3 ms·

I noticed that too, but I am questioning myself. I’m wondering how much other people’s driving has gotten worse, vs me getting older, more defensive and risk av

I noticed that too, but I am questioning myself. I’m wondering how much other people’s driving has gotten worse, vs me getting older, more defensive and risk averse, and noticing such driving. If I look back to my 20s, I was not an exemplary driver.

jimbob45 3y ago
Cell phones were a huge mistake. I was walking my dog and saw someone eyes fully down doing 20 in the street. It was late and empty but if anyone had been in the street, they’d have been dead. That distraction didn’t exist 25 years ago on the scale it does today. I wish cell phone use penalties would be promoted closer to those of alcohol use while driving.
- euroderf 3y ago
  Turning the passenger compartment into a Faraday cage might be a start, altho people would hack around it.
  - civilitty 3y ago
    > altho people would hack around it. By opening a window?
    - euroderf 3y ago
      By running an antenna out the window ? And duct tape it to something to secure it.
- close04 3y ago
  > Cell phones were a huge mistake This kind of exaggeration undermines any point. An invention as useful as the cell phone was a mistake because people (ab)use it while driving? Any invention is used and abused but the benefits of this invention far outweigh the drawbacks. I'm sure more lives were saved by the mobile phone, and even more were made better, than were taken.
  - Aerbil313 3y ago
    Cell phones were a mistake in the sense that all organization-dependent technology was a mistake. People of the past lived more happy and in-peace years of life despite child mortality, diseases, manual labor, wars, violence, inequality etc. Reason is that no matter how you look at it, either from a evolutionary or a creationist standpoint, human mind-body is literally not designed to live in this world of convenience and ease. There is friction, a lot, which we try to adapt to and fail, and will continue to fail. Nor do we evolve in timescales of 300 years. No unga-bunga is speaking here. NixOS-loving Rust-writing software dev. Read some Ted Kaczynski folks.
- CraigJPerry 3y ago
  Mobile phone use is just a symptom. Everyone fiddling with their fancy in-car radio with distracting bright flashing display in the 90s was just a symptom. People fixing their hair in the mirror in the 70s while driving was just a symptom. It doesn’t matter what distractions you remove - ban eating and drinking (even water) while driving, impose ruinous fines for those caught… none of it will work. You need to address the root cause, not the symptom. The root cause is unspeakable. You will face extreme repulsion if you choose to openly discuss the root cause in this society because it would mean tough questions for our cultural identity.
  - unsupp0rted 3y ago
    What’s the root cause? Unspeakable, unimaginable, impossible to write in a sentence on HN? To me the root cause is that 2-ton metal bricks shouldn’t be propelled at 50 kph, much less 140 kph, by tired hairless apes with tired ape reflexes, ape kids in the backseat, listening to other apes on podcasts, or talking even hands free with ape friends or ape spouses. We were never designed for this. It’s guaranteed to be a leading cause of death and life-changing injury, so long as we keep it up. Is that unthinkable or unspeakable? I say it on HN all the time.
    - Comfy-Tinwork 3y ago
      We weren't designed for anything. We take metal from ore and make metals which we shape and make thin to cut other apes in some cases to make them better even. They're good apes brant
      - unsupp0rted 3y ago
        If you were to have 80% of adults performing surgery every morning and every evening, tired and distracted, you wouldn’t be surprised when surgical accidents become the #3 cause of death.
    - tim333 3y ago
      You can say that fine. It's a reason I'm keen on self driving tech. Which usually on HN leads to a conversation along the lines of it'll never work, Musk is a fraud... but Waymo actually works... and round in circles. On a more immediate time frame, road engineering can work really well which is why deaths are like 5x lower in places like Holland. Put bends and obstacles in the road and drivers will either have to pay attention or hit them.
- koliber 3y ago
  That's indisputable. Maybe faraday cages should be mandated in cars, in addition to rear-facing cameras. :)
rodrigodlu 3y ago
Where I live(not US) I need to constantly use the horn in a gentle manner to get people out of whatsapp after 2~5 seconds of green light. Specially when red lights are longer than 40 secs. Interestingly is to see police officers and transit officers also distracted inside their cars doing the same.
ruszki 3y ago
One good indicator, when people start to break when traffic light switch to yellow. How many people you see blowing red. Full red, not just “orange”. It objectively got worse in my country of origin for example.
alistairSH 3y ago
Another anecdote, but the number of times I think "wow, that guy ran that yellow really late!!!" increased massively over the last four years. The number of drivers using the bike lane outside my house to make illegal passes has also increased. As has the amount of tailgating and excessive use of horns on the same road.
neuralRiot 3y ago
Same boat here although I can say that in my younger days I was always a “civilized” driver on city streets but was also into street racing and bike speeding which was done in isolated areas or late at night. Nowadays I see more “1 block drags” to show the pop-bang of a shitty modded 3-series than anything else. That and the “Coupé-SUV” owners who think they’re driving an MRAP on an assault.

jimbob45 3y ago

Cell phones were a huge mistake. I was walking my dog and saw someone eyes fully down doing 20 in the street. It was late and empty but if anyone had been in the street, they’d have been dead. That distraction didn’t exist 25 years ago on the scale it does today. I wish cell phone use penalties would be promoted closer to those of alcohol use while driving.

euroderf 3y ago
Turning the passenger compartment into a Faraday cage might be a start, altho people would hack around it.
- civilitty 3y ago
  > altho people would hack around it. By opening a window?
  - euroderf 3y ago
    By running an antenna out the window ? And duct tape it to something to secure it.
close04 3y ago
> Cell phones were a huge mistake This kind of exaggeration undermines any point. An invention as useful as the cell phone was a mistake because people (ab)use it while driving? Any invention is used and abused but the benefits of this invention far outweigh the drawbacks. I'm sure more lives were saved by the mobile phone, and even more were made better, than were taken.
- Aerbil313 3y ago
  Cell phones were a mistake in the sense that all organization-dependent technology was a mistake. People of the past lived more happy and in-peace years of life despite child mortality, diseases, manual labor, wars, violence, inequality etc. Reason is that no matter how you look at it, either from a evolutionary or a creationist standpoint, human mind-body is literally not designed to live in this world of convenience and ease. There is friction, a lot, which we try to adapt to and fail, and will continue to fail. Nor do we evolve in timescales of 300 years. No unga-bunga is speaking here. NixOS-loving Rust-writing software dev. Read some Ted Kaczynski folks.
CraigJPerry 3y ago
Mobile phone use is just a symptom. Everyone fiddling with their fancy in-car radio with distracting bright flashing display in the 90s was just a symptom. People fixing their hair in the mirror in the 70s while driving was just a symptom. It doesn’t matter what distractions you remove - ban eating and drinking (even water) while driving, impose ruinous fines for those caught… none of it will work. You need to address the root cause, not the symptom. The root cause is unspeakable. You will face extreme repulsion if you choose to openly discuss the root cause in this society because it would mean tough questions for our cultural identity.
- unsupp0rted 3y ago
  What’s the root cause? Unspeakable, unimaginable, impossible to write in a sentence on HN? To me the root cause is that 2-ton metal bricks shouldn’t be propelled at 50 kph, much less 140 kph, by tired hairless apes with tired ape reflexes, ape kids in the backseat, listening to other apes on podcasts, or talking even hands free with ape friends or ape spouses. We were never designed for this. It’s guaranteed to be a leading cause of death and life-changing injury, so long as we keep it up. Is that unthinkable or unspeakable? I say it on HN all the time.
  - Comfy-Tinwork 3y ago
    We weren't designed for anything. We take metal from ore and make metals which we shape and make thin to cut other apes in some cases to make them better even. They're good apes brant
    - unsupp0rted 3y ago
      If you were to have 80% of adults performing surgery every morning and every evening, tired and distracted, you wouldn’t be surprised when surgical accidents become the #3 cause of death.
  - tim333 3y ago
    You can say that fine. It's a reason I'm keen on self driving tech. Which usually on HN leads to a conversation along the lines of it'll never work, Musk is a fraud... but Waymo actually works... and round in circles. On a more immediate time frame, road engineering can work really well which is why deaths are like 5x lower in places like Holland. Put bends and obstacles in the road and drivers will either have to pay attention or hit them.
koliber 3y ago
That's indisputable. Maybe faraday cages should be mandated in cars, in addition to rear-facing cameras. :)

rodrigodlu 3y ago

Where I live(not US) I need to constantly use the horn in a gentle manner to get people out of whatsapp after 2~5 seconds of green light. Specially when red lights are longer than 40 secs. Interestingly is to see police officers and transit officers also distracted inside their cars doing the same.

ruszki 3y ago

One good indicator, when people start to break when traffic light switch to yellow. How many people you see blowing red. Full red, not just “orange”. It objectively got worse in my country of origin for example.

alistairSH 3y ago

Another anecdote, but the number of times I think "wow, that guy ran that yellow really late!!!" increased massively over the last four years. The number of drivers using the bike lane outside my house to make illegal passes has also increased. As has the amount of tailgating and excessive use of horns on the same road.

neuralRiot 3y ago

Same boat here although I can say that in my younger days I was always a “civilized” driver on city streets but was also into street racing and bike speeding which was done in isolated areas or late at night. Nowadays I see more “1 block drags” to show the pop-bang of a shitty modded 3-series than anything else. That and the “Coupé-SUV” owners who think they’re driving an MRAP on an assault.