3 ms·
My pet theory has been that extended lockdowns caused regressions in people’s ability to drive safety, whether it was the actual skills to operate a vehicle, or
by xkqd 3y ago
My pet theory has been that extended lockdowns caused regressions in people’s ability to drive safety, whether it was the actual skills to operate a vehicle, or people’s risk assessment skills.
Operating a vehicle is a skill like any other, and if you’re not performing reps you’ll regress like any other activity. Empty roads might even permit crappier driving.
- onetimeusename 3y agoya that makes sense. we'll probably never know what happened :|
- fifteenforty 3y agoPerhaps, maybe, mass infection by a virus that affects the brain and vascular system has consequences for society.
- phreeza 3y agoIt's an interesting hypothesis but should be easy to corroborate with other data, e.g. test scores. I would assume we'd have heard of that?
- spacecadet 3y agoIsnt it a growing opinion of American teachers that students are underprepared? probably a combination of covid and remote learning... I doubt we will see the long term effects of this any time soon.
- kuschku 3y agoWe have. The scores have fallen significantly.
- saalweachter 3y agoIf we're drawing connections between 2020 and driving behavior, the much more obvious correlation would be the massive anti-police-violence protests, the accompanying increased negative public sentiments re: police, and the police reaction that occasionally gets brought up on HN, decreased policing as retribution.
- beardedwizard 3y agoUnderrated comment. Police have "quit" in more than one major city in sfbay.
- withinboredom 3y agoI disagree. However, I'm used to going long stretches without driving and then suddenly driving hundreds of km/miles. I suspect, based on my wife's behavior and her driving, that before 2020, people were used to and happy with simply listening to music, a podcast, or something. After/during 2020, many people were no longer satisfied with that. They turned to listening to YouTube, movies, or even face-to-face calls while driving (hell, even my mom does this one), and holding the phone while trying to operate the vehicle. It's almost like people forgot the most important part of driving: minimizing distractions. If I'm in a high-stress part of a drive (unfamiliar roads, high density, etc), I always turn off all media and ask all passengers to be quiet for a bit because I need all my senses. I don't know how many times I've been saved by hearing a car that I can't see yet.
- ikekkdcjkfke 3y agoAnd mine is that the lockdowns felt like an overreach and there was some kind of infantile rebellion