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I've never seen Trump lumped into the scapegoating of recent traffic deaths onto grumpy motorists, but certainly the pandemic-despair traffic death meme is wide

I've never seen Trump lumped into the scapegoating of recent traffic deaths onto grumpy motorists, but certainly the pandemic-despair traffic death meme is widespread. Strong Towns has a different explanation that is less dependent on the entire driving public sharing a mindset with a few journalists at big papers: much of the congestion, which acted as the only reasonable limit to speed on our very dangerous roads, has gone missing. Jeff Speck (Walkable City) also recently talked about how he got suckered into the same just-so story until he heard Marohn's explanation. In podcast form: https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/driving-went-down-fatalities-went-up-here-s-why/ https://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/driving-went-down-fataliti... In article form: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/1/10/driving-went-down-fatalities-went-up-heres-why https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/1/10/driving-went-d...

giantg2 5y ago
"much of the congestion, which acted as the only reasonable limit to speed" Based on my recent experiences, I sort of agree - but more so as a negative control. My area does not have much bumper to bumper traffic, and never has. I have not noticed additional increase in speeding. The thing I have noticed is bad decision making or inattentive behavior. People pulling out when they shouldn't (possibly due to misjudged speed), or looking at their phone and drifting from their lane.
- QuarterReptile 5y ago
  >The thing I have noticed is bad decision making or inattentive behavior. People pulling out when they shouldn't (possibly due to misjudged speed).... Possibly the result of the other drivers being able to drive faster, thus giving less space to pull out? > or looking at their phone and drifting from their lane. This one is much easier to connect to lower traffic levels. As the complexity of the environment decreases with the drop in traffic, drivers feel safer to do things like be on their phones. Being on your phone is very similar to higher speed in that it is a higher-risk response that many drivers would rather engage in if there is no apparent downside. I find this explanation to be consistent with the way people respond to weather by slowing down (and do so differently in different locales depending on their familiarity with that weather), or how , when I used to drive up to the SFO airport for Friday night red-eyes, it was rare to encounter cars driving less than 100mph on the pristine, nearly-empty freeway.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    "Possibly the result of the other drivers being able to drive faster, thus giving less space to pull out?" Not that I have seen. I have had numerous people pull out in front of me and my habits haven't changed. I'm even one to go 5 under when approaching two intersections that ate notorious for people pulling out at. Also, at the one intersection, people sit back instead of pulling up further, meaning the have to traverse an additional 15 feet, which they don't seem to amount for when pulling out. "This one is much easier to connect to lower traffic levels. As the complexity of the environment decreases with the drop in traffic, drivers feel safer to do things like be on their phones." True, i think this could account for some of the more urban areas. The traffic in this area hasn't changed and I've still noticed an uptick. Maybe carryover from habits developed on those urban roads, but maybe something else.
alistairSH 5y ago
That might explain the speeding, but I've noticed an increase in road-rage incidents as well. Lots of honking, lots of swerving, lots of high-risk passing. I'm in the DC suburbs, so this isn't limited to Boston either. And I see it on roads that were never bumper to bumper or anywhere close.
adolph 5y ago
> never seen Trump lumped into the scapegoating of recent traffic deaths Magical thinking is pervasive. Is it ironic that the subject himself seemed to engage in the same? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking https://www.npr.org/2017/01/22/510655254/trump-crowd-size-estimate-may-involve-the-power-of-positive-thinking https://www.npr.org/2017/01/22/510655254/trump-crowd-size-es...

giantg2 5y ago

"much of the congestion, which acted as the only reasonable limit to speed" Based on my recent experiences, I sort of agree - but more so as a negative control. My area does not have much bumper to bumper traffic, and never has. I have not noticed additional increase in speeding. The thing I have noticed is bad decision making or inattentive behavior. People pulling out when they shouldn't (possibly due to misjudged speed), or looking at their phone and drifting from their lane.

QuarterReptile 5y ago
>The thing I have noticed is bad decision making or inattentive behavior. People pulling out when they shouldn't (possibly due to misjudged speed).... Possibly the result of the other drivers being able to drive faster, thus giving less space to pull out? > or looking at their phone and drifting from their lane. This one is much easier to connect to lower traffic levels. As the complexity of the environment decreases with the drop in traffic, drivers feel safer to do things like be on their phones. Being on your phone is very similar to higher speed in that it is a higher-risk response that many drivers would rather engage in if there is no apparent downside. I find this explanation to be consistent with the way people respond to weather by slowing down (and do so differently in different locales depending on their familiarity with that weather), or how , when I used to drive up to the SFO airport for Friday night red-eyes, it was rare to encounter cars driving less than 100mph on the pristine, nearly-empty freeway.
- giantg2 5y ago
  "Possibly the result of the other drivers being able to drive faster, thus giving less space to pull out?" Not that I have seen. I have had numerous people pull out in front of me and my habits haven't changed. I'm even one to go 5 under when approaching two intersections that ate notorious for people pulling out at. Also, at the one intersection, people sit back instead of pulling up further, meaning the have to traverse an additional 15 feet, which they don't seem to amount for when pulling out. "This one is much easier to connect to lower traffic levels. As the complexity of the environment decreases with the drop in traffic, drivers feel safer to do things like be on their phones." True, i think this could account for some of the more urban areas. The traffic in this area hasn't changed and I've still noticed an uptick. Maybe carryover from habits developed on those urban roads, but maybe something else.

alistairSH 5y ago

That might explain the speeding, but I've noticed an increase in road-rage incidents as well. Lots of honking, lots of swerving, lots of high-risk passing. I'm in the DC suburbs, so this isn't limited to Boston either. And I see it on roads that were never bumper to bumper or anywhere close.

adolph 5y ago

> never seen Trump lumped into the scapegoating of recent traffic deaths Magical thinking is pervasive. Is it ironic that the subject himself seemed to engage in the same? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking https://www.npr.org/2017/01/22/510655254/trump-crowd-size-estimate-may-involve-the-power-of-positive-thinking https://www.npr.org/2017/01/22/510655254/trump-crowd-size-es...