The Severe Deterioration of Driving Habits.

[Snow Sheltie]

It has been in my observation, particularly over the last five years or so, that driving habits of the general motoring public in the United States have declined to such a degree that it throws me off balance whenever I do come across somebody who is properly obeying traffic laws. Various traffic violations I see commonly occuring includes the following;

 

Speeding - Even truck drivers are often speeding excessively down the road and often for little meaninful gains in travel time.

Tailgating - This plus speeding being a huge factor for rear-end collisions. So many drivers do not give each other space to react to things going on in front of them. I don't know if this is because drivers act ridiculously competitive or if what I heard about the majority of drivers having really poor deph perception when it comes to tracking cars in front of them is true (if the latter is true, then I may as well start calling drivers deer) but this one i'm convinced is the core reason why there's so many traffic jams at every major interchange on the freeway.

Running Stop Signs - I can only recall one day over the last two years where I was in a town where people actually came to a full stop at a stop sign before proceeding. I've also had multiple people nearly rear-end me because I come to a complete stop at a stop sign.

Running Stop Lights - This one's been becoming really bad over the last year which is drivers electing to run an amber light turning red to the point where the traffic light is solid red by the time they enter the intersection. Unless traffic conditions are poor (snow, rain, etc) where braking safely isn't feasable, there are very few instances where these drivers should be running a red light.

Short-cutting Left Hand Turns - Not sure what else to call this behavior I've been watching more and more which are drivers who will cut across an intersection at forty-five degree angles to the point where drivers will frequently end up briefly crossing the center line into opposing traffic or (in the evet traffic is stopped at the intersection) take a sharp angled turn to finish passing through the intersection. I've had a couple incidents of drivers having to turn to the right to avoid a head-on collision because they were taking a left-hand turn so poorly. Meanwhile I had one idiot behind me somehow take the turn so badly while I was taking the turn properly he nearly t-boned me. I would've loved to see an officer's narrative on that accident report.

Distracted Driving - So many of you are hooked to your phones now that if a law enforcement officer was to ride in my truck, he'd be able to see and ticket dozens of drivers a day I see mucking about with their phone as they're driving a potential death machine down the highway.

 

I do get to witness other bad driving behaviors including one idiot who almost struck the left side of my truck because she wanted to drive on the shoulder due to a traffic jam (typical Chicgaoland idiocy) and only stopped her course of action when I blew the air horn to warn her to stop but these are the ones I've personally observed occuring more frequently over the years compared to others.

 

I throw the question to you: Have you noticed any driving habits that have gotten worse in your area? Maybe something that's gotten considerably better?

 

Honestly, the bad driving behavior I see in ETSMP seems quite fitting to what I see on a weekly basis though taken up from a 10 to an 11 and it's probably why I don't end up getting bothered by it as much as other players.

[Yarkoon]

Hello, having lived all my life in Moscow (Russia) I observe that the traffic situation on the road has become much better, most people move strictly according to the rules of the road and the driving culture has become better compared to other decades. It seems to me that this was influenced by a multiple increase in the installation of cameras for fixing offenses, as well as improving the quality of the condition of roads. Despite this, as for me, speeding becomes the most frequent violation (in Russia there is a non-fined threshold of 20 km / h, that is, if it is written on the sign that you can move at a speed of 60, then everyone will go 80 legally) when people drive 90-100 km/ h in a city where there are no cameras. In conclusion, I can say that in general I am satisfied with the driving culture in my region, which has changed for the better.

[Nody]

Heya!

Since your topic has been inactive for over fourteen (14) days, I will lock and move it to our Archive section. 

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Nody,

TruckersMP Forum Moderator.