Why are there so many bad drivers on the roads?

[Mydinosaurnest]

Every day I seem to encounter awful drivers doing dangerous things and it’s beginning to make me nervous and anxious about driving, particularly when my children are in the car.
Where I live people are constantly speeding, they pull out at junctions without checking, rarely any indicating going on, road rage incidents, tailgating, serious accidents at least once a week and so on.
I like to consider myself a good driver. I obey the rules of the roads, I stick to the speed limit, I let people go in front of me, I wait my turn, I do everything I consider safe driving. I have never had an accident, near miss or any reason to contact my insurer. Yet there are idiots like previously described all over the roads putting us in danger with no care in the world. How do they pass their tests?
Just today I had 2 cab drivers who were parked up suddenly pull out onto the road in front of me. Neither indicated or reacted.
At the weekend my husband was on a motorway driving at 70mph when the car next to him pulled in front very closely without indicating and then slowed down to 50mph so he had to brake fast.
I just witnessed a young girl being intimated by a van driver who was tailgating because she was at the speed limit. Who then preceded to speed off through a bus Lane and should hopefully receive a fine.
I hate driving because I know I will be met with at least one asshole. It scares me knowing one wrong move and we could be involved in a serious accident.
Has anyone else found the roads are loitered with bad drivers lately?

I could have written your opening post OP and agree with you 100%.

Also, as an older driver (sixties) I feel that I am constantly being pushed to drive faster than I want to when driving at night. I’m talking about local country roads,
pitch black, where people will tailgate mercilessly in an attempt to intimidate. I drive as fast as I am able to safely, but it saddens me that older people are being put in a position where they don’t want to drive at night any more because of the aggressive behaviours they encounter. I think some people think that if you find night driving increasingly difficult you should just stop altogether, but if you can drive safely at a slightly slower speed, I can’t see why this is an issue.

I was advised soon after I passed my test to drive as if everyone else on the road is an idiot. Sadly nowadays I find most other drivers are! I agree with pp that people in general are much more selfish & also seem to be permanently in a rush.

I think a large part is people learning to drive overseas where it tends to be much more relaxed re rules of the road.

That behaviour on the road has become more common so I think more people think fuck it and drive offensively.

I've been driving for over 40 years and have definitely noticed a deterioration in driving standards over the past few years. People in society in general have become more selfish and think that whatever they want to do they should be able to do, irrespective of other people and this is reflected in their driving.

It always used to be men that drove aggressively, tailgating, flashing lights, carving you up etc, but I've noticed that the number of women driving like this has increased hugely, particularly young women.

In my bit of London a sizeable proportion of the driving age population were born - and quite probably learned to drive - in another country. Not all bad drivers but any means, but I sometimes wonder if they have different driving conventions and rules of the road!
I also think new drivers from these cultures are more likely to be taught by their dad and not an accredited driving instructor. You still have to learn the Highway Code etc but you don't have to obey it apart from on test day. Plus there is culture of young male machismo and powerful and often modified cars which might encourage aggressive manoeuvres.

Not necessarily bad drivers, just horrible impatient ones. So much tailgating, so many people getting too close to very obvious learner drivers, people flying up in the wrong lane to overtake. It’s just scary!

I’d say some of these incidents you’re all mentioning are shocking, but they really aren’t unfortunately!
It’s funny some of you are mentioning drivers from abroad as I remember a particularly scary trip in France years ago where we were nearly driven into a ditch by an impatient man who said he’d come and find us to sort us out (for driving the speed limit). I find a lot of cars with foreign plates drive very cautiously here, but in a dangerous way such as driving 10mph in a 40 zone. I’m always patient because you never know their circumstances, but sometimes what is considered good driving to them is actually shit driving to us.
I’d say it’s 50/50 in regards to men and women, it used to be men intimidating women drivers but now I find more women becoming aggressive, especially those with children in their car strangely.
The drivers who I find let me out at junctions, wave their hand if I let them go etc are generally men and van drivers.
When I felt low in confidence driving my newborn around I had a ‘baby on board’ sticker which seemed to attract the assholes tailgating me for entertainment. I had to remove it.
It’s sad to read you feel bullied off the road Lianna, I’ve experienced it too and it really does shake you up. I think a lot of these bullies feel confident they won’t see you again and there won’t be any repercussions, men don’t tend to do it to other men for example as they don’t know what may come of it. They get a kick out of ‘ruling the road’ with no brain cells to consider who they may hurt.
Also agree about the school run, we have a mini roundabout in our school grounds and parents always stop there to let their children jump out holding up the roads and generally making it unsafe for pedestrians. Don’t get me started on cyclists. I know they’re not all bad but in London they are above the law in their mind and I see dangerous acts daily.

I think this as well. The amount of cars that drive past that stink of cannabis is unbelievable! I don’t think people realise that these drugs will be in your system or could impair your driving the day after taking them in the way alcohol can!

Definitely agree. In my current car I’ve had three bumps that weren’t my fault. One where someone REVERSED into me in a car park, just by putting his foot down without checking. One that was actually a lot more than a bump, where someone went into the back of me while I was waiting to turn right, and he misjudged undertaking me and completely totalled the back end of my car. And the last only a few weeks ago when someone pulled out on me in a car park, not checking if anyone was coming straight on in the lane he was turning into. All men, all 100% their fault. And it’s honestly more unusual for me to go out in the car and NOT have a near miss than have one. It’s bloody terrifying- I haven’t been hurt in any of these incidents, but that’s just luck.

I'm finding a lot of drivers trying to be polite by letting people from the left go at roundabouts. That's not how they work!

doggie I used to work with a woman who had learnt to drive in Botswana, literally going down a road and around a corner and braking (this was the 70's). Even she thought it was pretty lax. She then moved to South Africa and her licence was simply converted with no extra lessons.
Then she moved back to the UK and didn't take any further lessons. Her licence was simply converted. She didn't even understand roundabouts. She was flippin' terrifying on the roads.

Yep, I’ve been driving for over 30 years now and people are just too lazy to flip the indicator, use the steering wheel to stay in lane at roundabouts, turn their heads to look both ways before joining a road etc. It surprises me that these people are able to even able to walk to their cars!

I’ve noticed a high proportion of younger women drivers as well who drive aggressively and badly and then get arsey when beeped at. Had a few times where I’ve been badly cut up and expect it to be a man (!) but it’s a young woman.

Had one this morning who stopped in front of me on a main road, no indicators, then proceeded to spend ages manoeuvring to reverse into a side road so she could park on the path right on the corner. Starting screaming out of her car window when I gestured at what the hell she was doing.

Unfortunately, I spend a lot of time at present driving and this is what I see:

• lots of aggressive van drivers who are probably on the clock and with masses of packages to deliver in a set time, parking anywhere, pulling out, stopping suddenly, not indicating;
• lots of people who I assume didn't take a UK test as they seem to not know how to drive certain road features;
• lots of aggressive young people, particularly males, but a plenty of females too and actually today I was tailgated by an old woman in a clapped out 52 reg - WTF?
• lots of people in fucking great huge cars that they know not the width or the length of trying to intimidate other drivers with the ludicrous size of their vehicles and driving/parking extremely badly;
• lots of people in high-powered, expensive cars that (to be blunt) the drivers don't look like they can afford, but ... leasing;
• levels of traffic and roadworks that make even the most patient among us lose the will to live.

I have developed really bad anxiety around driving in the last couple of years. It started with, thankfully, a fairly minor accident that wasn’t my fault. Obviously I was a little shaken by than, but then it just gradually escalated, essentially caused by too many experiences of dangerous and aggressive drivers.

I absolutely hate driving at night now too, thanks to the super bright headlights, constant tailgating and other drivers trying to force me over the speed limit. Twice a week I have to pick up one of my dc from an evening activity and I end up with a migraine afterwards every single time from the stress.

I live on a fairly long road, but our stretch has recently been changed to 20 mph because it’s near a primary school. I still hear people shooting past my house at 40, 50 and sometimes even faster all day every day. Dh had someone overtake him when he was stopped at the zebra crossing outside the school last week. Clearly that driver gave zero consideration for how that could have ended.

During the pandemic I had to drive my eldest child into the city every day for a couple of months. I expected the roads to be quieter, but our LA had closed all but one lane of a massive ring-road for miles around the city, leading to huge tailbacks. I experienced/witnessed all sorts, people going through on red at almost every set of traffic lights, driving at speed the wrong way around roundabouts, mounting the kerb and undertaking whole queues of traffic and literally repeatedly nudging the rear bumper of the car in front to get them to move forward in queues.

Locally, so few people bother indicating, especially at roundabouts and so many people just seem to take a random line around them too, lane discipline seems to be a thing of the past.

I’m not under the illusion that I am a perfect driver, but I do my best, look ahead, observe stopping distances, take into consideration road/weather conditions, stick within speed limits, indicate appropriately, am courteous to other drivers, know what lane discipline is and use it, etc. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of other drivers see me as the problem because I am in their way and refuse to break the speed limit or speed out of junctions in front of oncoming traffic.

I wish I could give up my car, but I have two disabled young-adult dc and a chronic illness myself so, unfortunately, I don’t have that option.

This. Plus entitled males generally.

I have been driving for nearly 20 years and I do think it's become a lot worse. I watched a video on social media about this somone was saying they felt like the social contract is breaking down a bit with cost of living crisis, politics in this country and coming out of the pandemic. Basically people are more selfish and like fuck it!

I would advise getting a dashcam for your own protection.

I agree with this. I know there will be people who say women are bad drivers. But in my 20 years in the road the aggressive ones are all me. Some women are careless perhaps but not driving with the aggression of men, in general.

@doppelgangermirror I had someone tooting their horn at me for not moving out quickly enough for them. It was at a fairly high speed roundabout with not great visibility, you have to really turn your head to get a good view to the right just before moving out. It would be suicidal to have a quick glance while approaching then just drive out assuming nothing is coming because it wasn't a few seconds ago.

Absolutely agree. Knobs who are up your arse in a 30 ( always a BMW or Audi)

People, who do 40 everywhere.

White vans lane jumping, weaving over all four lanes of the M25- so bloody dangerous.

People sitting in the middle/ 3rd lane of the motorway doing 50 when there is loads of room in the lanes to the left.

And don't get me started on teens on electric motor bikes/ scooters- zipping on and off the pavement then on wrong side of the road, round a blind bend in the dark wearing black clothes and no lights. Just an accident waiting to happen... I pity the poor driver who kills one of these brainless little fuckwits who clearly think they are invincible.

Totally agree I was gonna say the same are you in Birmingham as pp said , but saw you are not .

it’s so bad here , I’ve been having to do an extra 22 miles per day for the last month and it’s been nerve wracking , had so many angry impatient drivers.

my nemesis is the VW GOLF I’ve found 😠

@Elopelo @TwigletsAndRadishes neither of you are wrong. I drove down the Aston Expressway last night and people were driving like complete nutters. Too fast, changing lanes, pushing in aggressively. I swear half of them have no licence.

The worst in my personal experience have been men who have not learned to drive in the UK.
A friend's child killed by a driver with no licence, no insurance, illegally in the country. Ditto a parent at school left with life changing injuries.
The man who almost killed my dd because in his country they don't give way to traffic on the right on roundabouts.
The man who hurtled round a roundabout the wrong way and almost hit me head on. I had 3 kids in my car.
They do not care and neither do the police.

Because there’s basically no usable public transport outside of London

Is that so? 🙄

I actually disagree. I live in a small city and the standard of driving is generally pretty good here.

I regularly drive 200miles on motorways and the system of all lane running on managed motorways has led to the vast majority keeping to around 75mph, maintaining flow (instead of tossers overtaking at 85/90 weaving and braking, causing those behind to bunch up and slow down).