Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Ryujin]

I believe the data shows it happened while the lockdowns were in place - you can drive like an idiot when there's nobody else on the road.

Agreed. Some people just haven't snapped back to reality, now that the roads are more heavily used. They seem to have gotten used to having their way and other people can look out for themselves.

 

[Cadence]

It was definitely way worse during the shutdowns. I still see plenty of nonsense I rarely saw prior to the shutdowns, but not at the same level. it does seem to depend somewhat on the town your in as well. In the city I lived in, the roads were pretty chaotic for a while after the shutdowns ended. I moved about a year ago though so I am not sure what the present state of them happens to. The most striking issue for me was people running right through red lights at high speed. This happened so much, at one point, just after I almost got T-Boned, another drive pulled up to me, rolled down her window and had a whole conversation about how nuts the roads had become. The other thing I saw, and still see to an extent are off road vehicles driving crazy and I saw the aftermath of a number of fatal accidents involving them (I've seen motorcycle accidents before but this was getting to the point where I was just becoming accustomed to seeing the shattered debris of a dirt bike after some guy plowed into a pole or smashed into a car. It was disturbingly regular, and more troubling because most of them seemed very young)

In our neighborhood one of the big changes in the last few years has been the number of delivery cars and their apparently not being taught that residential neighborhood streets are different than the main streets in terms of speed.

We also have a vocal small subset of folks in the neighborhood FB group where I wonder if their driving habits are as obnoxious as their posts are whenever someone complains about folks speeding and running stop signs.

I haven't noticed big changes on the main roads (compared to a decade ago it would be the number of folks on their cell phones causing havoc - but I think that predates COVID).

 

[Scribe]

I believe the data shows it happened while the lockdowns were in place - you can drive like an idiot when there's nobody else on the road.

Its also been years since the last lockdown here, theres no more excuse other than people just seemingly have given up on trying.

 

[TwoSix]

I believe the data shows it happened while the lockdowns were in place - you can drive like an idiot when there's nobody else on the road.

You can see the change starting in April 2020, when there was almost a 30% dip in miles driven but only a 15% dip in fatalities. The general ratio of about a 20% YoY from 2019 continues for the rest of the year. So yea, the increase coincides directly with the start of the pandemic.

Root cause? ¯\(ツ)/¯

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813266

 

[Scribe]

Root cause? ¯\(ツ)/¯

Societal psychosis.

 

[Ryujin]

You can see the change starting in April 2020, when there was almost a 30% dip in miles driven but only a 15% dip in fatalities. The general ratio of about a 20% YoY from 2019 continues for the rest of the year. So yea, the increase coincides directly with the start of the pandemic.

Root cause? ¯\(ツ)/¯

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813266

I'd like to think it's because the same people who ignore traffic laws also ignore mandates to quarantine, but correlation =/= causation.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Societal psychosis.

We have a 4 way stop not too far from where we live. Wide open…not congested per se. Between a couple of towns.

I have never seen so many blown stop signs…

I was in the middle of the intersection and a car passed 10 feet in front of me. Good things my breaks work.

People constantly going out of turn as if they don’t know how 4 ways work. It’s not occasional but weekly first hand.

It is shocking.

A lot of kids now put off driving including my own due to anxiety. Probably the ability to connect online reduces the push to socialize in person too.

I believe there is something happening.

I also note that in college settings in particular, there are year on year increases in mental health issues. Some variability is due to data collection, reporting trends and data definitions…but…its so big and consistent I believe there is some unique variance accounted for here by cohort.

Others can disagree but norms have changed and social structures have been fracturing: charitably we are growing and evolving.

Less charitably a lot of bad stuff is just present in greater proportions. I am not proposing causality of anything. I am just saying if folks have trouble navigating 4 way stops there are going to be problems.

Edited for autocorrect errors

 

[Scribe]

I also note that in college settings in particular, there are year on year increases in mental health issues. Some variability is due to data collection, reporting trends and data definitions…but…its so big and consistent I believe there is some unique variance accounted for here by cohort.

Articles and studies are coming out now on the damage social media is causing. It may take a bit longer, since even a few short years ago people claimed social media wasnt harmful (lol) but once a sober analysis is done, we will see that an entire generation has been damaged.

 

[Ryujin]

We have a 4 way stop not too far from where we live. Wide open…not congested per se. Between a couple of towns.

I have never seen so many blown stop signs…

I was in the middle of the intersection and a car passed 10 feet in front of me. Good things my breaks work.

People constantly going out of turn as if they don’t know how 4 ways work. It’s not occasional but weekly first hand.

It is shocking.

A lot of kids now put off driving including my own due to anxiety. Probably the ability to connect online reduces the push to socialize in person too.

I believe there is something happening.

I also note that in college settings in particular, there are year on year increases in mental health issues. Some variability is due to data collection, reporting trends and data definitions…but…its so big and consistent I believe there is some unique variance accounted for here by cohort.

Others can disagree but norms have changed and social structures have been fracturing: charitably we are growing and evolving.

Less charitably a lot of bad stuff is just present in greater proportions. I am not proposing causality of anything. I am just saying if folks have trouble navigating 4 way stops there are going to be problems.

Edited for autocorrect errors

Here's the sort of stuff that I see around Toronto, these days.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Street takeovers also seem to be a more recurring thing where I am