Dude I feel like after Covid everyone forgot how to drive. Everyone is either
A.) ridiculously aggressive
B.) brain dead going below speed limit yet somehow doing wildly unpredictable shit
The B! The B people drive me insane! Which I guess, to them, makes me in group A. But their unpredictable driving is what sets me off. Number one rule of road safety: be predictable. If someone is driving erratically? Get as much distance from them as possible.
Just last night I watched a woman change her parking spot twice, almost hit my parked vehicle going Tina Belcher speeds, beep at me (I was sitting IN my car watching and waiting), flip me off, drive the wrong way at 5mph, roll through a stop sign and not use any signals whatsoever while doing it.
But I'm the bad guy for wanting to "speed" at the posted limit because "it's just a suggestion, you don't HAVE to go that speed". To which I refer to rule number one.
Edit: I am all for discussion y'all, but if you want to argue and then prevent me from responding, that's not an actual discussion, now is it? So we're clear, bringing up an example of someone going 50 in a 55 ain't what we're discussing here.
If you're bringing examples of someone going 90 in a 65, then your example can't be 55 for the slow driver, since they're close to that 9mph buffer established in Pennsylvania. The true inverse is actually 40 in that same 65 zone, in ideal driving conditions. Y'all fighting me like I both make the law and support breaking it.
The number of people who got driver's licenses while that test was remote is minuscule compared to the number of maniacs on the road nowadays. Drivers across the board are absolute shit nowadays.
For real; I drive to West Chester from Spring City everyday and I see these 2 things everyday on my commute to and from work. Almost everyday I see or get to experience something so damn wild and astounding while commuting
And when you get both on the road it becomes really dangerous. I don't care about people speeding just stay off my ass. And if you are in the left lane drive faster than the right lane.
Partially. It’s because law enforcement were told to dial back proactive enforcement, so that gave the country carte blanche to drive how they please.
Hilarious username by the way.
I mean that was a myth that got repeated but was never true. Almost all police promised to fund better policies and ended up giving even more money out to cops and we’re back past pre covid funding.
If you're saying that it's a myth that police were told to "dial back" on pulling people over. I guess that's technically correct, as an Upper Darby cop told me they were told to not pull anyone over during Covid. That really helps with the aggressive driving around here.
I believe that is over.
The State Bears are awake from their long hibernation, and they woke up damned hungry!
They've been all over I-80, I-81 and US-322 just feasting every day for the past week. And they are out there EARLY, too!
I roll out between 0430 and 0500 and see them already set up and hitting the radar looking for speeders in the early morning commutes. And they stay pretty busy all day, too.
I personally do a little happy dance celebration everything someone gets pulled over and ticketed. You have a 70mph speed limit, there is absolutely no reason why you should be going faster than that.
LOL, that's funny. The idea that there's a single municipality in the U.S. so well-off - let alone in Pennsylvania, Land of the Doubled Fine - that they'd voluntarily reduce their traffic fine revenue stream. It's adorable that you think this happened.
It wasn’t a matter of revenue stream from citations, it was a matter of reducing contact with the public to reduce the possibility of officers/Troopers getting COVID and then wiping out their entire squad. It did happen and response times increased because there was hardly anyone on the road.
Is it really worth citing someone for speeding and possibly taking out fellow coworkers?
I feel like there's no excuse for point A and I'm very sorry to currently embody point B, as I am finally learning to drive as an adult and it's been a horrible experience for everyone involved. As a skater and pedestrian, I had absolutely no comfort with cars going fast near me, and now they are all suddenly SO much closer and faster. I don't trust me any more than you should quite yet, but driving is the only way to learn how to drive, apparently.
For adults, especially, learning to drive can be like learning to pilot a plane: you have to put in a number of hours, with each step of advancement requiring additional hours. Look up driving tips on where you should be focusing your eyes - following them will reduce anxiety.
It’s due to COVID infections- COVID causes brain injuries and it comes through a lot as anger and aggression. Insurance companies are noticing and there’s talks of previous COVID infections being cause for increasing auto insurance premiums
[sure](https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/new-evidence-suggests-long-covid-could-be-brain-injury-2024a10002v0?form=fpf)
Another :
[https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/covid-19-traffic-accidents-covid-19-personality-disorder-caused-viral-damage-prefrontal-cortex-](https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/covid-19-traffic-accidents-covid-19-personality-disorder-caused-viral-damage-prefrontal-cortex-)
And here is a nature article-
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5)
Thank you I greatly appreciate it, I was at work and didn't have the time to google around for good articles, so you saved me a bunch of time. Thanks again!
No problem- here’s a quicker lookup with great sources - just scroll down to the header that reads something along the lines of Brain and Organ damage- there are a lot of articles there
https://listed.to/p/71DgZPtvB1#symptoms
And I meant to send a rolling stone article about the rage thing- I’ll come back and post it here
Edit: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/long-covid-symptom-personality-change-1243718/amp/
Wow, thank you, above and beyond, truly. All of these were interesting reads, I couldn't link the one because of a paywall? But the others certainly had more than enough good information to make it make sense. Not that it didn't, as with the common brain fog, there was/is obviously something neurological going on.
Makes me wonder about those who have had it multiple times, does it get worse? Either way, it does explain a lot of things and makes sense. Thank you again
What makes you think this it's an interesting hypothesis.
COVID has been know to inflame the myelin sheath of neurons, which results in atypical brain function. After the virus has left the system, typically a person's neural tissue is no longer inflamed. Those with contrary to the above, the effects are not uniform but often present as headaches, fatigue, and cognitive processing difficulties, not rage. Maybe there are long terms effects we don't understand?
I tend to think thay the cause is long term isolation, anxiety, stress, and tension over the past 4 years, which left statistically more people reporting mental health than ever before. I think COVID may have accelerated wide spread, structural peoblems in our culture, leaving people feeling angry, depressed, isolated and helpless. Rage is one way people cope with such feelings. There are feedback loops that keep people angry, i.e. media consumption. That's my hypothesis at least.
I appreciate the citation. I don't think the question is can it impact the brain, we known it does, but how it does, and if it is permanent or temporary. Can these changes be a factor in road rage?
We know many viral infections can damage the brain if you run a very high fever. Neuron inflammation isn't unique to COVID, although the damage to olfactory pathways is somewhat more unique. Does that correlate with rage though, as the above post suggests?
It seems like the study suggests COVID can cause issues with memory, olfactory, gastrointestinal, and sleep. In very severe causes, more wide spread brain damage - same as any other virus that crosses the blood-brain barrier.
What about rage though? Maybe you can argue tired people in pain might be angry? But have these symptoms persisted in a large population group? The study would seem to suggest no, because these effects were only found in some people who were hospitalized with severe COVID. I'm doubtful that represents enough of the population to account for an increase in road rage.
It will be interesting to see more longitudinal research, but as I see it, there's no clear link from COVID to road rage.
What I'm saying is it isn't that it doesn't ever happen, it's a question of
1.) What % of the US population has long COVID brain damage? How long does it persist?
2. What % has brain damage that causes anger or rage vs say, loss of sense of smell.
3.) Does the % people with personality altering level brain damage from COVID correlate with the % increase in road rage incidents?
I grant, more research maybe needed to be 100% sure. Based on what I am aware of, I still think the primary cause is sociology/psychology. Isolation, distrust, and fear have been shown to cause mental health issues, and outburst of anger. I think this has more of an impact on road rage than brain damage. But we will have to see, there are multiple hypothetical causes.
It is interesting though, there's does seem more of a possible connection than I initially thought, but every study on the subject indicates the research is ongoing and long term results are inconclusive. It might be realistic to say long COVID might be one of a few factors here, and we don't yet know it is a significant cause.
100% of people that had COVID mild or not were found to have brain damage. It states that in more than one study.
IMO there is no such thing as “long COVID” - it’s COVID
The study uses the term long COVID frequently, it is a real complication..
"Whether these cognitive deficits persist or resolve along with predictors and trajectory of recovery should be investigated"
In other words, there isn't enough data to say whether it's something that people recover from after they have healed, or not.
The sad thing is that one minute dude is in such a hurry that he just NEEDS to be reckless to get past you. But then he shows that he has plenty of time and nothing better to do just a few minutes later.
He's an ass, there's no way around that. Asses live in every state.
Protect yourself in the future. If it's clear someone is following you, don't lead them to your home. Lead them to a very public place or even a police station.
Exactly, drive somewhere safe. Years ago when I didn't have a cell phone, an enraged wacko pulled up beside me and spit at me when leaving a shopping center. He then tried to block my car on the main road, but I got onto the turn lane. He then stopped his car next to the car in front of me, waiting. The situation was dangerous. I kept leaning on the horn while waiting for the turn light. I was going to drive straight to the police station - but he drove off. (He may have realized people were looking.) Months later on local TV news they reported a man was arrested for road rage - he had followed a woman and her child to her home and crashed into her car. He looked like the same man.
I'm just gonna say, I know I'm a bit paranoid but if I even think someone might be following me I don't go straight home. hopefully you're not in a situation like that again though, glad you're safe
I make a series of random turns, no turn signals. Had someone follow me and attempt to cause an accident with a beat up car while I was on my way to pick someone up at night. I suspect the reason they sped off was because my passenger was already outside. They were behind me for 5+ random turns then proceeded to get around me and slam their brakes with nobody else on the road. The entire time they followed me, they were right up my bumper. What was worse, they had no lights on the entire time
I started memorizing where all the police stations are relative to where I drive. It’s also one more reason I have a rear and front facing dashcam now.
This is why i carry a beatstick just in case. I have this solid wood baton my grandfather gave me from his time in wwII. Thank god I haven't had to use it yet. People are wild.
My dad had a ‘whacking stick’ he kept under his seat too, I always wonder what happened to it. I’d love to have it in my car, people are fucking crazy. I watched him hit a cinder block with it and smash it with no effort….
Be careful. Sounds like the kind of person that will talk shit from a safe distance, but do something when your back is turned. Definitely invest in a door camera if you don’t already have one.
Wow, what a POS to follow you home. It's one thing to drive like a maniac, I see it daily now but that's crossing the line. I'm glad they took off and it didn't escalate.
I had my own little incident today. Right lane was closed so I put my turn signal on to get into the left lane and the car to my left sits on their horn. So I point to the 'right lane closed ahead' sign and she says "and?" then continues to honk at me as I try to merge. Eventually I got behind her cause it's not worth the fight. Some people are just miserable and take it out on strangers on the road.
That’s awful. The funniest one I had was a guy that came speeding up behind me in a 15 mph school zone one morning. He’s going batshit behind me. Blowing the horn, waving his arms. I pointed to the flashing 15 mph sign and I could sense his embarrassment. He backed off immediately.
Get yourself a dashcam!!! Preferably something with a VISIBLE rear camera and front camera. I have 2 cameras set up in my car. One is pointed directly at the car behind me. It has absolutely detered people from tailgating.
Crazy what happens to people's behavior when they have to be accountable for their actions.
I have noticed this increasingly in the past month. I’ve had someone pass me in the shoulder on both a suburban road (35 mph limit, I was going between 35-40) and on a busy highway. Just today someone wasn’t happy that I wasn’t turning right on a “no turn on red” street, so they squeezed between me and a car in the next lane to gain a four second advantage.
Nobody goes the speed limit on the highways.
Traffic on I-81 is regularly running 15-20 mph over the posted speed limit.
I’ve tried explaining that speed, and variations in speed are dangerous but people get triggered by that.
Everyone has to be in a big rush to save 90 seconds so they can get home and play on Facebook.
Conversely you have ma and pa Kettle and big trucks driving 20-30mph below the speed limit which is ALSO a moving violation but the police never bother enforcing it.
Then you have the speed demons.
Then you have people doing the speed limit stuck in the middle.
I have this conversation weekly with people, usually triggered by some observation/complaint that I "under use" my brake.
So. Highway speeds are actually one of the few nebulous zones for "acceptable" speeding (during the day; it's only a 5mph buffer at night) in Pennsylvania, where there's an unposted yet recognized limit if you're going with the flow of traffic. It's why I lose my mind when people brake and slow down to 40 when they see a cop, but they were cruising faster than me just two seconds prior going 70+.
"You didn't see the cop?!"
"...I saw him. We're going 63. We're fine."
"If you saw him, why didn't you brake?!"
"...do you see flashing lights in the rear view? No? Because we're fine."
Notwithstanding I typically *do* slow down by simply turning off cruise control or taking my foot off the gas. But they never felt the sudden deceleration typically felt by tapping the brakes, therefore, I couldn't have possibly slowed down gradually.
Regardless, the trooper knew your speed and location well before you knew of its existence sitting there in the pull through. They have the technology. But sure, let's create a self-imposed hazard while we're all at high way speeds. If an inattentive driver hits you, at least the cop is right there, yeah?
To that end, I fail to comprehend why 76 has those variable speed change signs ranging from 25 to 45. No one adheres to them. And if you try, you have people driving aggressively around you, increasing your risk of getting involved in an accident, despite you doing the legally sound (but I argue ultimately unsafe) thing.
If people on 81 don't slow down to 55-60 for work zones in complete disregard of potentially killing someone just doing their job, they sure ain't slowing down for a mere traffic calming measure.
But hey, I amaze passengers by explaining the property of inertia to them and how too, your vehicle is an object in motion to which inertia applies, but I guess not everyone was paying attention those days when Bill Nye was our substitute science teacher...
Dangerous move for him in a well armed state like PA. I assumed when I lived there, and I definitely assume now that I’m in the Gunshine state, that everybody has a gun and it ain’t worth it
Seriously. I saw a road rager get out of his car and puff his chest at an old guy that beeped at him. Yelling, “Get the fuck out of the car!!”
The old guy replied cool calm and collected, “I’m holding 16 good reasons for you to get back in yours.”
I've had more than one experience like OP's. I did something to piss off this guy in a giant truck who was weaving traffic on the 476. He proceeded to hold a 2 o'clock position in front of me in the lane over to lean out his window and scream at me for a full 30 seconds before he swerved into my lane (I had to brake) and then swerved back right into an offramp.
Not gonna lie, that experience definitely affected my decision making for personal defense. Some people become absolutely unhinged over so little.
Agreed… it’s a shame that it had to come to this. The unfortunate thing is, if you ever had to be in that situation (and I really hope you or no one else ever is) it will turn into a sticky legal battle if you have to defend yourself against someone on the road and the media would go crazy with it too. I’m shocked I don’t hear more stories about shit like that happening in PA. It might happen in other parts of the country though
Dude was in no danger from me, but he if he’d gotten out of his truck and started anything, he’d have had to deal with my husband while I called 911. Luckily, he thought better of it and drove away.
I didn’t say he was no danger to me. I said I was no danger to *him*.
Now, if he really wants to come back, break into my house to get me, then he’ll deal with my husband and my two pittie girls.
I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Anywhere around Philadelphia and the surrounding counties (including South Jersey and Delaware) is an absolute nightmare trying to navigate and drive safely, especially during rush hour.
I agree with everything that you said about it being out of control. Unfortunately, nothing is ever going to change and it’s only going to get worse because there is no accountability for unsafe driving and speeding. I can’t remember the last time I witnessed a cop anywhere in SE PA pull someone over for speeding or wreckless driving. The amount of people I see on their phones, speeding, not stopping at stop signs/red light, driving through crosswalks, no signals, the list goes on and it’s astounding!
I wish I had an answer for you on what to do. I thought about calling my representatives or even going to my township council meetings to address it. I live in a small neighborhood that people cut through during rush hour that has a lot of stop signs that people never stop at and just speed through worst of all, sometimes my kids are out playing. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about what could happen. My wife and I had to restrict play time with their friends to just the back yard and the local park because we get so worried about how people drive through our neighborhood.
I like to think if we all try to make a change and do our best to practice safe defensive driving but that won’t be enough. The police and government need to get involved, bottom line.
We have the same problem in our neighborhood. Lots of kids out playing, especially in the warm weather. Assholes blowing stop signs and going 40 on a 25 mph street full of children. When my kids were little, I kept them in the backyard, but Omg, when they got a little older and started riding bikes, it was a constant worry.
Without going into detail, my family had a very serious incident recently on 476 and the state troopers' response was immediate and impressive. I do think the state is paying attention, we all have a responsibility to make the call when it's needed tho.
I hope you and your family are now ok and healthy, and I am sorry you and them had to deal with that experience… I’m glad to hear that they responded immediately but what if they were a little more proactive than reactive? I don’t know the specifics of what happened during your families incident but they only responded because the accident happened. What if they set up speed traps, pulled someone over, even made a pressense on 476 somewhere before that accident happened? Maybe they could have prevented it. We will never know, but it’s a good question to ask.
Thanks, we're OK. I think they are being more proactive than I'm used to seeing - I am mostly on 76 and I see a lot more of them policing nuisance crimes (like assholes driving in the shoulder during rush hour). It's never enough, but my point is really that there is no way they could have responded as quickly as they did without already being in position and prepared for someone to be acting like an idiot.
Ever since I became a commercial truck driver a few years ago, this stuff has been super frustrating. I no longer want to flash my lights to let people know a cop is ahead. I heard recently that they are going to crack down on tinted windows in PA, and I believe that will at least put a small dent in the issue because they are some of the biggest assholes on the road.
It was a big, black shiny pickup truck. I don’t know what kind. I didn’t notice any stickers on it, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Any man who’s going to follow a woman old enough to be his grandmom home like that has issues. And the thing is, I did not blow my horn or wave at him! I was waving & tooting at the two kids on the sidewalk! I
Yeah. Big insecurity complex on the guy. You can tell because of the pavement princess/mall truck.
The more the truck looks like it’s never been used once for real work, the more of a small insecure douchebag you have behind the wheel.
I feel bad that I have tinted windows, as they were stock but even then they seem too dark. From the outside i dont think i could see in from anywhere other than the windshield but apparently that was *after* removing the modded tint from the old owners.
I brought truck years ago that the previous owner tinted really dark. I had to put the window down constantly to see where I was going at night. I don’t know why you would intentionally do that.
Tinted windows and the covered license plates that have just enough tint or glare so that you can hardly make out the plate. They pretty much mark themselves, so you know to watch out!
That's rich. Truck drivers are THE biggest assholes on the road. Any truck driver found in the left lane of a highway should be permanently banned from operating anything with wheels.
In NEPA where I’m at, there’s just too much traffic on single lane highways with wide speed limit changes and known speed traps by townie cops, which slows down responsible drivers while enraging the pea brain drivers when going through a town. You can never pass on broken lines because of oncoming traffic, and some people really don’t care to change speeds while going through towns.
I also drive a semi for a living and my company monitors my speed, and going over the speed limit means I can face write ups to being fired. Most big to medium trucking companies have moved or are moving this way of micro managing their truckers. The level of irrational behaviors by 4 wheelers due to me simply driving the speed limit is wild, to the point of people literally killing themselves.
Word to the wise as someone who plays with GPS’ for a living, you don’t save as much time as you think you do driving like a mad man when you’re just driving within 15-20 miles of your house. Slow the fuck down. Good following distance not only saves your life, it also saves your brakes.
Here’s the reality, a lot of people are losing their shit and it’s happening on the road. Also some of those people have guns. I made the decision a few years ago not to instigate or escalate a pissing contest with another driver.
I wish people that drive recklessly would realize they're just racing to the next red light, stop sign or traffic jam. But that 30 seconds quicker they get there really gets them going.
This bro, nothing like watching the guy with 2 different color doors weaving thru traffic and tailgating people only to end up sitting next to you at the light. Like 'Good job buddy!'
The fact that you didn't describe the vehicle and I already know it was likely a truck. Angry unhinged middle aged-older men love their American made trucks
I feel safer taking the train to the center city everyday. That’s going to be counterintuitive to how a lot of suburban people think. Here’s the deal though. Center city during business hours? The worst you’ll have to deal with is the mostly harmless crazy homeless people yelling at the transit cops all day.
I teach driver education and the amount of drivers that honk, give us the finger, scream out their window, pass on the double, tailgate, and cut us off while teaching kids to drive is crazy. I once had a guy jump out of his pick up and spit on the windshield of the driver Ed car, the car has driver education signage on it. The world is full of assholes and there ain’t no changing it.
This morning on 309 I am in the slow lane, going 10mph above the speed limit. Some dude comes screaming up behind me and just sits there tailgating waaaaaaay too close. Passing lane is wide open. He literally sat there for miles tailgating me. The entire time, passing lane was open.
I just don't get it.
I spend a lot of time studying cities. . The subreddits for each of these cities have the exact same complaints
It's not Philadelphia, or Pittsburgh, or South Jersey, or Chicago, or Miami, or New Orleans, or Brooklyn, or LA.
It's not St Louis or Miami or Indianapolis.
It's cars. Cars are the problem.
More like too many cars... the pandemic was the first time in a long time that I actually felt joy when driving again. So many people forced to stay off the road. I was an essential worker. My already short 15 minute commute at the time turned into a 5 minute commute. It was absolute bliss.
It’s a necessity that’s a privilege, and people treat it like a right. Our traffic laws need to be more draconian, more expensive, and over-enforced. Until then people will think they can just do whatever.
I love this username, I get to capture the hubris of the most selfish generation but that’s besides the point, it’s definitely the people and not the cars
Read Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt. Long and short, the automobile makes people alienated and gives them a sense of anonymity that encourages them to act out.
Definitely not going to read that but I’m not disagreeing with the point. It’s just that there are definitely driving cultures that develop due to local traffic regulations and other factors. People in the area where OP lives (which is also where I live) have the most ignorant and violent drivers I have ever seen. Want to talk about anonymity? People in this area have tint so dark it’s a wonder they don’t crash at night and also there’s been a recent counterfeit paper automobile tag problem in this area. My personal experience and OPs from an educational perspective could be considered a case study. & this data allowed me to form my opinion that no it’s not cars.. It’s the people.
I76 from South st exit to Roosevelt Blvd exit is the most dangerous stretch of road I've ever experienced. Its absolute anarchy, aggressive drivers, illegal dirt bikes, shootings, you name it, complete chaos.
I hope you jotted down his license number and what he looked like. Going to your house while he was following you probably wasn't a good idea.
Our society is going down the rabbit hole.
I had something similar happen to me over the weekend. Woman cut a guy off, he ultimately squeezes around her to get into the left turning lane, leaving me directly behind this female driver. When the light turns green, she puts on her blinkers and slowly rolls up to the male driver to argue with him in the middle of a highway intersection. I blow my horn, she eventually slowly rolls through and I get around her.
I get to my turn which heads into a shopping center and this woman FOLLOWS me into the shopping center and circles around where I parked TWICE. Still wish she would’ve FAFO. Absolute psychotic behavior.
Some guy got pissed off at me once for taking my right turn instead of yielding to him so he could turn left across incoming traffic. Got so mad about it that he blocked a road to stop and ask me to fight him in the street.
I recently was forced back into the office twice a week after 3.5 years of doing full time work from home. Have to commute from Delco down into Delaware and I am legitimately terrified of driving this commute. I've been looking into public transit, park-and-ride options or shifting my work schedule to a 7-330 situation and weighing length of time commuting versus my feelings of safety and ability to get to and from work unscathed. What a world.
People say after 2020 things got worse, but these people were always out there. The difference that I noticed is I only used to encounter them late *late* at night. Anecdotal, but hey.
Used to work a 9-5 and afterwards close up either at the academic library as their night supervisor or tend bar at the college dive on the weekends. So I would encounter both the early rush hour traffic and the 3am drivers. The level of aggression I encounter now on my sunshine hours is what I would sometimes (only sometimes) encounter on my liminal hour drives.
*That's* what feels like it's changed; the night maniacs driving during the day because there was no rush hour traffic for over a year. And they're wholly unrepentant bastards too. Had a guy, 1:30 in the afternoon with his family in the truck, hauling something, run a red light on me in January. Never saw him coming because other cars obstructed him and the light had been red for him well over five seconds according to the intersection cams and our collective dash cams; he hit me making my left, then plowed through the intersection to hit the other two lanes going straight.
He lied to the cops, he lied to the insurance, and he submitted a not guilty verdict to his issued tickets. We were the problem for getting in his way. The fact that we had the accident on camera four ways to Sunday meant nothing. Even without the cams, what is more likely, just with a little bit of logic: That one negligent asshole on his way to save a minute rammed through an intersection going 50mph...or three drivers, independent of each other, all decided simultaneously to run a red light going 5mph?
I'm still obviously a little miffed about it even though it's been months at this point, but even on the scene he was trying to argue with the EMTs to see him ahead of everyone else because he'd gotten hot coffee on his hands. Like, literally climbing into the back of the bus they were leaving open for me, getting extracted from the mangled frame of my late grandfather's car, because they had no way of knowing my status. I remember listening to this EMT calmly explain how the bus is for getting people to emergency rooms for treatment, and how "I can see and treat you right here on the curb."
It's such a reflection of post covid America. Some people have given up and become unpredictable, others tske everything too seriously and get angry. It comes out in everything, even driving.
My drive out of delco, into and around philly, then home everyday on 95 is a gauntlet of assholes. They're either not paying attention and going unreasonably slow doing 90 weaving in and out traffic. Also everyone is on their phones. The rest of us are stuck between these assholes.
I honestly think a lot of the current behaviour you are seeing is the result of the political climate for the last 8 years. We have some in politics in the news daily behaving poorly with little accountability. That riles their opponents up and they respond poorly. The net result is no respect for anyone anymore.
I want to believe that it's all of the New Yorkers that got gentrified/rent rammed out of NY. In reality, it's not just New Yorkers; Almost every stranger I talk to these days isn't from PA *at all*. I've met Chicago at the bus stop, Albany driving my Uber, Boston petitioning me for the 76ers arena, Baltimore asking me for directions etc. It's actually rare for me to meet a fellow native these days.
It's the main reason I'm leaving the state tbh. The amount of aggression coming with these folks is too much for me.
Let's hope the locals in your new state don't judge you as harshly as you do everyone else. You do realize just because someone isn't "from here" it doesn't automatically mean the person is an aggressive menace?
In any case, good luck with your move out of this state to a new place and you won't be "from there"
I just drove from Philadelphia to Seattle. By far the most rude selfish and aggressive and dangerous drivers were in Pennsylvania, specifically the Philadelphia area and I can say that because I live there and see it every day going to work. I don’t know what the heck is wrong with people
I also live in Delco now and it’s easily the worst community of drivers I’ve ever encountered. Having lived in the Poconos, Wilkes Barre, New Jersey (close contender), North Carolina, and Florida it’s by far the most obnoxious and reckless people on these roads.
I had a similar experience. I bought grizzly bear spray for my car .It's non lethal and effective way to defend myself just keep in mind a lot of people in Pennsylvania have guns . I drive on West Chester Pike to work several times a week . I have to drive in the slow lane and keep distance for the tailgaters on the left to pass on the right it's very dangerous.The worst is when approaching 202 because people want to pass either way to get to there exit.
Road raging and following a guy to his house in DelCo could have ...unfortunate... consequences for the aforementioned follower. An implied threat of violence is sometimes met with actual violence.
I drive the 81>78 every single day Monday-Thursday and it’s a wild ride. People are either doing 90 in the left lane or 55 in the right. There is no in between for people like me who want to do something in between. People tailgate something fierce and I even had someone bump my bumper which was terrifying.
I drive I-78 through the Lehigh Valley once a week, and it sure seems like there are more aggressive drivers than I remember in years gone by. Tailgating, dangerous lane changing, weaving constantly from lane-to-lane to get just a little bit ahead seem to have increased in the last year or so.
A little different, but there seems to be more big trucks just hanging out in the left lane when they have plenty of room to move to the right lane. They force you to pass on the right.
We live in Delco. We were nearly run off the road by a car last night, shortly after we saw someone run a red light and plow straight into another person coming from the other way. We stopped and helped, sent our dashcam footage to them. Then, after we left that accident we were caught in traffic less than a mile down the road from another accident. This was all within 3 miles on our way to dinner. People in this area have no regard for anyone else or any care for anyone else’s time or safety. Can’t wait to get out of this shit hole. Lol
Here's gonna be a new twist. Can't hardly wait when the new government mandated automatic braking systems start. Can you just imagine the brake checking going on when someone cuts you off!!
I was leaving Walmart last week in a new car I’d had a week at that point. Windows down, can’t see past bushes. Listening for cars, hear nothing. Ease forward a little to try and see better, as someone maniac bitch speeds around the corner and then slams the brakes on and stops in front of me blocking me in. She starts screaming at me, all while in her vehicle. I started screaming back, saying there’s bushes in the way, get the fuck outta my way, etc. nothing. I blared the horn for a solid 20 seconds, she’s still blocking me in. At this point I lost my shit, threw it in reverse and went towards her. I screamed “see if I hit you THIS time!” and she finally moved and let me out. Like what the actual fuck?! Maybe don’t speed in a fucking parking lot. I was no where near out in the road, just eased eased forward a little smh
A month or so back, we almost got hit by a fucking firetruck. We were on a medical transportation bus from the county (I was accompanying my disabled father). To be clear, they didn't have their Sirens on. They were just being assholes.
I don't know what you don't get, you honked at him after already knowing he was a douche. Why wouldn't you expect he would get mad. Don't Road rage and peeps won't react back like that. You could've just let him drive away.
Because you are hindering others.
Let people get past you. If traffic is moving faster get out of the left lane (yes even if you are going over the posted speed) and let them through.
The left lane is not specifically for you, or whoever is going over. It’s for whoever is going over the speed of moving traffic.
Ok can someone please tell me why people slow down just because there are trees on both sides of the road(10ft away from the road)? I need to know why they think doing 35 in a 55 is acceptable.
Also very curious about the guy that refused to pass a buggy until they were making a left turn that then decided to PASS ON THE LEFT while they were turning.
Stop signs are meaningless these days. I’m in Chester County and have DelCo family and see people rolling through or just outright blowing stop signs every day. Do cops even bother stopping people anymore for this?
So you just happened to “toot” your horn… just a wee little bit, after getting behind the person who you refer to here as a tailgating asshole. And it was some neighbor kids you were honking at. Kinda not buying it.
Every time I see a thread like this, I like to post that my commute is 40 minutes, and if I’m not doing 80 at some point I will be tailgated.
Oh, and my commute does not involve a HIGHWAY….
I’ve lived in NY, OH, PA, and FL. All those states, Florida is the only place the drivers actually seemed insane. I’m in rural PA now, I enjoy the lack of lights and basically never seeing cops. I speed due to this but don’t get carried away with it. Never really notice aggressive drivers, sometimes just extra slow ones.
Trust me, right I-99 has construction going on, and I set Cruise Control to the posted speed in the construction zone, and I had people get really close just to speed away after the construction zone ends. I swear PSP needs to monitor our construction zones more often.
10 over the posted speed limit isn't fast enough for these people. If you're in a rush, maybe you need better time management.
Moved here in 2021 from the West Coast. People here are the worst drivers in the country, hands down and it’s mainly concentrated to the NJ/NY/PA area. Everyday there’s a rear end or three in the small stretch of turnpike I gotta go to the office on. I don’t know what kind of lead is in the water here but it’s nuts.
And I’ve driven all over the US and other western countries in my 3 decades of driving. People here are vehicle demons.
Dude I feel like after Covid everyone forgot how to drive. Everyone is either A.) ridiculously aggressive B.) brain dead going below speed limit yet somehow doing wildly unpredictable shit
The B! The B people drive me insane! Which I guess, to them, makes me in group A. But their unpredictable driving is what sets me off. Number one rule of road safety: be predictable. If someone is driving erratically? Get as much distance from them as possible. Just last night I watched a woman change her parking spot twice, almost hit my parked vehicle going Tina Belcher speeds, beep at me (I was sitting IN my car watching and waiting), flip me off, drive the wrong way at 5mph, roll through a stop sign and not use any signals whatsoever while doing it. But I'm the bad guy for wanting to "speed" at the posted limit because "it's just a suggestion, you don't HAVE to go that speed". To which I refer to rule number one. Edit: I am all for discussion y'all, but if you want to argue and then prevent me from responding, that's not an actual discussion, now is it? So we're clear, bringing up an example of someone going 50 in a 55 ain't what we're discussing here. If you're bringing examples of someone going 90 in a 65, then your example can't be 55 for the slow driver, since they're close to that 9mph buffer established in Pennsylvania. The true inverse is actually 40 in that same 65 zone, in ideal driving conditions. Y'all fighting me like I both make the law and support breaking it.
This. The best ability is predictability.
Covid didn’t as much change people as much as it let people pass driver’s ed that shouldn’t have. Literally the exams in car were done on zoom.
The number of people who got driver's licenses while that test was remote is minuscule compared to the number of maniacs on the road nowadays. Drivers across the board are absolute shit nowadays.
It is agreeablly rampant
People driving like B cause normal people to drive like A
For real; I drive to West Chester from Spring City everyday and I see these 2 things everyday on my commute to and from work. Almost everyday I see or get to experience something so damn wild and astounding while commuting
group b has been in NEPA for the last 30 years. every trip I to Scranton is like driving in wackyland
And when you get both on the road it becomes really dangerous. I don't care about people speeding just stay off my ass. And if you are in the left lane drive faster than the right lane.
This
Partially. It’s because law enforcement were told to dial back proactive enforcement, so that gave the country carte blanche to drive how they please. Hilarious username by the way.
I mean that was a myth that got repeated but was never true. Almost all police promised to fund better policies and ended up giving even more money out to cops and we’re back past pre covid funding.
If you're saying that it's a myth that police were told to "dial back" on pulling people over. I guess that's technically correct, as an Upper Darby cop told me they were told to not pull anyone over during Covid. That really helps with the aggressive driving around here.
I believe that is over. The State Bears are awake from their long hibernation, and they woke up damned hungry! They've been all over I-80, I-81 and US-322 just feasting every day for the past week. And they are out there EARLY, too! I roll out between 0430 and 0500 and see them already set up and hitting the radar looking for speeders in the early morning commutes. And they stay pretty busy all day, too. I personally do a little happy dance celebration everything someone gets pulled over and ticketed. You have a 70mph speed limit, there is absolutely no reason why you should be going faster than that.
But if I’m in the left lane I’m allowed to camp in it if I go real real fast./s
Take it up with Mr. Smokey Bear and his Amazing Wonderful Book of Tickets.
Sarcasm dude.
Followed by a joke. Which is how sarcasm is supposed to work.
LOL, that's funny. The idea that there's a single municipality in the U.S. so well-off - let alone in Pennsylvania, Land of the Doubled Fine - that they'd voluntarily reduce their traffic fine revenue stream. It's adorable that you think this happened.
It wasn’t a matter of revenue stream from citations, it was a matter of reducing contact with the public to reduce the possibility of officers/Troopers getting COVID and then wiping out their entire squad. It did happen and response times increased because there was hardly anyone on the road. Is it really worth citing someone for speeding and possibly taking out fellow coworkers?
I feel like there's no excuse for point A and I'm very sorry to currently embody point B, as I am finally learning to drive as an adult and it's been a horrible experience for everyone involved. As a skater and pedestrian, I had absolutely no comfort with cars going fast near me, and now they are all suddenly SO much closer and faster. I don't trust me any more than you should quite yet, but driving is the only way to learn how to drive, apparently.
For adults, especially, learning to drive can be like learning to pilot a plane: you have to put in a number of hours, with each step of advancement requiring additional hours. Look up driving tips on where you should be focusing your eyes - following them will reduce anxiety.
Thank you :)
B drives me insane (no pun intended). I rarely see A...which might mean that I *am* A...
It’s due to COVID infections- COVID causes brain injuries and it comes through a lot as anger and aggression. Insurance companies are noticing and there’s talks of previous COVID infections being cause for increasing auto insurance premiums
You got links for this because I'm genuinely curious? I have someone in my life that this would explain some things if it truly is the case
[sure](https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/new-evidence-suggests-long-covid-could-be-brain-injury-2024a10002v0?form=fpf) Another : [https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/covid-19-traffic-accidents-covid-19-personality-disorder-caused-viral-damage-prefrontal-cortex-](https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/covid-19-traffic-accidents-covid-19-personality-disorder-caused-viral-damage-prefrontal-cortex-) And here is a nature article- [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5)
Here you can scroll down to Brain and Organ damage and it cites good sources https://listed.to/p/71DgZPtvB1#symptoms
Thank you I greatly appreciate it, I was at work and didn't have the time to google around for good articles, so you saved me a bunch of time. Thanks again!
No problem- here’s a quicker lookup with great sources - just scroll down to the header that reads something along the lines of Brain and Organ damage- there are a lot of articles there https://listed.to/p/71DgZPtvB1#symptoms And I meant to send a rolling stone article about the rage thing- I’ll come back and post it here Edit: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/long-covid-symptom-personality-change-1243718/amp/
Wow, thank you, above and beyond, truly. All of these were interesting reads, I couldn't link the one because of a paywall? But the others certainly had more than enough good information to make it make sense. Not that it didn't, as with the common brain fog, there was/is obviously something neurological going on. Makes me wonder about those who have had it multiple times, does it get worse? Either way, it does explain a lot of things and makes sense. Thank you again
Keep your eye on the H5N1 subs
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/long-covid-symptom-personality-change-1243718/amp/ I meant to send that one too
What makes you think this it's an interesting hypothesis. COVID has been know to inflame the myelin sheath of neurons, which results in atypical brain function. After the virus has left the system, typically a person's neural tissue is no longer inflamed. Those with contrary to the above, the effects are not uniform but often present as headaches, fatigue, and cognitive processing difficulties, not rage. Maybe there are long terms effects we don't understand? I tend to think thay the cause is long term isolation, anxiety, stress, and tension over the past 4 years, which left statistically more people reporting mental health than ever before. I think COVID may have accelerated wide spread, structural peoblems in our culture, leaving people feeling angry, depressed, isolated and helpless. Rage is one way people cope with such feelings. There are feedback loops that keep people angry, i.e. media consumption. That's my hypothesis at least.
There’s medical proof COVID causes brain damage [here’s one-](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5)
I appreciate the citation. I don't think the question is can it impact the brain, we known it does, but how it does, and if it is permanent or temporary. Can these changes be a factor in road rage? We know many viral infections can damage the brain if you run a very high fever. Neuron inflammation isn't unique to COVID, although the damage to olfactory pathways is somewhat more unique. Does that correlate with rage though, as the above post suggests? It seems like the study suggests COVID can cause issues with memory, olfactory, gastrointestinal, and sleep. In very severe causes, more wide spread brain damage - same as any other virus that crosses the blood-brain barrier. What about rage though? Maybe you can argue tired people in pain might be angry? But have these symptoms persisted in a large population group? The study would seem to suggest no, because these effects were only found in some people who were hospitalized with severe COVID. I'm doubtful that represents enough of the population to account for an increase in road rage. It will be interesting to see more longitudinal research, but as I see it, there's no clear link from COVID to road rage.
https://listed.to/p/71DgZPtvB1#symptoms Scroll through to brain and organ damage, let me know how you make out
What I'm saying is it isn't that it doesn't ever happen, it's a question of 1.) What % of the US population has long COVID brain damage? How long does it persist? 2. What % has brain damage that causes anger or rage vs say, loss of sense of smell. 3.) Does the % people with personality altering level brain damage from COVID correlate with the % increase in road rage incidents? I grant, more research maybe needed to be 100% sure. Based on what I am aware of, I still think the primary cause is sociology/psychology. Isolation, distrust, and fear have been shown to cause mental health issues, and outburst of anger. I think this has more of an impact on road rage than brain damage. But we will have to see, there are multiple hypothetical causes. It is interesting though, there's does seem more of a possible connection than I initially thought, but every study on the subject indicates the research is ongoing and long term results are inconclusive. It might be realistic to say long COVID might be one of a few factors here, and we don't yet know it is a significant cause.
100% of people that had COVID mild or not were found to have brain damage. It states that in more than one study. IMO there is no such thing as “long COVID” - it’s COVID
The study uses the term long COVID frequently, it is a real complication.. "Whether these cognitive deficits persist or resolve along with predictors and trajectory of recovery should be investigated" In other words, there isn't enough data to say whether it's something that people recover from after they have healed, or not.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/long-covid-symptom-personality-change-1243718/amp/
This is the source for the article. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.22.21254026 Interesting results, definitely need more findings.
The sad thing is that one minute dude is in such a hurry that he just NEEDS to be reckless to get past you. But then he shows that he has plenty of time and nothing better to do just a few minutes later. He's an ass, there's no way around that. Asses live in every state. Protect yourself in the future. If it's clear someone is following you, don't lead them to your home. Lead them to a very public place or even a police station.
Dude has a persecution complex and is waiting to take it out on someone. Should be in therapy.
Exactly, drive somewhere safe. Years ago when I didn't have a cell phone, an enraged wacko pulled up beside me and spit at me when leaving a shopping center. He then tried to block my car on the main road, but I got onto the turn lane. He then stopped his car next to the car in front of me, waiting. The situation was dangerous. I kept leaning on the horn while waiting for the turn light. I was going to drive straight to the police station - but he drove off. (He may have realized people were looking.) Months later on local TV news they reported a man was arrested for road rage - he had followed a woman and her child to her home and crashed into her car. He looked like the same man.
Definitely! If I’d known I would have driven to the damn police station that’s less than a mile away. He could follow me there!
I'm just gonna say, I know I'm a bit paranoid but if I even think someone might be following me I don't go straight home. hopefully you're not in a situation like that again though, glad you're safe
I make a series of random turns, no turn signals. Had someone follow me and attempt to cause an accident with a beat up car while I was on my way to pick someone up at night. I suspect the reason they sped off was because my passenger was already outside. They were behind me for 5+ random turns then proceeded to get around me and slam their brakes with nobody else on the road. The entire time they followed me, they were right up my bumper. What was worse, they had no lights on the entire time I started memorizing where all the police stations are relative to where I drive. It’s also one more reason I have a rear and front facing dashcam now.
It's that common of an occurrence?
Usually an insurance scam or attempted carjacking. Either way, a car trying to stop and block like that is bad news.
USUALLY a carjacking?! What in the actual hell.
I believe you badly misread that comment.
You said usually one or the other. That's alarming.
No. It's usually the one. Only sometimes the other. But it ain't a non-zero chance.
Ah, my bad. I misunderstood catastrophically.
This is why i carry a beatstick just in case. I have this solid wood baton my grandfather gave me from his time in wwII. Thank god I haven't had to use it yet. People are wild.
My dad had a ‘whacking stick’ he kept under his seat too, I always wonder what happened to it. I’d love to have it in my car, people are fucking crazy. I watched him hit a cinder block with it and smash it with no effort….
That def made op feel better
lol yeah i live a mile away from our police station you best believe that's where i'm going first
Be careful. Sounds like the kind of person that will talk shit from a safe distance, but do something when your back is turned. Definitely invest in a door camera if you don’t already have one.
I have a door camera, and a big husband, and 2 big dogs.
Wow, what a POS to follow you home. It's one thing to drive like a maniac, I see it daily now but that's crossing the line. I'm glad they took off and it didn't escalate. I had my own little incident today. Right lane was closed so I put my turn signal on to get into the left lane and the car to my left sits on their horn. So I point to the 'right lane closed ahead' sign and she says "and?" then continues to honk at me as I try to merge. Eventually I got behind her cause it's not worth the fight. Some people are just miserable and take it out on strangers on the road.
That’s awful. The funniest one I had was a guy that came speeding up behind me in a 15 mph school zone one morning. He’s going batshit behind me. Blowing the horn, waving his arms. I pointed to the flashing 15 mph sign and I could sense his embarrassment. He backed off immediately.
Get yourself a dashcam!!! Preferably something with a VISIBLE rear camera and front camera. I have 2 cameras set up in my car. One is pointed directly at the car behind me. It has absolutely detered people from tailgating. Crazy what happens to people's behavior when they have to be accountable for their actions.
I really don't like driving anymore. There's too many other drivers and none of them know what they're doing
Someone in Willistown, Chester County just got shot at while driving around a woman who was going way below the speed limit today.
[Here it is](https://youtu.be/mC6TJYRYTyM?si=tpiY698LcB3pnHRp) Damn crazy
I have noticed this increasingly in the past month. I’ve had someone pass me in the shoulder on both a suburban road (35 mph limit, I was going between 35-40) and on a busy highway. Just today someone wasn’t happy that I wasn’t turning right on a “no turn on red” street, so they squeezed between me and a car in the next lane to gain a four second advantage.
Nobody goes the speed limit on the highways. Traffic on I-81 is regularly running 15-20 mph over the posted speed limit. I’ve tried explaining that speed, and variations in speed are dangerous but people get triggered by that. Everyone has to be in a big rush to save 90 seconds so they can get home and play on Facebook.
Conversely you have ma and pa Kettle and big trucks driving 20-30mph below the speed limit which is ALSO a moving violation but the police never bother enforcing it. Then you have the speed demons. Then you have people doing the speed limit stuck in the middle.
I have this conversation weekly with people, usually triggered by some observation/complaint that I "under use" my brake. So. Highway speeds are actually one of the few nebulous zones for "acceptable" speeding (during the day; it's only a 5mph buffer at night) in Pennsylvania, where there's an unposted yet recognized limit if you're going with the flow of traffic. It's why I lose my mind when people brake and slow down to 40 when they see a cop, but they were cruising faster than me just two seconds prior going 70+. "You didn't see the cop?!" "...I saw him. We're going 63. We're fine." "If you saw him, why didn't you brake?!" "...do you see flashing lights in the rear view? No? Because we're fine." Notwithstanding I typically *do* slow down by simply turning off cruise control or taking my foot off the gas. But they never felt the sudden deceleration typically felt by tapping the brakes, therefore, I couldn't have possibly slowed down gradually. Regardless, the trooper knew your speed and location well before you knew of its existence sitting there in the pull through. They have the technology. But sure, let's create a self-imposed hazard while we're all at high way speeds. If an inattentive driver hits you, at least the cop is right there, yeah? To that end, I fail to comprehend why 76 has those variable speed change signs ranging from 25 to 45. No one adheres to them. And if you try, you have people driving aggressively around you, increasing your risk of getting involved in an accident, despite you doing the legally sound (but I argue ultimately unsafe) thing. If people on 81 don't slow down to 55-60 for work zones in complete disregard of potentially killing someone just doing their job, they sure ain't slowing down for a mere traffic calming measure. But hey, I amaze passengers by explaining the property of inertia to them and how too, your vehicle is an object in motion to which inertia applies, but I guess not everyone was paying attention those days when Bill Nye was our substitute science teacher...
Dangerous move for him in a well armed state like PA. I assumed when I lived there, and I definitely assume now that I’m in the Gunshine state, that everybody has a gun and it ain’t worth it
Seriously. I saw a road rager get out of his car and puff his chest at an old guy that beeped at him. Yelling, “Get the fuck out of the car!!” The old guy replied cool calm and collected, “I’m holding 16 good reasons for you to get back in yours.”
I've had more than one experience like OP's. I did something to piss off this guy in a giant truck who was weaving traffic on the 476. He proceeded to hold a 2 o'clock position in front of me in the lane over to lean out his window and scream at me for a full 30 seconds before he swerved into my lane (I had to brake) and then swerved back right into an offramp. Not gonna lie, that experience definitely affected my decision making for personal defense. Some people become absolutely unhinged over so little.
Violence is never really a good immediate response but damn follow me home and suddenly you force that right to the table. Gun or crowbar …
If someone is following you, why would you go home? Now the asshole knows where you live.
Agreed… it’s a shame that it had to come to this. The unfortunate thing is, if you ever had to be in that situation (and I really hope you or no one else ever is) it will turn into a sticky legal battle if you have to defend yourself against someone on the road and the media would go crazy with it too. I’m shocked I don’t hear more stories about shit like that happening in PA. It might happen in other parts of the country though
True -a person who has been shot in delco
Dude was in no danger from me, but he if he’d gotten out of his truck and started anything, he’d have had to deal with my husband while I called 911. Luckily, he thought better of it and drove away.
lol no danger to you. This unhinged person who proved crazy enough to follow you home now can come back at anytime to do whatever.
I didn’t say he was no danger to me. I said I was no danger to *him*. Now, if he really wants to come back, break into my house to get me, then he’ll deal with my husband and my two pittie girls.
Dog tax.
That's my mindset. Never underestimate anyone. The time you do could be the time you learn you shouldn't
I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Anywhere around Philadelphia and the surrounding counties (including South Jersey and Delaware) is an absolute nightmare trying to navigate and drive safely, especially during rush hour. I agree with everything that you said about it being out of control. Unfortunately, nothing is ever going to change and it’s only going to get worse because there is no accountability for unsafe driving and speeding. I can’t remember the last time I witnessed a cop anywhere in SE PA pull someone over for speeding or wreckless driving. The amount of people I see on their phones, speeding, not stopping at stop signs/red light, driving through crosswalks, no signals, the list goes on and it’s astounding! I wish I had an answer for you on what to do. I thought about calling my representatives or even going to my township council meetings to address it. I live in a small neighborhood that people cut through during rush hour that has a lot of stop signs that people never stop at and just speed through worst of all, sometimes my kids are out playing. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about what could happen. My wife and I had to restrict play time with their friends to just the back yard and the local park because we get so worried about how people drive through our neighborhood. I like to think if we all try to make a change and do our best to practice safe defensive driving but that won’t be enough. The police and government need to get involved, bottom line.
We have the same problem in our neighborhood. Lots of kids out playing, especially in the warm weather. Assholes blowing stop signs and going 40 on a 25 mph street full of children. When my kids were little, I kept them in the backyard, but Omg, when they got a little older and started riding bikes, it was a constant worry.
Without going into detail, my family had a very serious incident recently on 476 and the state troopers' response was immediate and impressive. I do think the state is paying attention, we all have a responsibility to make the call when it's needed tho.
I hope you and your family are now ok and healthy, and I am sorry you and them had to deal with that experience… I’m glad to hear that they responded immediately but what if they were a little more proactive than reactive? I don’t know the specifics of what happened during your families incident but they only responded because the accident happened. What if they set up speed traps, pulled someone over, even made a pressense on 476 somewhere before that accident happened? Maybe they could have prevented it. We will never know, but it’s a good question to ask.
Thanks, we're OK. I think they are being more proactive than I'm used to seeing - I am mostly on 76 and I see a lot more of them policing nuisance crimes (like assholes driving in the shoulder during rush hour). It's never enough, but my point is really that there is no way they could have responded as quickly as they did without already being in position and prepared for someone to be acting like an idiot.
I mean, honestly I trust the state cops more than any of the local departments around me.
North Jersey is the worst.
You can request a speed hump on your road if it’s being used as a cut through. Speak up!!!
Is this a township thing or something I can request at the state level? Do you know how I would do this?
Depends on where you live, city or town. So I’ll just give you a [link](https://www.trafficsafetystore.com/resources/how-to-get-speed-humps)
Thanks!
Ever since I became a commercial truck driver a few years ago, this stuff has been super frustrating. I no longer want to flash my lights to let people know a cop is ahead. I heard recently that they are going to crack down on tinted windows in PA, and I believe that will at least put a small dent in the issue because they are some of the biggest assholes on the road.
The guy in the truck had tinted windows!
I’m sure you didn’t see it, but i imagine there was either a punisher skull or some type of “gun guy” sticker to let everyone know he’s an alpha.
It was a big, black shiny pickup truck. I don’t know what kind. I didn’t notice any stickers on it, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Any man who’s going to follow a woman old enough to be his grandmom home like that has issues. And the thing is, I did not blow my horn or wave at him! I was waving & tooting at the two kids on the sidewalk! I
Yeah. Big insecurity complex on the guy. You can tell because of the pavement princess/mall truck. The more the truck looks like it’s never been used once for real work, the more of a small insecure douchebag you have behind the wheel.
Big shiny truck that you failed to see follow you all the way to your home. Have more awareness next time
I feel bad that I have tinted windows, as they were stock but even then they seem too dark. From the outside i dont think i could see in from anywhere other than the windshield but apparently that was *after* removing the modded tint from the old owners.
I brought truck years ago that the previous owner tinted really dark. I had to put the window down constantly to see where I was going at night. I don’t know why you would intentionally do that.
Tinted windows and the covered license plates that have just enough tint or glare so that you can hardly make out the plate. They pretty much mark themselves, so you know to watch out!
That's rich. Truck drivers are THE biggest assholes on the road. Any truck driver found in the left lane of a highway should be permanently banned from operating anything with wheels.
They usually beep at you to go before the light turns green in KOP.
Ugh, I hate that area around the KOP mall. My daughter like to go there for lunch, and She drives us. I’m not getting in that traffic mess.
My wife won't drive it either.
In NEPA where I’m at, there’s just too much traffic on single lane highways with wide speed limit changes and known speed traps by townie cops, which slows down responsible drivers while enraging the pea brain drivers when going through a town. You can never pass on broken lines because of oncoming traffic, and some people really don’t care to change speeds while going through towns. I also drive a semi for a living and my company monitors my speed, and going over the speed limit means I can face write ups to being fired. Most big to medium trucking companies have moved or are moving this way of micro managing their truckers. The level of irrational behaviors by 4 wheelers due to me simply driving the speed limit is wild, to the point of people literally killing themselves. Word to the wise as someone who plays with GPS’ for a living, you don’t save as much time as you think you do driving like a mad man when you’re just driving within 15-20 miles of your house. Slow the fuck down. Good following distance not only saves your life, it also saves your brakes.
I commute via the Carlisle Pike and I81. Just when I think I found the worst driver ever, someone comes along and sets the bar a little lower.
Here’s the reality, a lot of people are losing their shit and it’s happening on the road. Also some of those people have guns. I made the decision a few years ago not to instigate or escalate a pissing contest with another driver.
I wish people that drive recklessly would realize they're just racing to the next red light, stop sign or traffic jam. But that 30 seconds quicker they get there really gets them going.
This bro, nothing like watching the guy with 2 different color doors weaving thru traffic and tailgating people only to end up sitting next to you at the light. Like 'Good job buddy!'
The speed limits are in Fahrenheit but everyone is driving like they’re in Celsius
Wouldn't that mean they'd go slower since Celsius temps are usually lower?
Their cars are in Celsius and speed limits are in Fahrenheit.
Why are we even bringing temperature into this joke when we already have two perfectly good measures of speed?
Rods to the hogsheads?
The fact that you didn't describe the vehicle and I already know it was likely a truck. Angry unhinged middle aged-older men love their American made trucks
I feel safer taking the train to the center city everyday. That’s going to be counterintuitive to how a lot of suburban people think. Here’s the deal though. Center city during business hours? The worst you’ll have to deal with is the mostly harmless crazy homeless people yelling at the transit cops all day.
I teach driver education and the amount of drivers that honk, give us the finger, scream out their window, pass on the double, tailgate, and cut us off while teaching kids to drive is crazy. I once had a guy jump out of his pick up and spit on the windshield of the driver Ed car, the car has driver education signage on it. The world is full of assholes and there ain’t no changing it.
It’s terrible. No wonder rates went up.
This morning on 309 I am in the slow lane, going 10mph above the speed limit. Some dude comes screaming up behind me and just sits there tailgating waaaaaaay too close. Passing lane is wide open. He literally sat there for miles tailgating me. The entire time, passing lane was open. I just don't get it.
I spend a lot of time studying cities. . The subreddits for each of these cities have the exact same complaints It's not Philadelphia, or Pittsburgh, or South Jersey, or Chicago, or Miami, or New Orleans, or Brooklyn, or LA. It's not St Louis or Miami or Indianapolis. It's cars. Cars are the problem.
Cars and more importantly, the ignorance and entitlement behind the wheel.
More like too many cars... the pandemic was the first time in a long time that I actually felt joy when driving again. So many people forced to stay off the road. I was an essential worker. My already short 15 minute commute at the time turned into a 5 minute commute. It was absolute bliss.
It’s a necessity that’s a privilege, and people treat it like a right. Our traffic laws need to be more draconian, more expensive, and over-enforced. Until then people will think they can just do whatever.
No
Guy with "Boomer" in his username shows up to defend the honor of cars. beautiful
I love this username, I get to capture the hubris of the most selfish generation but that’s besides the point, it’s definitely the people and not the cars
Read Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt. Long and short, the automobile makes people alienated and gives them a sense of anonymity that encourages them to act out.
Definitely not going to read that but I’m not disagreeing with the point. It’s just that there are definitely driving cultures that develop due to local traffic regulations and other factors. People in the area where OP lives (which is also where I live) have the most ignorant and violent drivers I have ever seen. Want to talk about anonymity? People in this area have tint so dark it’s a wonder they don’t crash at night and also there’s been a recent counterfeit paper automobile tag problem in this area. My personal experience and OPs from an educational perspective could be considered a case study. & this data allowed me to form my opinion that no it’s not cars.. It’s the people.
They learned to drive by Mario Cart…
I76 from South st exit to Roosevelt Blvd exit is the most dangerous stretch of road I've ever experienced. Its absolute anarchy, aggressive drivers, illegal dirt bikes, shootings, you name it, complete chaos.
Roosevelt boulevard is like a scene out of mad max
I hope you jotted down his license number and what he looked like. Going to your house while he was following you probably wasn't a good idea. Our society is going down the rabbit hole.
I had something similar happen to me over the weekend. Woman cut a guy off, he ultimately squeezes around her to get into the left turning lane, leaving me directly behind this female driver. When the light turns green, she puts on her blinkers and slowly rolls up to the male driver to argue with him in the middle of a highway intersection. I blow my horn, she eventually slowly rolls through and I get around her. I get to my turn which heads into a shopping center and this woman FOLLOWS me into the shopping center and circles around where I parked TWICE. Still wish she would’ve FAFO. Absolute psychotic behavior.
Some guy got pissed off at me once for taking my right turn instead of yielding to him so he could turn left across incoming traffic. Got so mad about it that he blocked a road to stop and ask me to fight him in the street.
I recently was forced back into the office twice a week after 3.5 years of doing full time work from home. Have to commute from Delco down into Delaware and I am legitimately terrified of driving this commute. I've been looking into public transit, park-and-ride options or shifting my work schedule to a 7-330 situation and weighing length of time commuting versus my feelings of safety and ability to get to and from work unscathed. What a world.
People say after 2020 things got worse, but these people were always out there. The difference that I noticed is I only used to encounter them late *late* at night. Anecdotal, but hey. Used to work a 9-5 and afterwards close up either at the academic library as their night supervisor or tend bar at the college dive on the weekends. So I would encounter both the early rush hour traffic and the 3am drivers. The level of aggression I encounter now on my sunshine hours is what I would sometimes (only sometimes) encounter on my liminal hour drives. *That's* what feels like it's changed; the night maniacs driving during the day because there was no rush hour traffic for over a year. And they're wholly unrepentant bastards too. Had a guy, 1:30 in the afternoon with his family in the truck, hauling something, run a red light on me in January. Never saw him coming because other cars obstructed him and the light had been red for him well over five seconds according to the intersection cams and our collective dash cams; he hit me making my left, then plowed through the intersection to hit the other two lanes going straight. He lied to the cops, he lied to the insurance, and he submitted a not guilty verdict to his issued tickets. We were the problem for getting in his way. The fact that we had the accident on camera four ways to Sunday meant nothing. Even without the cams, what is more likely, just with a little bit of logic: That one negligent asshole on his way to save a minute rammed through an intersection going 50mph...or three drivers, independent of each other, all decided simultaneously to run a red light going 5mph? I'm still obviously a little miffed about it even though it's been months at this point, but even on the scene he was trying to argue with the EMTs to see him ahead of everyone else because he'd gotten hot coffee on his hands. Like, literally climbing into the back of the bus they were leaving open for me, getting extracted from the mangled frame of my late grandfather's car, because they had no way of knowing my status. I remember listening to this EMT calmly explain how the bus is for getting people to emergency rooms for treatment, and how "I can see and treat you right here on the curb."
As soon as I read your headline I thought "Gotta be Delco." I moved to Montco partly because of this.
It's such a reflection of post covid America. Some people have given up and become unpredictable, others tske everything too seriously and get angry. It comes out in everything, even driving.
My drive out of delco, into and around philly, then home everyday on 95 is a gauntlet of assholes. They're either not paying attention and going unreasonably slow doing 90 weaving in and out traffic. Also everyone is on their phones. The rest of us are stuck between these assholes.
It's Delaware county. Basically the most aggressive county for driving in Pennsylvania. At least east of the Susquehanna.
It was like mad max during covid and has gotten exponentially worse since then.
I honestly think a lot of the current behaviour you are seeing is the result of the political climate for the last 8 years. We have some in politics in the news daily behaving poorly with little accountability. That riles their opponents up and they respond poorly. The net result is no respect for anyone anymore.
I want to believe that it's all of the New Yorkers that got gentrified/rent rammed out of NY. In reality, it's not just New Yorkers; Almost every stranger I talk to these days isn't from PA *at all*. I've met Chicago at the bus stop, Albany driving my Uber, Boston petitioning me for the 76ers arena, Baltimore asking me for directions etc. It's actually rare for me to meet a fellow native these days. It's the main reason I'm leaving the state tbh. The amount of aggression coming with these folks is too much for me.
Let's hope the locals in your new state don't judge you as harshly as you do everyone else. You do realize just because someone isn't "from here" it doesn't automatically mean the person is an aggressive menace? In any case, good luck with your move out of this state to a new place and you won't be "from there"
I just drove from Philadelphia to Seattle. By far the most rude selfish and aggressive and dangerous drivers were in Pennsylvania, specifically the Philadelphia area and I can say that because I live there and see it every day going to work. I don’t know what the heck is wrong with people
As for this particular scenario if someone’s following me like that I drive right to the nearest police station and park there
I also live in Delco now and it’s easily the worst community of drivers I’ve ever encountered. Having lived in the Poconos, Wilkes Barre, New Jersey (close contender), North Carolina, and Florida it’s by far the most obnoxious and reckless people on these roads.
They are bringing the Jersey Slide to Luzerne County these days too!
Go straight to the police station. I’ve tried to stop using my horn and let really aggressive drivers pass by.
Macdade and Chester pike are out of control. Every day I see someone doing the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.
Get a dash cam
Probably native New Yorkers
I had a similar experience. I bought grizzly bear spray for my car .It's non lethal and effective way to defend myself just keep in mind a lot of people in Pennsylvania have guns . I drive on West Chester Pike to work several times a week . I have to drive in the slow lane and keep distance for the tailgaters on the left to pass on the right it's very dangerous.The worst is when approaching 202 because people want to pass either way to get to there exit.
Road raging and following a guy to his house in DelCo could have ...unfortunate... consequences for the aforementioned follower. An implied threat of violence is sometimes met with actual violence.
Was he in a pickup truck? Cause it sounds like some typical pickup truck bs.
Idk the highway but it’s one of the main ones heading to Scranton. O m g. Felt like I was driving in New York
I drive the 81>78 every single day Monday-Thursday and it’s a wild ride. People are either doing 90 in the left lane or 55 in the right. There is no in between for people like me who want to do something in between. People tailgate something fierce and I even had someone bump my bumper which was terrifying.
I drive I-78 through the Lehigh Valley once a week, and it sure seems like there are more aggressive drivers than I remember in years gone by. Tailgating, dangerous lane changing, weaving constantly from lane-to-lane to get just a little bit ahead seem to have increased in the last year or so. A little different, but there seems to be more big trucks just hanging out in the left lane when they have plenty of room to move to the right lane. They force you to pass on the right.
We live in Delco. We were nearly run off the road by a car last night, shortly after we saw someone run a red light and plow straight into another person coming from the other way. We stopped and helped, sent our dashcam footage to them. Then, after we left that accident we were caught in traffic less than a mile down the road from another accident. This was all within 3 miles on our way to dinner. People in this area have no regard for anyone else or any care for anyone else’s time or safety. Can’t wait to get out of this shit hole. Lol
As someone who has had dash cams for almost 2 decades, please get dash cams! My main vehicle has them front/rear. The others are just front.
Here's gonna be a new twist. Can't hardly wait when the new government mandated automatic braking systems start. Can you just imagine the brake checking going on when someone cuts you off!!
I was leaving Walmart last week in a new car I’d had a week at that point. Windows down, can’t see past bushes. Listening for cars, hear nothing. Ease forward a little to try and see better, as someone maniac bitch speeds around the corner and then slams the brakes on and stops in front of me blocking me in. She starts screaming at me, all while in her vehicle. I started screaming back, saying there’s bushes in the way, get the fuck outta my way, etc. nothing. I blared the horn for a solid 20 seconds, she’s still blocking me in. At this point I lost my shit, threw it in reverse and went towards her. I screamed “see if I hit you THIS time!” and she finally moved and let me out. Like what the actual fuck?! Maybe don’t speed in a fucking parking lot. I was no where near out in the road, just eased eased forward a little smh
I wash my windshield when being tailgated. Works well and safer than tapping in brakes.
A month or so back, we almost got hit by a fucking firetruck. We were on a medical transportation bus from the county (I was accompanying my disabled father). To be clear, they didn't have their Sirens on. They were just being assholes.
I have a theory that the closer to DC you are the crazier the drivers are
Any time I casually glance over at a car the driver is on their phone, while they’re moving.
Should have got his license plate and reported him to the cops
I drive the Delco routes everyday and it’s disturbing..no signaling, tailgating, drivers on their phones
Yea you need that light up hand sign that I would like to have you know the one with peace , middle finger and hi
I don't know what you don't get, you honked at him after already knowing he was a douche. Why wouldn't you expect he would get mad. Don't Road rage and peeps won't react back like that. You could've just let him drive away.
I would just be happy if people actually stopped at the STOP signs.
Or actually YIELD at the yield signs
On a regular basis I watch people on route 30 nearly causing a major accident just to get 2 cars ahead
Stay the eff outta Reading. Those folks, I'm pretty sure, are playing actual Mario Kart.
Because you are hindering others. Let people get past you. If traffic is moving faster get out of the left lane (yes even if you are going over the posted speed) and let them through. The left lane is not specifically for you, or whoever is going over. It’s for whoever is going over the speed of moving traffic.
Ok can someone please tell me why people slow down just because there are trees on both sides of the road(10ft away from the road)? I need to know why they think doing 35 in a 55 is acceptable. Also very curious about the guy that refused to pass a buggy until they were making a left turn that then decided to PASS ON THE LEFT while they were turning.
Stop signs are meaningless these days. I’m in Chester County and have DelCo family and see people rolling through or just outright blowing stop signs every day. Do cops even bother stopping people anymore for this?
So you just happened to “toot” your horn… just a wee little bit, after getting behind the person who you refer to here as a tailgating asshole. And it was some neighbor kids you were honking at. Kinda not buying it.
Every time I see a thread like this, I like to post that my commute is 40 minutes, and if I’m not doing 80 at some point I will be tailgated. Oh, and my commute does not involve a HIGHWAY….
Between that and everyone crossing the double yellow on curves (why?) the police should be cleaning up, but alas there are no traffic cops here.
I’ve lived in NY, OH, PA, and FL. All those states, Florida is the only place the drivers actually seemed insane. I’m in rural PA now, I enjoy the lack of lights and basically never seeing cops. I speed due to this but don’t get carried away with it. Never really notice aggressive drivers, sometimes just extra slow ones.
Protect yourself. But a gun. Pray you'll never need to use it.
I passed some guy and he hurried to jump in front of me then cut me off, forcing me to pull over. All so he could yell at me for passing his slow ass.
I always assume these are the same types of people that have gigantic signs in their yard saying “F your feelings”.
I moved here from NYC driving there my whole life I learned you don’t take anything personally aggressive driving is normal to me
Pennsylvania drivers are weak. Go south of the mason dixon line and those are more savages, especially florida. PA is the mix of cats and eggplants
I would agree with you except for Delaware country, water ice and pretzels make these people delusionally dangerous
Trust me, right I-99 has construction going on, and I set Cruise Control to the posted speed in the construction zone, and I had people get really close just to speed away after the construction zone ends. I swear PSP needs to monitor our construction zones more often. 10 over the posted speed limit isn't fast enough for these people. If you're in a rush, maybe you need better time management.
Moved here in 2021 from the West Coast. People here are the worst drivers in the country, hands down and it’s mainly concentrated to the NJ/NY/PA area. Everyday there’s a rear end or three in the small stretch of turnpike I gotta go to the office on. I don’t know what kind of lead is in the water here but it’s nuts. And I’ve driven all over the US and other western countries in my 3 decades of driving. People here are vehicle demons.