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.

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.

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.

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 15 years I've been driving

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I noticed the opposite, but that's entirely because I moved from the States to Europe.

In America... Yeah, the last many years have seen a catastrophic worsening of driving skills. Law enforcement emphasizes COVID and the lack of enforcement and traffic a lot, but to me it felt like a lot of anger, distraction, and carelessness.

Sort of like when people are at the end of their wits and stop caring about everything. About safety, about others, about rules.

One of the last things I saw was this dude. Four lane stroad by a city park, he drove high speed on the left lane, and every so often swerved into opposing traffic, shouting fuck-yous all around. It was a miracle there wasn't a head-on collision.

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.