Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Drivers

I don't think it is just a "presentism" bias; it seems as though I interacted with more reckless drivers this past year or so--and I'm driving less (except for the trip south we just came back from). I recall back in mid 2020 that the roads were about as empty in the daytime as they'd been before at midnight. Perhaps some people learned a casual entitlement about traffic control that was almost appropriate when nobody else was visible for blocks, and are having problems unlearning it that now that the roads are full again.

Or maybe some people are taking a kind of revenge on the world for the diffuse oppressiveness of the pandemic years...

3 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Hmm. Neither confirming nor disputing this.

Christopher B said...

I'm of the same mind. Can't tell if I'm more shocked because I'm driving less (full time WFH for the last three years) or because the portion of manics has increased (anybody driving faster than you is a maniac, slower is a nincompoop). I also wonder if people's sense of travel time got maladjusted during the pandemic, or traffic volume is just more erratic with more WFH happening, and that causes people to rush.

james said...

I'm thinking mostly of the maniacs who blast through red lights with oncoming traffic, or turn into oncoming traffic. (I was the "oncoming") People passing on the interstate at 90mph--that's been happening forever.
Maybe we're getting more Chicago drivers here...