Is it me or are people getting ruder and ignorant whilst driving and on the roads these days g?

[Twoweekcruise]

I’ve had several incidents on the roads recently where I have stopped to allow oncoming vehicles to come through but cars behind me have overtaken me and blundered on through. Or endless times when I have stopped to allow oncoming traffic through when cars are parked etc and not one bloody person has thanked me. Or people just walking straight onto a zebra crossing (often texting) no regard for their own safety as they don’t even look up let alone thank you for stopping!
My dh has been a civil engineer working on the roads for the last 30 years. The abuse they all get is unbelievable, to the point that his company has issued them all with body cameras so they can start prosecuting offenders. They regularly have to close roads due to working on them and people blatantly ignore the road closed signs as they obviously don’t apply to them!! They will demand they are let through and will swear, scream and abuse dh and his co workers. Other gangs have had bottles of urine thrown at them and some have even been knocked over with vehicles. Some people will drive through regardless. Last year a woman drove through ignoring everyone and ended up in the ditch, the stupid bitch. She had to wait 5 hours for someone to come get her, haha karma!
Anyhow, dh says this has become much much worse over the last few years, he never experienced this kind of abuse years back.
Why is everyone so, so angry, self obsessed and entitled these days? What has happened to old fashioned basic good manners? Please, thank you and a smile doesn’t cost the earth and in my opinion makes you a better person.
I worry about the world my dc will grow up in 😕

Couldn’t agree with you more Twoweekcruise - we were discussing this very topic with friends over the weekend - it’s horrible!

It’s scary, everyone I speak to says they experience it too. Makes me wonder who the hell the offenders are though?! Dh says it’s all ages and both male and female, everyone is so stressed it’s turning us into bloody monsters behind the wheel!

I agree. Very few people seem to indicate anymore and i see people run red lights on an almost weekly basis. Also the amount of people cutting others up at roundabouts is crazy.

Could have written this myself op. Ask myself this most days...self obsessed and entitled, you bet...2 or 3 incidents just this morning over about 45 mins! Also I think nowadays a lot of people are so busy/stressed/preoccupied, whatever, that they almost seem to forget that there are other people around them, and react badly when they are called out on it.

Personally I think that there should be some sort of refresher hazard awareness test every few years, with a section on road etiquette/rules of the road included.

I don't think that people are getting ruder, I think it's just that there is an unspeakable level of traffic. Everywhere is gridlock,

I haven't driven my car for weeks now because I can't face it. Luckily I can walk and cycle most places I want to go but I have been getting the train instead of driving or just not going if I can't because I find it all so tedious.

Unfortunately many people don’t check their mirrors before stopping to let oncoming vehicles through. If there is just one car behind you and a queue of traffic wait to come through then it would make sense for you to continue and the oncoming traffic will pass in the natural gap created after the car behind you.

I had an incident driving on a road with two lanes each way where I nearly crashed as the car in the left lane stopped to allow a car to turn right into a junction and allow another car to pull out. I had to do an emergency stop to avoid hitting the car turning right accrue the lane I was driving in.

It was completely unnecessary for the car in the left hand lane to stop as there were no other cars behind us.

Could it be that you’re stopping unnecessarily, which is why other cars are passing you?

Personally I think that there should be some sort of refresher hazard awareness test every few years, with a section on road etiquette/rules of the road included.

This^^

Stopped this morning to let someone through they drove past on their phone Had to beep at the person who stepped out onto the road whilst texting...He gave me the finger...I swear it's like mad max territory more and more each day!

Totally agree with LouiseH2017 stopping to let people out is a nice thing to do but so many people don’t check their mirrors before hand
It upsets the flow of traffic

Totally agree with you op.

All the time around here! I posted a few months back about how I'd been coming up the road and a bus on the opposite side wanted to turn left. To do so the car that was on the road that the bus had to go down, needed to come out, so the bus could swing around onto my side of the road and get around the bend. I stopped as I'd seen the bus driver flash the car, I flashed to give the ok, the car obviously looked both ways to see it was ok, before pulling out, literally took 5 seconds. Beeeeeep, from the BMW behind me. The thing is, the traffic in front of me was stationary in a que, so even if I'd moved forward that extra 6 car lengths it wouldn't have made any difference! I admit I was annoyed and when this car ended up side by side to me several miles later, I really wanted to give her the finger.

Anyway I posted on here, I admit I was wrong about the finger (even though I didn't actually do it!!) but the amount of people that said I shouldn't have allowed them out.

The road I am referring too, during school run time, is bumper to bumper for about three miles. If drivers never allowed out the cars on the side roads, they wouldn't get out for over an hour.

There is one high school I go past and the children just walk or run straight in front of you. I've done two emergency stops in the last few weeks.

Yet a few miles up the road, my son's school, it doesn't matter if it's one child or sixteen children, they wait until it's clear, if cars stop to allow them to cross, every single one without fail will raise their hands to say thank you. They could show some adults who blindly walk across the road some manners.

Yes. I recently had someone overtake me while I was turning right into a road on a blind corner - you have to edge forward to see round the corner and make sure nothing is coming, and he presumably saw me as some kind of shield and took the turning first! I nearly hit him as I turned in, as I was still half-looking left to make sure the road was clear, not right to make sure no-one had decided they could take the corner quicker than me.

It's been driving (haha) me mad lately. Nobody seems to indicate, people just seem to slow down and stop for no reason, pull out without looking, drive straight down a single lane between two sets of parked cars without looking to see if anyone is already coming the other way, etc. etc..

I've done a fair bit of motorway driving this past week, and nobody seems to have a clue which lane they're supposed to be in. They either sit in the middle lane, or, in a four lane stretch, just sit in the 3rd lane! I've even had several numpties just sitting in the outside lane entirely oblivious to whatever is coming up behind them.

It's definitely getting worse and worse.

As for the people on their phones...

porky and louise absolutely not! I’m not in the habit of slamming my brakes on just to let traffic out, the traffic was very slow and to let the bus through was good manners and would have allowed for free flowing traffic but by over taking me, the other cars cause a complete grid lock. Also, if you have to brake hard when the car infront of you slows or brakes, it shows you are driving too close to them. snowy I totally agree with you, can’t believe people would disagree, in busy town and city traffic if each person kindly lets one out in front of them, it would allow for more free flowing traffic, people are just becoming more selfish and ignorant imo, you only have to refer back to what I’ve said about my dh work to prove this!

'Or people just walking straight onto a zebra crossing (often texting)'

I had a small child run out from behind a car the other day. Had to do an emergency stop. Luckily I was going slowly as it was a busy road with lots of parked cars either side. The dad was on his phone not paying attention to the child He gave his son a bollocking and mouthed sorry to me but gave me the fright of my life.

Put your bloody phones away

cardinal ahh, motorway driving! I drive on the motorways loads and it’s so scary the risks people take, overtaking on the inside lane seems to be a fave for most idiots.
Dh says virtually every other person is on the phone whilst passing their road works, scary as more and more road workers are being hit and injured as a result of this.

moita I’ve witnessed that too!

The abuse your husband gets is terrible by the way. Our neighbour's a police officer - he's been abused by drivers for closing a road due to accidents where people have died. Disguting and so wrong. People can be so selfish.

There are many factors: people making many, short (arguably unnecessary ) journeys that they 'know', so don't pay attention. Modern vehicles designed to cocoon drivers to the extend they feel detached from other road users, the pace at some people feel they should live their lives and, yes, a general lowering of driving standards caused by the above.

My favourite one recently was when I'd stopped at some temporary traffic lights at some roadworks which had turned red - I was at the front of the waiting queue. Dick behind me decided to overtake me and jumped the lights - oh how I laughed when he had to reverse all the way back when he met the oncoming traffic coming the other way.

But I agree - I'm just seeing so much bad and impatient driving - I'min London and the 20mph limit is bringing out the worst in people.

Most miles I drive these days are rural and I find the majority of drivers are polite and considerate but I do thank my lucky stars that I have left the madness of Essex/Kent/ London roads behind me.

I don't expect to be thanked by people using a zebra crossing in much the same way I don't expect other drivers to thank me for stopping at give way markings.

As a lollipop lady I see some awful stuff.
Just this morning a woman was revving her engine behind me as I waited for some people to cross then beeped at me.
I gestured to the people still crossing and then she drove off shaking her head at me!

So agree. On the residential roads round here (30mph limit) I am constantly being bullied and tailgated by drivers who want me to go faster than 30mph. Have BMWs and Audis got magic brakes or something? It also means I lose some concentration because of their driving and this cannot be good. So stressful specially when up ahead there is another idiot who reckons he can just about turn out of a side road before I hit him. Grrr

It's because there's no threat of punishment anymore. Police and the government have made it clear doing 34 in a 30 is of far more importance than actual dangerous driving at higher speeds and so it's rare you see them actually getting anyone for this stuff. On busier roads than ever, why not drive like a t**t and get your own way?

I never thank people for stopping at zebra crossings and I get annoyed when people thank me if I'm the driver. It isn't optional to stop but pedestrians are getting more and more timid and more drivers are ignoring them. Thanking/expecting to be thanked only exacerbates the idea that as a pedestrian you have to dither at the side waiting for someone to choose to let you cross.

I quite often look like I've walked out without looking but I've actually looked subtly and if I've made you slam your brakes on you weren't concentrating

About the only way we'll get round this is to make it official policy to accept dashcam submissions to begin prosecutions for dangerous driving. With the amount of dashcams and wannabe vigilantes, if we could get people in court over things they do in dashcam footage, we could eradicate the worst of bad driving entirely.