Are peoples driving skills getting worse?

[TheHallsHall]

I don't know about you but I have witnessed and experienced some god awful drivers that have appeared from coming out of the pandemic.
There seems to be trend of having an over sized and noisy exhaust pipe, never using indicators and round abouts or junctions and just being damn ignorant and having a lack of care on the roads..
I'm not saying I'm a perfect driver but I am very conscientious of other road users and always do my best to have a positive attitude when behind the wheel..
Anyone feel this way?! 🚗

The farty beancan drivers have probably carried on as usual, and are taking advantage of the quiet roads to "show off" and less diluted by the rest of the traffic. I've been supermarket shopping late at night and all winter, the little "car clubs" have had their gatherings in the shadier parts of the retail park.

There will be a lot of people out of practice. Many weeks, the supermarket has been my car's only outing. I'm more cautious on quiet roads because it tends to make knobs less cautious. Not in a driving at 15mph, kind of way, just not assuming that because I haven't seen a car in 2 minutes, that it's safe to swing around a junction without checking like many do.

Elderly people who rarely go out and have lacked in social stimulation in the past year may have de-skilled more rapidly. Lockdown has generally accelerated conditions such asdementia and that will affect observations and controls.

Well I'm glad I'm not alone on this, the thing that worries me is we've got a new baby on the way and although I doubt he'll be in the car much or will be going out, it still terrifies me to think what would happen if some Muppet were to collide for lack of awareness...

Yes! Same thing here, absolutely shocking. Mostly very slow, hesitant, oblivious dangerous types though. The type that does 40mph on a national speed limit road.. and maintains 40 as they pass through a 30mph village on that road.

There’s a tendency to think that it’s teenage boy racer types who are largely responsible for bad driving, but I disagree. Those are fewer than they used to be due to high insurance costs and a general decrease in car ownership amongst younger people.

IMHO, bad driving has just become endemic for a variety of reasons, cars have got safer, driving generally is increasingly frowned upon and it’s considered a bit sad and Jeremy Clarkson to enjoy cars and driving, the focus on speed alone has eclipsed bad driving.

The latter I think has been one of the biggest factors in the reduction of driving skills. It’s easier and cheaper to fine someone for doing 32mph than to catch someone looking at a phone, weaving in and out of traffic and not paying attention, essentially traffic policing has become largely automated based on a single element of bad driving rather than looking at the whole thing.

Yes it's really noticeable where I live and my own concentration behind the wheel is poorer. It's all of us being a bit out of practice.

Definitely seeing this and seen many near misses due to stupidity. It's really annoying me. People seem to be in so much more of a rush as well.
Same goes for pedestrians. The amount of people who just step into the road to cross without looking is astounding. Or the three separate families waiting to cross a very busy road the other morning, but rather than use the zebra crossing, they chose to stand and wait in a long line five metres up the road. Made no sense at all. Even more so when to get to the school they were going to, they had to walk past the other side of the zebra crossing.

@delilahbucket

Definitely seeing this and seen many near misses due to stupidity. It's really annoying me. People seem to be in so much more of a rush as well. Same goes for pedestrians. The amount of people who just step into the road to cross without looking is astounding. Or the three separate families waiting to cross a very busy road the other morning, but rather than use the zebra crossing, they chose to stand and wait in a long line five metres up the road. Made no sense at all. Even more so when to get to the school they were going to, they had to walk past the other side of the zebra crossing.

This boils my piss, seeing people staring at their phones step into the road without looking left or right, and also seeing people standing in the middle of a busy road, trying to cross, 20 feet from a pedestrian crossing. Darwinism in action.

I think the numbers will go up for car collisions and unfortunately fatalities on the roads which will wake people up, I think there will be a lot of people coming out with Dashcam footage on how bad drivers have got for the authorities to get a grip on bad driving since lockdown

@TheHallsHall

I think the numbers will go up for car collisions and unfortunately fatalities on the roads which will wake people up, I think there will be a lot of people coming out with Dashcam footage on how bad drivers have got for the authorities to get a grip on bad driving since lockdown

I was confused by this post until I went back and re-read your OP. I’m not sure why you think bad driving is a problem which started with COVID.

In fact, your latest post doesn’t make any sense at all. Why do you think collisions will go up and dash cams will save the day?

@SylHellais I said nothing of the sort lol 😂

@JustSleepAlready

I think a lot of people appear to be playing GTA in real life. No indicators, swerving in and out of traffic, undertaking, overtaking then cutting you up and slamming on the brakes. Going too slow, going too fast, driving cars that are wider than the road but thinking they are not.....

so true!

Had an accident a couple of years ago when someone pulled out of a roundabout and wrote my car off and have used a dash cam ever since, protection from "at fault" and 50/50 claims if nothing else and recommended by the insurance company.

Also live close to a primary school and the number of people who slam on the anchors in the middle of the road to let their precious darlings out is astonishing.

Massive rose tinted glasses here, the mortality rate on the roads has plummeted in recent decades and people used to routinely drink and drive.

That's true.
I won't touch alcohol, even a glass the night before if I'm driving the next day but it used to be common to have one or two and then drive.

@IHaveBrilloHair

That's true. I won't touch alcohol, even a glass the night before if I'm driving the next day but it used to be common to have one or two and then drive.

I'm mainly the designated driver when my wife and I were to go out or if out out we'd get a cab

I get the train if I'm going out out, which is actually a gig, and then I still don't drink as there's no toilets on the train home!
My parents weren't big drinkers, glass of wine with a meal, and my Dad might have a whisky, but they'd still drive after that.
It was legal, they wouldn't be over the limit, but I still would never dream of it.