Is it me, or ever since Covid, people have changed mentally? I mean there’s always aggressive and dangerous drivers on the road, but lately I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been cut off, cars slowly drifting into my lane, speeding like crazy, people not using their turn signals and so on.

it’s like people are way more impatient than ever before. Thank god for my LS460, because this car has allowed me to escape some close calls on the freeway especially if I ever needed to pass somebody. I still feel like people hate on my car just because it’s a Lexus.

So I get a lot of drivers that want to cut me off on purpose to show who’s boss, or they ride my *** to a similar effect.

Have any of you notice drivers driving way worse compared to pre-pandemic days? I’m curious to know.

 

Yes, that happened. Also mad Captain Slows in left lane and ain't budging.

 

Are you one of them drivers thats drive below the speed limit in any lane..especially the left lane and ride the brakes..if so then its you.

 

I find RX owners drive fairly aggressive, probably early onset something.

 

Well, you guys in the US are not alone. Here in the Netherlands, it's similar, except we are not allowed to pass via the right lane. So, then what happens is that people stay in the left lane because there is a truck 1 mile ahead. And yes, I to notice more aggressive driving after covid. Also very popular here not to use a blinker . And then just like you guys I can escape in my serene LS 600h and let them do their thing. They look all stressed out around me and me? peace and quiet enjoying the ride.

 

It is absolutely not you. People have become unhinged mentally and common sense is completely gone. When it comes to driving I am now passing more cars in the right lane than the left. People have completely forgotten left lane is passing lane only.

 

Unfortunately here in north Scottsdale people drive their Porsche's, Ferrari's, giant pick up trucks, SUV's and even the Pepsi trucks like they're in an F1 race. If you're not doing 20 miles over the speed limit you'll get run over and it was like that pre pandemic. That's why I bought an IS 500 VS the IS 350 so I can keep up!

 

Its not you, there is absolutely a difference.

There is also no lane etiquette at all. People just ride along in the left lane when they can do the same speed in the right lane causing you to have to pass on the right. I was driving back from the Pocanos the other day and I was behind two tractor trailers literally driving right alongside each other on a 2 lane highway, one would overtake the other a little and then the other would, just driving along at 65 MPH. I moved over to where the one on the left could see me in his mirror and just constantly flashed my high beams until he sped up to overtake the truck on the right and moved over. Insane. Line of cars behind them 1/4 mile long.

I think a lot of it is just people being entirely clueless about the needs of anybody around him. As soon as that trucker saw my flashing lights he did speed up and move over...it was like he just wasn't even realizing what he was doing. Those people in the left lane its like they don't even realize there are any other cars behind them.

 

If anything, this car loves to cruise at 80-85 mph, so it’s the opposite really lol.

 

See I knew it wasn’t just me! F1 racing is another funny way to put it for sure, people are completely clueless and it’s like they have zero common courtesy skills.

I witnessed this first hand going to work in the morning last week when California had an insane amount of rainfall, a lot of streets, and parts of our freeways/highways were completely flooded out.

Yet people are still flying down the road doing 90-100 mph in the pouring down rain. Huge lifted pick-up A.K.A. Brodozers, are literally inches away from hitting the rear bumper, or more like the rear glass of vehicles.

Even prior to these massive rain storms, there have been more accidents on a daily basis locally, a high amount of them are DUI’s, I believe either it was last year or in 2022, that San Diego County recorded more DUI crashes ever in it’s history. Many of them were fatal and of course, the drunks always survive.

Or even people getting hit and killed off the side of the freeway, their car breaks down and unfortunately they get hit by a distracted driver. That doesn’t include an almost daily occurrence in pedestrian deaths from getting hit by a car or a train. A good portion are suicidal by people running onto the freeway to get hit, and on train tracks..

So yes, ever since Covid, I also believe depression in many people, and mental illness has skyrocketed leading to some of the chaos’s we see today in the world, and out on the road.

 

Many commercial truck have speed limiters/governors and unable to break 65mph. Some can go 70 but the automated systems (nanny-cam + data) log that speed and it winds up being reflected on the driver. I have seen multiple instances where a truck starts to pass another truck and they other driver will have nothing of it and there you are... two trucks doing what you are seeing. It's like the topic calls out - poor driving but in this case the effects are amplified by the speed limiter.

 

Here here, harumpf harumpf harumpf! I too echo what is said here. To add I think it's really a difference of active driving and passive driving. Most people are just doing +5 over and won't budge from that. My biggest complaints are 2-fold. 1.) Industrial drivers (CDLs) should be the best drivers on the roads but local dump trucks in my area (fully) loaded will be pushing people in the left lane to 10+ mph over. It's insane. I understand a A-hole trying to get somewhere fast, sure, but a 10,000 loaded truck doing it? Very dangerous. Idk where the enforcement is with that. 2.) Drivers that cruise over the 5+ in the right hand lane. I understand when no one is around, cruise at whatever speed you want. But if there's people around you, the right lane IS the slow lane, you need to drive at speed limit, or just 2-5 mph over so that people can pass in the left lane without making it dangerous.

Lastly, I think people are scared of the no-more-than-10mph it seems to be in the states. I'm not advocating for bombing down the highway in the left lane, but if you're committing to make a pass, speed up to a higher speed, make the pass, move into the right lane and slow down to your speed. It's not that hard.

Lastly lastly, people need to understand the OEM's only need to have their speedos be +/-5mph accurate. So I've noticed Ford F-150's are regularly under the speed limit. My father has one and he straight up said the spedo is 4 mph slow (that was after I was driving it for 3 hours! lol). So keep that in mind. Some of the craziness out there is because the federal standards for a spedometer (in USA, idk about elsewhere) is very loose. I personally feel that while in the 1970s-80s that was reasonable, BUT in 2024 any new car should be +/-1 mph from factory.

 

I don’t believe that’s the case for many long haul truckers. For one a lot of long haul truckers own or lease their own trucks, so the person they answer to for such thing is themselves.

This was an issue of the overtaking driver needing to understand that wasn’t the time or place to overtake another truck doing 1 MPH slower than him, and the driver being overtaken refusing to allow the other driver to overtake him, like you said. Both drivers at fault.

 

There is no doubt drivers are crazier than ever. In this "me" world, people think they shouldn't have to look when switching lanes, never use blinkers, and tailgate you at 70 because the other lane is slower. Back in the day you would flip them off. But here, if you do that, they just pull out a gun and start shooting. So, I just deal with it.

 

Yep, it's gotten worse. Pedestrian deaths are at an all time high. Our car fatalities have spiked, at a time when they've been going down in the rest of the industrialized world.

I drive my car once a week or so, the rest of the time I happily take my bike. The amount of drivers glued to their phones is absurd. Remember when there was a stigma against texting and driving, can we go back to that?

Zero traffic enforcement, flagrant selfish and irresponsible behavior, larger and heavier vehicles with worse blind spots. It's a lethal mix.