida to enjoy the weather and winter here, rather than back home. And for the folks that live and work here, it sucks. A usual commute to work that took 20 min now takes 30 min. Mostly because people use the left lane as some sort of travel lane where they go 5 to 10 mph under the speed limit, when historically the left lane is used for passing and those that want to go 5 to 15 over the speed limit. It’s infuriating trying to get to appointments on time thanks to these folks that don’t care about left lane courtesy.


It's funny you mention that. You should refer to the guy above you.

In general it's probably the same everywhere, economy is doing well, population is growing, but the roads aren't. 10-20 years ago there was just the morning and evening rush hours, now there's just a couple hours during the day when the roads aren't jammed all the time.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
I don't mind the dead Raccons and squirrels.


So you do not take your foot off the throttle if you see a raccoon on the road? Your god-given right to speed is more important?

I remember an experiment done years ago where they placed a plastic turtle on the edge of the road looking like it is about to cross and some drivers would deliberately go out of their way to run over the turtle. Guess that is how they get their jollies.
 
No it's none of that.. CT8 likes roadkill dead squirrels and racoons for dinner
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There's a starbucks next to my work - don't even get me started on self-entitled, aggressive drivers.
 
Driving has changed a lot over the last 40 years. A lot more traffic that moves slower, more disengaged drivers that feel its a chore and just want the trip to end, and more people for whom an automobile is just an appliance, like a toaster or a steam iron.

There are a few broad rules that apply around where I live though, like "Canadian drivers drive badly on US highways", or "aggressive drivers are easy to spot - they're encased in a pickup truck". There are more, but those seem to be pretty reliable.
 
Society's behavior in general is getting worse....no reason for this not to translate to the same behavior on the roads.
 
My big gripes are:
1. Clogging the left lane. Move over.
2. Not pulling out into the intersection for a left turn to wait (when I lived in Florida, no one ever pulled out into the intersection, so it'd take a few cycles to get one car through)
3. Pulling out of places without looking or making me slow down
4. Not driving appropriate vehicles for certain road conditions
 
What irritates me very much is that at three and four way stoos the one who stops first doesn't get to go first. Instead, if I stop, they just keep going right on through without ever stopping. That happens now 7 out ten times. I don't know if this behavior is due to a lack of patience.
 
I drove 350 miles from San Diego through Los Angeles and back yesterday. I was cut off real bad 3 times. I make this trip a few times a month and this was the best trip in years. The stars must have aligned.
 
Just yesterday, some clown in a pickup truck honked at me for yielding at a traffic circle busy with incoming traffic. I guess according to him, I should've cruised right through and gotten T-boned
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Originally Posted By: vavavroom
What irritates me very much is that at three and four way stops the one who stops first doesn't get to go first. Instead, if I stop, they just keep going right on through without ever stopping. That happens now 7 out ten times. I don't know if this behavior is due to a lack of patience.


People try that with me too, but then I just hit the gas and honk at them.

What's really annoying is people who stop for cars at a stop sign and they don't even have a stop sign.
 
People rolling through stop signs even if they were not first at a four way stop is a prime example of the impatient driver. My observation is that it seems to have increased a lot just over the course of the past year or two.

I don't think the supreme leader has anything to do with it because Canadian drivers are behaving badly too.
 
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