Why don't people slow down?

[Notyomama]

One thing I notice a lot when I'm driving is how little others seem to react to changes in the traffic/hazards. It makes me wonder, are they just not seeing them?

For example, this evening I was driving quite a distance behind another car (no other car between me and them). The car looked to be doing about the speed limit (30mph). A boy of about 14 shot across the road on a bike, having not looked at all where he was going. The car kept going at the same speed, no brakes applied, nothing. Luckily the boy managed to speed up and the car just missed him. The thing that horrified me was the car driver definitely had time to react - I was much further behind and I reacted, even though I didn't technically need to. The car driver just didn't react. It was pure luck that it didn't result in a terrible accident. The boy was in the wrong but the driver seemed not to be paying any attention.

The thing is, this isn't an isolated incident. I regularly see drivers not slowing down to take traffic conditions into account - they barrel onwards regardless. I can't tell if they think there's no need to slow down or if they just don't see what's going on. I notice DH doing it sometimes - I can see there's a clear hazard ahead, but rather than slow to make reacting easier he just keeps going and every so often he has to suddenly slow down which is much more dangerous.

To be clear I'm not talking about reacting to absolutely everything or constantly slowing causing a hazard to drivers behind me. I mean taking into account what's going and being safe by reducing the risk of a collision.

Is it that some drivers are just shit drivers who are tempting fate?

I think in this case and many others, people are trying to teach other people a lesson. E.g if someone pulls out on them, they don't slow down until theyre right up their backside. Or in this case they didn't slow down to teach the boy a lesson. It's idiotic sure, but i imagine that's part of the thought process.

One near me was astonishing
driver turning right, another car approaching at double the speed limit (at least), and slammed into the car turning right
took out a metal fence, flipped the car he smashed into (in a 30 zone!)
neither him or passenger wearing a seatbelt
took ages to cut the other driver out the car

We have quite an indulgent attitude towards drivers as a society so stuff like speeding can be excused. The guidelines for reporting collisions that the journalist Laura Laker worked on are really interesting re attitudes to drivers as they are aimed at reporting collisions in a neutral manner rather than using language that could favour the driver - but they are not always followed.

I think this is unfortunately a big part of it, as long as they're right, that's all that matters, not injuries, not damage, not deaths, if they're not in the wrong then the rest is immaterial.

It's like people would rather have a collision, than stop or err on the side of caution, and I believe you can be done for driving without due care and attention even if the other road user is technically wrong, but you could have avoided the collision or attempted to even if you didn't stop/swerve in time.

Like with the child on the bike, the child was technically 'wrong' but that's going to be of no comfort to me whatsoever if I've seriously injured a child when I could have avoided it.

I think a lot of people are distracted too, eating, drinking, using mobile phones, messing with entertainment systems and don't notice what's going on around them.

I was walking between jobs a few weeks ago and saw a bloke at the wheel who was looking for something down in his passenger footwell - it honestly looked like a headless person was driving his car. Then he picked up his phone from the floor, answered it and carried on - it was like something out of Mr Bean 🫣

I don't even think it's driving skill, I just think there's an epidemic of "I'll do what I like and sod you all. Only myself matters." in the whole of society at the moment.

What @daffodilandtulip said and the same goes for walking in pairs! It seems even grown adults can’t separate from their friend or loved one for five seconds to allow another pedestrian to pass by without being forced to almost step in the road and don’t get me started on cyclists who know nothing about slowing down or waiting.
“Only myself matters” in the whole of society!

This is something we noticed when we moved from Paris to London. Drivers here often don’t slow down for pedestrians, as if they were making a point.
At the same time, drivers are very civilised with
other drivers, when lanes are merging or when someone is trying to join the main road from a side one. In France you often need to force your way through.

I got a new car a couple of years ago, the first car I've had with screens/tech. I connected my phone....and then unconnected it because I don't want the distraction. And I think the touch screen controls are more distracting than knobs or dials. In my old car if I wanted the fan on full, I knew it was 3 or 4 notches clockwise, can do without looking, now I have to glance to slide my finger across the screen.
Even the "helpful" instructions it gives about changing gear, eco tip, close the window etc all require you to look away for a second.
Obviously bad driving is not the cars fault and there is a lot of user error too, but I'm not sure it's that helpful sometimes.

Absolutely.

Threads here make out that pedestrians are a nuisance, everyone should drive if capable regardless if it isn’t necessary despite when that means less people on the road, less traffic.

I completely disagree that this is new behaviour, it’s been an issue for years.

Because the windscreen is just like every other screen they spend 24/7 staring at - some kind of Matrix version of the world with no consequences. I'm starting to really believe this is the case with many drivers now.

The comment I always get about my driving, from DH and others is that I'm a very 'smooth' driver - ie no sudden slowing down or speeding up. That's because I'm watching all the time and anticipating. I am a very cautious driver but then I think I should be - I could kill someone. In the situation I talked about it was not my perception that the driver didn't react in time - they definitely didn't react in time and very narrowly avoided a terrible accident.

I'm by no means a perfect driver and definitely have made mistakes, but I always allow space for things to go wrong. Anything can happen and what makes the difference is the ability to react in time.

I supsected people did this, but I couldn't quite believe it. It is such a stupid thing to do.

Near my house there is main road with a fairly blind corner, beyond which there is a side road. If you're pulling out of the side road onto the main road, you have to pull out without being able to see whether something is coming around the corner. The amount of cars that come around that corner at full tilt is astonishing - they definitely can't see what's ahead but they just keep driving. There are regular near misses, caused by drivers essentially driving as if they have their eyes closed. What is going through their heads??

Loads won't even have a license

I genuinely wonder sometimes whether some drivers just don't understand that if you can't see what's ahead you should slow down - sometimes significantly. I mean, it's basic cause and effect, but I'm not confident everyone gets it.

I see it all the time OP. I was halfway across a zebra last weekend, traffic had stopped in one lane to let me cross, and a driver sailed right through in the second lane, missing me by a few cm. On another occasion I crossed at a pelican crossing with three lanes, once I'd passed her the driver in one lane drive through the red light quite happily.

Some of it is inattentiveness.

But some of it is aggression- which is mirrored in other parts of society. It's the drivers who speed up when they see someone in the road- they want to hit the child on the bike.

The amount of people I see literally holding their phone in their hand and looking at it while driving…. 😱

You often see this "teaching a lesson" behaviour on dash cam footage. And actually I recently saw this in real life where a car overtook me (I was on a bike) on a long straight stretch of A road. The overtaking car gave me loads of room as you're meant to do which meant he ended up in the wrong lane very briefly. Old fellow in a big car was coming the other way and instead of slowing down slightly so the overtaking car could finish his manoeuvre safely, I think he sped up! He certainly hammered his horn and gestured furiously. Obviously he had priority in his own lane but the reaction was so bonkers. Like he'd rather be right and have a head on collision.

I see others have already said it but they'll have been on their phone and not even seen the boy. A fairly horrifying number of people use their phones while driving all the time.

They do that on purpose, to teach a lesson, not slowing down if someone crosses in front of them and are in the wrong. Many years ago, I crossed a one lane street with the lights against me. There was one single car in the distance and the guy actually accelerated to try to get near me before I got to the other side. I have seen that on roundabouts too. That person only has to trip and they would be too near to stop. Crazy really. Why LOOK for trouble?

I look both ways when crossing, one way or not because I don’t have much trust in drivers.

Oh yes. One way street near me, so often there's a cyclist or someone on an electric scooter going the wrong way, often at quite a speed.

I'll add, drivers who don't indicate when pulling out of a side turning or approaching a junction. OK maybe there are no other vehicles about, but I'm there waiting at the kerb and I want to know whether I can cross.

I once had a go at a delivery driver who was parked on the pavement just along from a creche/playgroup. I passed there regularly so I knew that they would all be coming out soon, and there was nowhere for the parents with their prams and buggies to walk except in the road. He really seemed to think that the fact that he was in a vehicle made him more important than anyone who wasn't (and he's not the only one who seems to think that).

I'll add, drivers who don't indicate when pulling out of a side turning or approaching a junction. OK maybe there are no other vehicles about, but I'm there waiting at the kerb and I want to know whether I can cross.

Yes! Some seem to think indicators are only for cars. I’m not going to walk out if I don’t know where you’re going.

Agree about many delivery drivers being a pain. We have a lot of disabled residents in our area along with children so making everyone have to reroute is ridiculous.

Is it that some drivers are just shit drivers who are tempting fate?

The driver I met this morning definitely was a shit driver. He'd gone through a red light and I met him head on on a single track hump back bridge (on a bend too, so I couldn't see he'd jumped the light til he was right in front of me. I had no choice but to back up as he'd come a lot further on the single track than me - he steadfastly refused to make eye contact and just kept coming albeit at snails pace, even though it must have been obvious to him that he was in the wrong, if I hadn't backed up I have no doubt he would have just hit my car. Genuinely unbelievable.

Yep, I regularly notice that I’m reacting to developing hazards sooner than the car in front. A lot of people drive around barely looking further than the front of their bonnet.

I’m not going to walk out if I don’t know where you’re going

Tbh I don't trust anyone who is indicating, to actually go the way their indicating, anyway. Also this morning, I'm waiting at the mini roundabout for the car to my right to go all the way round to the last exit because that's where he's indicating, only for him immediately turn left at the first exit. No one seems to know how to use roundabouts anymore, always people in the wrong lane. I don't understand it, it's not even like they're all young people who might have only just passed their test and that might explain it - most of them are either my age or older, driving standards seem to have really dropped though.