People driving like they are playing GTA in real life

Is anyone else seeing this, or is this just a local thing? Just as the title says, an increasing amount of people are driving their cars like they are playing a video game. I started noticing this in the early part of Covid. With less people out and about, I noticed people getting lax with following the rules of the road. It seemed to start in the Bay Area at first. Young men were driving very aggressively- not sure if it was because of the empty roads, or if they were intentionally looking for confrontations with the police. 100+ on the freeway in the middle of the day, swerving onto shoulders to get around traffic. Now it seems to have spread to the suburbs, and it's not just young men. It used to be rare to see someone run a light, a stop sign, or drive where you aren't supposed to- in the median, the edges (outside of the traffic lanes) of intersections. Or splitting lanes. Or the wrong side of the road. Now it's daily. Young women, soccer moms in SUV's- they seem completely oblivious or in complete disregard to basic rules of the road. Just in the last couple days, I say a young lady blow through two stop signs in a row, not even a lift. Today an older lady in an SUV passed my wife doing 80+ in a 40. On a 1 lane road. Then almost slam into the traffic ahead. Sure, speeders, tail gaters, and road ragers have been around forever. But this trend of driving your car where it doesn't belong is new to me. Then you have that horrible accident down in So Cal where that lady plowed through the intersection at full speed, killing 6. So far, no signs of impairment, it appears that she was driving like that on purpose. Anyone else seeing this in their area? Do I need to build a Mad Max car for my commute?

Seeing it here in my rural areas. New ones are coming in on a turn only lae to a four way intersection at full speed then blowing into straight through traffic in the middle of the intersection. I have seen that six times in the past month. Every time almost getting sideswiped from the motherberkeleyer  cutting me off. 

I work in DC, we see a ton of it.

Wife and I had a good chat about hard wiring dash cams in our dailies, so we have evidence when we have someone else's accident for them or get smashed into.

Only saw one GTA-ish incident by me, not enough to call it a trend, but I've heard of this happening in other regions before. The only pandemic-era change around here is that average highway cruising speeds have gone up.

Definitely. I've had people swerve around me to go through the solid red light I'm stopping at. I had a semi with trailer blow through a red light crossing in front of me and I had the kids in the car! It's impossible to say for sure, memory being what it is, but I feel like it's way more prevalent than it was pre covid. I also feel like the local cops are avoiding it due to a hissy fit they're throwing over being not-even-slapped-on-the-wrist for beating the crap out of protesters for no reason. You never see anyone pulled over and if something blatantly illegal happens in front of a cop they just ignore it. 
 

I had one incident in the Volt where a Richard bag in a lifted truck blasted up to my ass then passed on the right despite me turning on my turn signal and starting a lane change as soon as I was past the car I was passing. He was so close that I felt the suction of the truck passing me and the car wavered and I had to fight it. My 5 year old was sleeping in the back seat. I felt this murderous rage due to the danger he put my kid in that - and I am not exaggerating here - if my kid had not been in the car I would have rammed him. But I also would not have been that mad if the kid wasn't in the car. It was bizarre to me as a fairly calm person to feel that and examine it. So maybe the covid crazies have gotten to me too?

I was very careful to not download that dash cam footage. Who knows what I would have done knowing that guys license plate number. 

Yup, it's worse everywhere. 

Try pulling a trailer.

Going through Saskatoon at rush hour, pulling a loaded 16 foot trailer. I need to merge left, there's a hole, I put my signal on to move and the silly cow in her mid-size Chrysler product floors it to close the gap.

I moved over anyway and nearly shoved her into the guard rail.

She made a point of catching up to me in traffic to tell me I'm an shiny happy person.

Ran in to the same kind of drivers in Calgary, Edmonton and all over the Lower Mainland.

My old house in Langley is near several schools and the worst drivers in the morning are the Super Moms trying to get their little treasures to school on time. If only they would figure out how to leave the damn house a little earlier.

People complain about insurance rates but don't want to stop driving like drunk orangutans.

I did see a funny one yesterday. Close to my house there is a busy road that is one lane in each direction. It crosses a much less busy road at an intersection with a traffic light. Before the light, there is a short right turn lane. The intent is to allow those making right turns to peel off without slowing traffic. It does not continue through the light. For the last 30 years, it seemed like everyone understood that, and those going straight knew to stay in line and wait their turn. But lately people have turned it into a super short passing lane. Especially if the light is red- they pull to the right, block the people who really want to turn right, and race across the intersection two wide in one lane. Yesterday I was second in line at a red light behind a late model Dodge Challenger  with a plate that said something like GRNDMA. A Hyundai passed the line of cars on the right with the intention of shooting past Grandma. He slowed down enough to catch the light on a roll. Grandma had her head on a swivel though, and wasn't having it. She cut a perfect tree and launched on green, keeping the Hyundai in check, tapping her brake lights as he was forced to slide in behind her. 

I was having this discussion with some friends in the Midwest over the weekend. I spent hundreds of thousands of miles driving around rural IL/IN, as well as Indianapolis & smaller cities in the region. I've been in the coast for the last 6-years & the drivers are definitely worse/more aggressive here, though not quite GTA-levels yet. 
 

We concluded that things haven't noticeably changed up there, but are definitely worse down here. 

I've mentioned it many times. Even the business park I work in has become bad to drive in. It's a small two lane road with a speed limit of 25. I go over that and I always, and I mean always have someone riding my rear and doing the side to side swerve. It's almost entertaining at this point. 

The "parkway" here in Pittsburgh is a lawless land where speed limits mean nothing. Law of the jungle not the law of the land. 

I haven't seen much of it down here to be honest. A couple times of people driving like dicks in area around the factory area where I work passing in the center turning lane but always either in brodozers or loud Charger/Challenger and I just assume it is tiny pee-pee energy coming out.

ShawnG said:

Yup, it's worse everywhere. 

People complain about insurance rates but don't want to stop driving like drunk orangutans.

I'm stealing that one, that's pure gold right there.  Same thing down here in Florida, but because Florida...

In Houston red right running is rampant.  Cars still going through after the dwell time and the light is totally green for cross traffic.

I was sitting at a red light a few months ago and some guy ran right through it.  A car with the green just T-Boned this idiot right in front of me.   I called the HPD and reported it and gave information on who was in the wrong.  The only question they asked was if either car rolled over.  Neither did.   No one that got out looked hurt, air bags had popped open from every direction inside the cars.   Without the side airbag no doubt the red light runner would have been seriously injured since the other car hit him at his door.

I see lots of passing on the shoulder, people speeding up to block you while you change lanes, etc.   I had a guy pass me in the left lane of I-10 while I was passing slower traffic.   He was going at least 90 in a large panel van and passed on the grassy shoulder and then brake checked me. Total lunatic.   And I was going about 75, a reasonable passing speed.  

During the beginning of covid, in 2020,  in Houston the police announced they would not be enforcing speeding laws.   I saw a guy going at least 110 pass a Houston cop who did nothing.    I was keeping it at 80 and was passed by almost everyone on the beltway.

Problem of stolen Kias in Milwaukee 

More than one F-bomb in the video.  The driving starts around the 8 minute mark.  

It's definately gotten worse.  Connecticut is pretty bad.  Dash cams in every car now.  Saved my rear end 2 years ago, lady ran a stop and I t-boned her.  Slow enough to not pop airbags.  She said I blew the stop sign and was speeding.  Showed the cop the footage, I was free to go, she got a ticket

jharry3 said:

In Houston red right running is rampant.  Cars still going through after the dwell time and the light is totally green for cross traffic.

I was sitting at a red light a few months ago and some guy ran right through it.  A car with the green just T-Boned this idiot right in front of me.   I called the HPD and reported it and gave information on who was in the wrong.  The only question they asked was if either car rolled over.  Neither did.   No one that got out looked hurt, air bags had popped open from every direction inside the cars.   Without the side airbag no doubt the red light runner would have been seriously injured since the other car hit him at his door.

I see lots of passing on the shoulder, people speeding up to block you while you change lanes, etc.   I had a guy pass me in the left lane of I-10 while I was passing slower traffic.   He was going at least 90 in a large panel van and passed on the grassy shoulder and then brake checked me. Total lunatic.   And I was going about 75, a reasonable passing speed.  

During the beginning of covid, in 2020,  in Houston the police announced they would not be enforcing speeding laws.   I saw a guy going at least 110 pass a Houston cop who did nothing.    I was keeping it at 80 and was passed by almost everyone on the beltway.

They didn't announce it here, but during the beginning of Covid the general consensus was that LEO would not enforce speed limits unless you in a school zone or about to hit hyperspace..  They just announced a crackdown on speeding here and in Georgia last week, so it will be interesting to see if folks get the message.  Just saw a guy get pulled over in a school zone this morning so they probably wont. 

Down in Midland/Odessa there's a huge oil boom and temporary population surge.  Between oil booms, it's relatively more quiet.  Right now it's not. https://www.newsbreak.com/channels/odessa-tx-accidents

In reply to 06HHR (Forum Supporter) :

I was on redshirt duty for our house and yeah, early days of the pandemic the roads were the wild west around here.  Guys doing 90+ in a 45. Cops have been out BIGTIME doing traffic enforcement this year though. 

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Too bad I'll be gone before big brother insists on self driving  your car.    Then speed will actually go up and  traffic will be even more congested.  But we will all be consistent.   In addition the cars weight will be dramatically reduced. Without the need for big batteries.  
   We can charge our phone and  toothbrushes without connecting anything so it should be a easy  to do the same on the Highways/freeways.  It's also how  commands and control will be maintained over traffic.  

Ya mean like this?

In reply to stroker :

Holy crap! 

Things are pretty sedate around here. If anything people are driving slower. 

The only group that drives wild are the guys on sport bikes and that's a self-correcting problem. Splat. 

In reply to Toyman! :

That is one good thing on the squids (sport bike riders), is the self correction mainly affects them. The others in cars are more of a problem.  Seen a BMW driver so aggressive that other BMW drivers were mad at them.

Scotty Con Queso said:

In reply to stroker :

Holy crap! 

Yeah, killed six people including a pregnant woman, her husband and their infant.

Florida=thunderdome. I expect to total my car every time I leave the house. 

In the past six months, I’ve noticed most people have completely stopped using blinkers. 

It drives me nuts.