As I do all of the errands for the household I spend a fair amount of time behind the wheel. With 30+ years of driving experience including some time holding a CDL, I have seen some miles.
Over the last few years, I have noticed a tremendous drop in a) driving skills and b)good natured drivers.
Some blame the pandemic, but this goes before the pandemic. I will say that it has gotten much worse since then though.
As the millennials took to the road there seemed to be a certain entitlement that was introduced.
People have last the desire or ability to maintain their lane in a turn. Taking the next lane over is chronic, enough so that nobody can trust them to turn at the same time when there are two lanes.
Drivers are having issues trying to maintain an arc so that they end up either driving over the oncoming turn lane, or they drive almost at a diagonal having to cut hard left to complete the turn without wiping out into the curb.
Granted I am in Washington and our legislature has gutted the law enforcement community so that they can barely police the community. The drive appear to be leveraging that to their advantage and it is bleeding over into general lawlessness.
I used to love getting out and driving. Now… I am an emotionally controlled violent man. I am quite patient, but let’s get this straight, I value animal life far more than human life. So… if you succeed in really pushing my button enough to snap, my veteran ass will likely not feel guilt for killing you. Accidents happen… I will not intend to go that far, but when I red-out, shit happens.
I also view road-rage as a social correction.