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It seems fairly silly to think that Covid really changed how people drive. You didn’t drive for a month and you just forgot, and then in the intervening three y

It seems fairly silly to think that Covid really changed how people drive. You didn’t drive for a month and you just forgot, and then in the intervening three years did not relearn it? That isn’t how humans work. I don’t doubt you that it is widely believed, it just doesn’t make sense. More likely is that due to distracted driver growth since the advent of smart phones, we’re all just getting a little worse every year, so every year is a new high watermark.

phil21 3y ago
> It seems fairly silly to think that Covid really changed how people drive. As someone who has driven before, during, and after I think it's silly to think Covid didn't change how people drive. It's a night and day difference from 2019 to 2023 (first year of "back to normal") that cannot be explained by a gradual shift of people becoming more immersed in technology. The attitudes in society towards law and order and what is acceptable day to day have massively shifted. Enforcement (at least where I am from) seems to be nonexistent too - and I think COVID laid that fact bare. People realized no one is actually watching or caring about what they do. Why not drive 55mph on the shoulder to get around that traffic jam if you know there are zero social or legal ramifications?
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  I was driving quite a long time before Covid, and I drive about 50,000 miles a year. I’ve noticed a long, slow decrease in how well people drive, but I don’t think it has changed any more dramatically in the last three years. if you took the trendline prior to 2020 and drew it to 2023, it would get you to pretty much where we are today in terms of accidents and fatalities. They had already started increasing again before Covid. And in any case, the plural of anecdote is not data. there’s just really no data to support the idea that everybody not driving for a month, and then driving less for a year or two, has made people worse at driving.
- drc500free 3y ago
  I wish I could find it, but I read a study recently about participation in the social contract that used a question like "would you run a rural red light with no one around?" as their metric. A lot more people say yes now than before 2020.
- PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
  > As someone who has driven before, during, and after I think it's silly to think Covid didn't change how people drive. Unless you're arguing that Covid had ramifications for everyone's brain, there's no reason to think that's anything but superstition.
  - Edman274 3y ago
    > Unless you're arguing that Covid had ramifications for everyone's brain "Covid" can refer to either the worldwide pandemic, or the specific disease. "Covid", the event which was a world wide pandemic, did affect everyone's brain. You know how? Because that's where memories are stored. Memories are stored in the brain, and memories influence belief systems which affect behavior. What people remember, and what they have now learned, is that they can get away with a lot more illegal shit while driving than they are used to, and what they have learned through experience (which are formed through memory) is that people are super aggressive when driving after the worldwide pandemic, which causes them to change their behavior too. > no reason to think that's anything but superstition. Pretty ballsy to say that hard data of drivers getting more reckless (which is furnished in the article you're replying to) is superstition.
    - PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
      > Pretty ballsy to say that hard data of drivers getting more reckless (which is furnished in the article you're replying to) is superstition. thankfully, that's not what I said. What I said is that this idea that everyone forgot how to drive is stupid and superstitious. blowing smoke up ones ass used to be a medical treatment until we learned differently. Something may be going on but it sure as shit isn't that people forgot how to drive.
  - ffgjgf1 3y ago
    > had ramifications for everyone's brain, there's no reason to think that's anything but superstition. Or people began driving differently when the roads were empty (even if less frequently) and continued doing that even the amount of traffic increased significantly
nothercastle 3y ago
Covid revealed a lot of things. Essential workers discovered they were disposable. That the rich would lock them into their jobs and out of public parks and spaces to protect themselves. Then to add insult to injury prices on all basic goods went up 30% so yeah poor people are angry and they are driving like they got nothing to loose. There is basically no hope of owning a house for anyone in the bottom 70% who doesn’t own one by now either.
patmorgan23 3y ago
It was much more than a month my friend. Shutdowns started in March 2020, traffic in my metro area didn't return to pre-pandemic levels until at least mid 2021. People who had to still had to drive through the pandemic could have gotten used to driving faster on emptier roads, and therefore are more frustrated and aggressive with the traffic/slowdowns today. Or maybe it's because the population of drivers has shifted, there's still a lot of people working from home (either full time or part of the week) Or maybe lowering of social empathy we've seen since the pandemic has bleed over into drivers' attitudes (people are notably more rude/less considerate in public)
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  I don’t believe people get significantly worse at driving after not driving for a month. I have gone on one month vacations where I did not drive, then I came back and gotten my car, and I don’t think I was any worse off, and even if I was, I was right back to where I started Very quickly. I don’t think half as much for a year would make me any worse either. The average American is 40 years old and has been driving for 25 years. The average American who drives is even older. It’s hard to imagine them cutting their commute in half for a couple years. Will make them any worse than they had been before. In instances, like this, there is neither nor logic, just subjective feeling, you can be pretty sure it is incorrect
michael1999 3y ago
Locally, I saw a marked difference in a small part of the population. Roughly a quarter of drivers are maniacs, and drive until there is another car actually impeding their progress, or the get a ticket. Over covid, the empty roads taught these drivers to expect that that can drive 50 in a 30. Now that the traffic is back, these morons are still trying to drive 50 in a 30, and weaving around stopped or turning traffic to do it.

phil21 3y ago

> It seems fairly silly to think that Covid really changed how people drive. As someone who has driven before, during, and after I think it's silly to think Covid didn't change how people drive. It's a night and day difference from 2019 to 2023 (first year of "back to normal") that cannot be explained by a gradual shift of people becoming more immersed in technology. The attitudes in society towards law and order and what is acceptable day to day have massively shifted. Enforcement (at least where I am from) seems to be nonexistent too - and I think COVID laid that fact bare. People realized no one is actually watching or caring about what they do. Why not drive 55mph on the shoulder to get around that traffic jam if you know there are zero social or legal ramifications?

mattmaroon 3y ago
I was driving quite a long time before Covid, and I drive about 50,000 miles a year. I’ve noticed a long, slow decrease in how well people drive, but I don’t think it has changed any more dramatically in the last three years. if you took the trendline prior to 2020 and drew it to 2023, it would get you to pretty much where we are today in terms of accidents and fatalities. They had already started increasing again before Covid. And in any case, the plural of anecdote is not data. there’s just really no data to support the idea that everybody not driving for a month, and then driving less for a year or two, has made people worse at driving.
drc500free 3y ago
I wish I could find it, but I read a study recently about participation in the social contract that used a question like "would you run a rural red light with no one around?" as their metric. A lot more people say yes now than before 2020.
PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
> As someone who has driven before, during, and after I think it's silly to think Covid didn't change how people drive. Unless you're arguing that Covid had ramifications for everyone's brain, there's no reason to think that's anything but superstition.
- Edman274 3y ago
  > Unless you're arguing that Covid had ramifications for everyone's brain "Covid" can refer to either the worldwide pandemic, or the specific disease. "Covid", the event which was a world wide pandemic, did affect everyone's brain. You know how? Because that's where memories are stored. Memories are stored in the brain, and memories influence belief systems which affect behavior. What people remember, and what they have now learned, is that they can get away with a lot more illegal shit while driving than they are used to, and what they have learned through experience (which are formed through memory) is that people are super aggressive when driving after the worldwide pandemic, which causes them to change their behavior too. > no reason to think that's anything but superstition. Pretty ballsy to say that hard data of drivers getting more reckless (which is furnished in the article you're replying to) is superstition.
  - PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
    > Pretty ballsy to say that hard data of drivers getting more reckless (which is furnished in the article you're replying to) is superstition. thankfully, that's not what I said. What I said is that this idea that everyone forgot how to drive is stupid and superstitious. blowing smoke up ones ass used to be a medical treatment until we learned differently. Something may be going on but it sure as shit isn't that people forgot how to drive.
- ffgjgf1 3y ago
  > had ramifications for everyone's brain, there's no reason to think that's anything but superstition. Or people began driving differently when the roads were empty (even if less frequently) and continued doing that even the amount of traffic increased significantly

nothercastle 3y ago

Covid revealed a lot of things. Essential workers discovered they were disposable. That the rich would lock them into their jobs and out of public parks and spaces to protect themselves. Then to add insult to injury prices on all basic goods went up 30% so yeah poor people are angry and they are driving like they got nothing to loose. There is basically no hope of owning a house for anyone in the bottom 70% who doesn’t own one by now either.

patmorgan23 3y ago

It was much more than a month my friend. Shutdowns started in March 2020, traffic in my metro area didn't return to pre-pandemic levels until at least mid 2021. People who had to still had to drive through the pandemic could have gotten used to driving faster on emptier roads, and therefore are more frustrated and aggressive with the traffic/slowdowns today. Or maybe it's because the population of drivers has shifted, there's still a lot of people working from home (either full time or part of the week) Or maybe lowering of social empathy we've seen since the pandemic has bleed over into drivers' attitudes (people are notably more rude/less considerate in public)

mattmaroon 3y ago
I don’t believe people get significantly worse at driving after not driving for a month. I have gone on one month vacations where I did not drive, then I came back and gotten my car, and I don’t think I was any worse off, and even if I was, I was right back to where I started Very quickly. I don’t think half as much for a year would make me any worse either. The average American is 40 years old and has been driving for 25 years. The average American who drives is even older. It’s hard to imagine them cutting their commute in half for a couple years. Will make them any worse than they had been before. In instances, like this, there is neither nor logic, just subjective feeling, you can be pretty sure it is incorrect

michael1999 3y ago

Locally, I saw a marked difference in a small part of the population. Roughly a quarter of drivers are maniacs, and drive until there is another car actually impeding their progress, or the get a ticket. Over covid, the empty roads taught these drivers to expect that that can drive 50 in a 30. Now that the traffic is back, these morons are still trying to drive 50 in a 30, and weaving around stopped or turning traffic to do it.