To think that driving has gotten worse since the pandemic?

Yes, I believe it does which means it’s courteous and not a requirement. I’m certainly not going to get annoyed at a driver for not doing something that they’re not required to do.

It’s about courtesy though. Courteous driving is safe driving. You sound like you might be part of the problem.

doesn't the Highway Code say you 'should' give way to people waiting at a zebra?

Chronic underinvestment in public transport so more and more people are forced to take to the roads. European trains put ours to shame. They have double decker trains FFS.

You know there’s no obligation for drivers to stop for someone waiting at a zebra crossing, right?

I think people have changed since Covid - people seem angrier, entitled and just plain rude. Even walking around the supermarket people seem to be looking for confrontation.

It is almost like people lost their empathy, compassion and manners whilst in lockdown - it is really sad.

It's dangerous where I live. My theory is a lot of people don't have licenses, post covid. Add in the fucking electric delivery bikes...

I didn't say I was being undertaken.
I observed that frustrated drivers undertake more often. A few years ago people would go around the middle lane roadhogs on the right and pull back in. Now they undertake.

Road infrastructure is shit but there are far too many cars on the road, driving (and parking) standards are piss poor, drivers feel so comfortable and protected in their oversized semi-armoured vehicles that they're disconnected from the road and actively driving isn't a priority (red lights, zebra crossings, indicating ... all optional apparently), and drivers are overindulged (see eg the petulant reaction to 20mph zones because obvs the right of drivers to speed through residential areas should trump the safety of the people who live there) and not held to account. Start a thread about cyclists and see how shamelessly drivers for whom the highway code is just something that happens to other people share why they shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle - it's a frightening insight into why roads are an absolute zoo.
'Motonormativity': The bias that leads to dangerous driving - BBC Future" https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240306-motonormativity-the-bias-that-stops-us-seeing-driving-clearly

The design is practical, safer, and increases the network's capacity. However, issues with implementation, management, and significant user errors have turned the matter into a political issue. Deathnell.
The original plans did have rest stops and more cameras. An unnamed group of civil servants decided it would be cost-effective to omit those. Hence why the M1 is 50 mph for long stretches.
People need to make up their minds no more capacity means rationing the resources (Taking users off the roads) or widening.

"Gotten" used to be a British English word hundreds of years ago. I find it annoying though and hope it doesn't become accepted in British English again.

YABU for using the word "gotten" unless you're American

Smart motorway roll out has been halted by the DoT because of the number of accidents. Private Eye have been reporting on it for years. They are not safe.

I don't think it's the norm, as a PP said it's not tested so most people will not "waste" precious expensive lesson time on this.

In my view it is:

• smart motorways (our local one was started in 2020)
• phones
• bad habits that started during periods of loads of roadworks - eg near me there were shed loads of roadworks with huge delays from 2019 to 2022. People started going right on a particular roundabout from the left hand lane then and they still do it now. That never ever happened before the roadworks.
• headlights continue to get brighter, I find it very hard to drive at night on country roads.

I no longer drive on the motorway regularly and only really drive locally now. I've noticed how people drive far too close to you so if you had to suddenly stop you run the risk in them appearing in your back seat.

I'm never sure whether they have such poor eyesight they do not realise how close they are or they are so important and in such a hurry that they want you to drive faster even though you are already doing the limit of the road and have a line of traffic ahead of you.

The amount of speeding on residential roads is also much worse and it's not always white van man doing parcel deliveries either.

The smart motorway system is statistically safer and has increased our capacity. However, the main issue in the UK is the lack of an integrated transport policy. Ideally, roads would work in conjunction with trains to better meet our transportation needs. Implementing a pay-per-drive scheme could further reduce congestion by encouraging people to make alternative choices.

I am presume it also depends where you live - not everyone has a handy stretch of motorway.

I wonder if it's instructor dependent then. DS was doing 10+ mile stretches of motorways and back in his lessons.

I think another problem is that different countries have different rules and styles of driving. What is normal in France might lead to a dangerous situation if implemented in Britain.

When you think about the number of people moving to Britain, and the number of different countries they've learned to drive in, it's clearly going to cause problems.

I keep saying this!

The thing is you had 2 groups of people during the pandemic, those who WFH for the best part of 12 months & weren't driving anywhere and then there was the group that had the roads to themselves for 12 months!

Now those 2 groups are back on the road together!

The levels of anger you see from drivers is astounding! Hooting, over taking in a blooming 30 miles an hour zone, roaring off in front of you only to be sat in front of you at the next set of traffic lights it's ridiculous!

No they don’t. They can pay for extra lessons on Motorway, in the dark etc but motorway driving is not part of the driving test.

Not true where I am. Close friend learned last year and has never been on the motorway.

That’s interesting, when are those statistics up to?

Personal experience was 2022 the roads were still quieter, more people still WFH, 2024 roads are back to being busy (I track my driving time to locations I go to each autumn, so I know when to leave the house). So 2022 data would be different to 2023 and 2024.

YANBU - the standard of people's driving has gone way down. There were two accidents on one small stretch of the A41 a couple of weeks ago - both with police in attendance. The way people drive though I'm not surprised they have accidents. Speeding, dangerous overtaking and undertaking, tail-gating, pulling out in front of people when they don't have space, not respecting zebra crossings/pedestrians, jumping lights. The level of aggression has gone way up.