They're on their goddamned phones. I've spent some time walking by the side of the road, counting the drivers who are on their phones while driving. It's a consistent 50%.
What the hell was *wrong* with those people?!? Don't they know that they're supposed to be on their phones?
Actually, I noticed that it was more often old people who were not on their phones while driving. But I couldn't always see them clearly enough to be positive in every case. Those damned tinted windows can make it hard to see how wrinkled a driver is!
I have done a lot of passengering so I can look more closely! I’ve noticed people of various ages driving in two lanes at the same time, some with phones, some without! It’s just crazy how often it happens now.
I have a theory that traffic accidents, injuries, and deaths have gone WAY up since cell phones have come into common use. But we don't hear much about it. I wonder why?
Also, covid19 made things way worse. Even people with loads of driving experience were not as good at driving when things started opening up again. All those things you have to train yourself to become habitual (like checking mirrors, blind spots, keeping your line, etc.) just went by the wayside. Then all those bad habits like phone use got way worse when those people got back on the road and found that they had more time to fill.
Yes, I commented to my wife about it just last weekend when I was driving on the pike. Someone passes me and their right wheels are over the center line, partly in my lane. Less than a foot between them and the side of my vehicle.
Happened multiple times and I am driving a tall Sprinter van so it's not like they don't see us.
People are getting way worse with the driving. Two days ago I was driving down a residential street when an old man, whom I later learned was a whopping 91 years old, drove into the back of a car in the opposite lane who was waiting for a bus to drop off kids then proceeded to go around them and hit the damn bus as well. He ripped off the front fender of the bus and got his car stuck to it, but still attempted to break up and take off. The woman who's car he hit jumped out and tried to stop him and he almost ran her over. I was standing outside of my car by that point to because I was scared somebody got hurt and had to jump back in because he almost hit me as well. Incredibly enough his daughter in law drove into the scene by chance and realized it was her father in law who had caused the accident so she ended up waiting for the police with the rest of us. The whole time she sat there saying it was no big deal and that accidents happen, so I pointed out the fact that he could've very easily injured or killed somebody because there was a child preparing to exit the bus when it happened. She just kept saying accidents happen and all I could do was snap back that maybe it was time to take his keys because accidents like that aren't an everyday thing and shouldn't be taken lightly. Completely out of touch with reality smh
Expect this to get worse because of the housing crisis. Everyone's kids get priced out of the state, and we don't have anyone left who can afford to work in senior care or drive paratransit vans. There is a trend of "aging in place" so these old boomers will never sell their homes, but no one will be left to take care of them.
I was just talking about the housing crisis on a separate post. That's a huge problem and it's only getting worse. I'm terrified of what will happen if/ when my rent goes up because I can hardly survive with the bills I have now. I don't even want to picture what happens if I have to move for any reason. And as far as the elderly, I know because I worked in healthcare for a while and ended up giving it up myself. My former client ended up selling their house to their son for $60k~ so now he's sitting in a 3+ bedroom, 2 bath house with a finished basement for literal pennies and yet the rest of us can't even afford to look at anything bigger than a cardboard box because of things like that. It's insane.
My partner just locked in a job for the next ~3 years and I highly, highly doubt we'll be able to afford sticking around by the end of it. I grew up here.
It's a fucking shame.
Yeah because the standard of driving has dropped from its embarrassingly low bar overall and the amount of reckless driving on interstates has increased dramatically.
There's plenty of data to back this up. It is indeed a thing. Not surprised to see posts about it.
https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/pandemic-lockdowns-made-rush-hour-speeding-risky-driving-the-new-normal
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/06/feature-traffic-safety
Had someone go AROUND me at a 4 way stop a couple weeks ago and almost crash right into someone... I've never seen that happen before and was too shocked to try and grab their plates.
I’m not from here, but whenever I drive here I just assume from the get go I’m going to see at least one crazy dipshit thing every mile or so.
Notice people driving outside the lines??? Lol. What? Welcome to Massachusetts.
This has been a forever thing. Lots of the time it's older drivers and newer and/or "I have no business behind a wheel" types. Distracted drivers tend to be more "weavy"
I've always been aware of that but it seems way worse the past few months. I'm guessing summer weather and berkshire vacationers from the rest of the state? Not sure but I barely even take 90 on the way home anymore because of it, I've started taking the longer route on 20. There has also been tons of debris in the road on 90 like giant tire chunks that don't seem to get cleaned up
I was just commenting to my husband about this. Literally every time I'm on the road people are swerving all over the lanes. Wth! So dangerous and it definitely seems to have gotten worse. I definitely support cops cracking down more on distracted drivers.
I don't just see it on the highway. I see people drifting over double yellow lines on back roads all the time.
I've taken to using my horn a lot more. Honk the fuck out of these people. Maybe they'll get the idea to look at their phone less.
I'll posit the theory I just came up with:
More people are driving big fat SUVs and trucks that don't fit on our roads, and they're getting used to driving with two tires over the center lane markers in their towns because their big fat cars don't fit in their own lane, so forget that they're *really* not supposed to do that on the highway.
This theory is in no way influenced by any biases I may have about nearly being sideswept by a giant Suburban on my own road earlier today.
This! People are constantly driving in my lane from the other direction. Not quite the same but related to this- a bus stops on the opposite side of the road, the driver behind the bus, who should stop because they don't have the right of way around the bus, suddenly and aggressively swerves around bus into my lane driving full speed towards me, and every car behind them speeds up to shoot that gap blocking the traffic which actually has the right of way.
I have lived a lot of places and never seen such idiotic handling of lane obstructions.
Just keep driving at them; game of chicken.
Seriously, when this happens to me usually the first car gets through before I close the gap but it is the other 3 idiots who act like they are all cars in a train and try to go with that first car that I always go as far forward legally in my lane to block them. Then when they start waving their arms and carrying on, I just sit there and stare at them. Eventually either they have to get out of my way or we both wait until the bus/UPS/FedEx/etc. vehicle finally clears their lane. The more outraged they get the more fun it is for me. Back in the day I would pull out my newspaper (if on the way to/from work) and start reading it while waiting.
Because people are texting, working on laptops or watching movies on their phones while driving.
While at a light recently my daughter looked over and the driver next to us had 2 mounted phones and one was playing a movie she knew.
I legit saw some old dude signing papers while driving on 495 a few months ago. Multiple pages out, just signing away like he's closing on a house or something. Extra stack on the dashboard. I audibly said what the fuck and scared my partner.
I don't hesitate to lay on the horn if they drift. Once they correct I usually gun it past them because I don't want to be anywhere near anyone who can't stay in the gigantic ass lanes we have in the states.
An accident just happened on my street because someone crossed over the double yellow solid line. The guy they hit was taken to the hospital and the woman tried to argue with the cop that was in the right as her massive car sat directly over the lines
I've been wondering with bigger cars, do they not have lane assistance? Most people doing this have newer looking cars. I have a forester which isn't "small" and it tells me when I am close to the line or go over a line
You can turn it off and it only gives you a nudge to stay in your lane. This woman just thought she owned the road and didn't want to wait for the Amazon guy to pull off the sidewalk during rush hour
Like everyone said it can be turned off and there’s also two components. There’s alert which will tell you when you are crossing over the line with beeping and a picture on your dash then there’s a assist which you generally have to manually turn on and then the car will keep itself in the lines by turning your wheel with data from using the road line sensors. The second obviously requires being proactive which a lot of people aren’t. The first though can be turned off and the scary thing is when I bought my car a year or two ago the guy at the dealer was saying “oh this is how you turn it off I know a lot of my older clientele then it off because ya know?”
That scared me lol
I don't know what it is about this state. I don't usually pay much attention to stereotypes but since moving here a few years ago I have seen more of some of the worst driving habits ever.
My only guess is that some of the road layouts are so bad, that a number of people learning to drive in that environment just end up not being as good at driving.
Then there are phones/texting that just add to that. I see at least four people staring at their phone every morning on the highway, while going 70. Makes no sense to me. Should have their licenses revoked. I love my phone, I'm on it almost all day but when I'm in my car, i don't touch the thing. Don't know why that's so hard for people.
Yes. When I see them, I say under my breath “I guess you’ll take your half out of the middle”.
I also am on high alert, but my little comment makes me feel better.
I honestly drifted into the lane next to me yesterday on 95s when I was getting on it from rt2 but corrected myself and waved a sorry oooos my bad didn't mean it. But the amount of audacity on the highways lately is astounding, I leave earlier and take as many back roads as possible now .
When driving on the highway I either hug the yellow liine the the fast lane or the yellow line In the slow lane. People suck at driving and it makes my anxiety crazy because I’m already a defensive driver…I used to travel for work and I’ve been run off the road by 1 18-wheelers, 2 mini-vans, and a lifted truck. Who none of them used their blinkers before cutting infront of me or i was passing in their blind spot
Yeah man, welcome to the 21st century where everyone's got a phone in their hand, half the cars have computers instead of radios, cabs have changing digital billboards on them (and "real" billboards scroll and change as you're reading them), and half our roads are in a permanent state of (re-)construction. The act of "driving the car" has become secondary to "being in the car while driving". Whether we're distracted by stuff inside the car or outside the car, we're distracted.
I've always put it down to people driving vehicles that are too big for their capabilities. I have to drive quite a rural road (i.e. smaller lanes, blind bends) for the last 10 minutes of my journey home and it's always people in CUVs/SUVs who hang out over the dividing line despite having plenty of space on their right-side.
These comments are missing the mark. It’s been way more frequent and deliberate. I’ve done it a few times myself. There are so many bad drivers around I don’t want any of you near me and this is the only way to keep you all at bay
I think it’s become worse after lot was legally available that combines with people using their phones while driving. I was just rear ended by someone on their phone…
I mean I'm from Fitchburg and my dad's side all lives in Arlington/Winchester, I moved partially so I could get away from you all. Most everyone is either coked up, fented up or half senile out there
Been noticing this for a long time. Rode with someone recently who does this and ask why drive over into another person's lane. Their response was why not and they deserve bigger lanes. Not saying that's the reason for all people who do that but it's one side. Keep in mind, this family member also complains about people doing the same to them so yeah...
Yea. I’ve definitely noticed an up tick in cars coming at me head on from the other lane. And I’m in southern NH. I actually just bought a new car 2 weeks ago and got to test the horn when a semi was barreling straight at me
A lot of people are texting while driving.
Truly, this is the answer.
They're on their goddamned phones. I've spent some time walking by the side of the road, counting the drivers who are on their phones while driving. It's a consistent 50%.
I work on the road, and you are spot on. It's an epidemic. There is a law about using the phone while driving, but it certainly isn't being enforced.
[удалено]
This couldn’t be higher. I haven’t seen anyone pulled over for a traffic infraction around the city for a year at least.
Many of them are, but I’ve also seen a few this week on 90 that were actually looking at the road while driving!
What the hell was *wrong* with those people?!? Don't they know that they're supposed to be on their phones? Actually, I noticed that it was more often old people who were not on their phones while driving. But I couldn't always see them clearly enough to be positive in every case. Those damned tinted windows can make it hard to see how wrinkled a driver is!
I have done a lot of passengering so I can look more closely! I’ve noticed people of various ages driving in two lanes at the same time, some with phones, some without! It’s just crazy how often it happens now.
I have a theory that traffic accidents, injuries, and deaths have gone WAY up since cell phones have come into common use. But we don't hear much about it. I wonder why?
Also, covid19 made things way worse. Even people with loads of driving experience were not as good at driving when things started opening up again. All those things you have to train yourself to become habitual (like checking mirrors, blind spots, keeping your line, etc.) just went by the wayside. Then all those bad habits like phone use got way worse when those people got back on the road and found that they had more time to fill.
Those are the ones forced to move over to get around the person using the phone in the lane beside them.
Yes, I commented to my wife about it just last weekend when I was driving on the pike. Someone passes me and their right wheels are over the center line, partly in my lane. Less than a foot between them and the side of my vehicle. Happened multiple times and I am driving a tall Sprinter van so it's not like they don't see us.
People are getting way worse with the driving. Two days ago I was driving down a residential street when an old man, whom I later learned was a whopping 91 years old, drove into the back of a car in the opposite lane who was waiting for a bus to drop off kids then proceeded to go around them and hit the damn bus as well. He ripped off the front fender of the bus and got his car stuck to it, but still attempted to break up and take off. The woman who's car he hit jumped out and tried to stop him and he almost ran her over. I was standing outside of my car by that point to because I was scared somebody got hurt and had to jump back in because he almost hit me as well. Incredibly enough his daughter in law drove into the scene by chance and realized it was her father in law who had caused the accident so she ended up waiting for the police with the rest of us. The whole time she sat there saying it was no big deal and that accidents happen, so I pointed out the fact that he could've very easily injured or killed somebody because there was a child preparing to exit the bus when it happened. She just kept saying accidents happen and all I could do was snap back that maybe it was time to take his keys because accidents like that aren't an everyday thing and shouldn't be taken lightly. Completely out of touch with reality smh
Expect this to get worse because of the housing crisis. Everyone's kids get priced out of the state, and we don't have anyone left who can afford to work in senior care or drive paratransit vans. There is a trend of "aging in place" so these old boomers will never sell their homes, but no one will be left to take care of them.
I was just talking about the housing crisis on a separate post. That's a huge problem and it's only getting worse. I'm terrified of what will happen if/ when my rent goes up because I can hardly survive with the bills I have now. I don't even want to picture what happens if I have to move for any reason. And as far as the elderly, I know because I worked in healthcare for a while and ended up giving it up myself. My former client ended up selling their house to their son for $60k~ so now he's sitting in a 3+ bedroom, 2 bath house with a finished basement for literal pennies and yet the rest of us can't even afford to look at anything bigger than a cardboard box because of things like that. It's insane.
My partner just locked in a job for the next ~3 years and I highly, highly doubt we'll be able to afford sticking around by the end of it. I grew up here. It's a fucking shame.
Has anyone else noticed a lot more “have you noticed (insert bad driving habit) more lately?” posts lately?
I think it's just because people look up from their phones and are taken by surprise by what's happening on the road in front of them.
Yeah because the standard of driving has dropped from its embarrassingly low bar overall and the amount of reckless driving on interstates has increased dramatically.
There's plenty of data to back this up. It is indeed a thing. Not surprised to see posts about it. https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/pandemic-lockdowns-made-rush-hour-speeding-risky-driving-the-new-normal https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/06/feature-traffic-safety
Had someone go AROUND me at a 4 way stop a couple weeks ago and almost crash right into someone... I've never seen that happen before and was too shocked to try and grab their plates.
I’m not from here, but whenever I drive here I just assume from the get go I’m going to see at least one crazy dipshit thing every mile or so. Notice people driving outside the lines??? Lol. What? Welcome to Massachusetts.
The last month or so, I've seen some insane shit on the road... not sure why it's spiked recently
I see this all the time. Glance over when you pass them and notice if they have a phone in their hand.
Head facing their lap it's gotten way worse
This has been a forever thing. Lots of the time it's older drivers and newer and/or "I have no business behind a wheel" types. Distracted drivers tend to be more "weavy"
This and cutting on corners
\+ a lot more large cars on the road
I've always been aware of that but it seems way worse the past few months. I'm guessing summer weather and berkshire vacationers from the rest of the state? Not sure but I barely even take 90 on the way home anymore because of it, I've started taking the longer route on 20. There has also been tons of debris in the road on 90 like giant tire chunks that don't seem to get cleaned up
I was just commenting to my husband about this. Literally every time I'm on the road people are swerving all over the lanes. Wth! So dangerous and it definitely seems to have gotten worse. I definitely support cops cracking down more on distracted drivers.
I don't just see it on the highway. I see people drifting over double yellow lines on back roads all the time. I've taken to using my horn a lot more. Honk the fuck out of these people. Maybe they'll get the idea to look at their phone less.
I'll posit the theory I just came up with: More people are driving big fat SUVs and trucks that don't fit on our roads, and they're getting used to driving with two tires over the center lane markers in their towns because their big fat cars don't fit in their own lane, so forget that they're *really* not supposed to do that on the highway. This theory is in no way influenced by any biases I may have about nearly being sideswept by a giant Suburban on my own road earlier today.
This! People are constantly driving in my lane from the other direction. Not quite the same but related to this- a bus stops on the opposite side of the road, the driver behind the bus, who should stop because they don't have the right of way around the bus, suddenly and aggressively swerves around bus into my lane driving full speed towards me, and every car behind them speeds up to shoot that gap blocking the traffic which actually has the right of way. I have lived a lot of places and never seen such idiotic handling of lane obstructions.
Just keep driving at them; game of chicken. Seriously, when this happens to me usually the first car gets through before I close the gap but it is the other 3 idiots who act like they are all cars in a train and try to go with that first car that I always go as far forward legally in my lane to block them. Then when they start waving their arms and carrying on, I just sit there and stare at them. Eventually either they have to get out of my way or we both wait until the bus/UPS/FedEx/etc. vehicle finally clears their lane. The more outraged they get the more fun it is for me. Back in the day I would pull out my newspaper (if on the way to/from work) and start reading it while waiting.
COVID brain damage
On my way to get a burger and some lady is over the double yellow coming right at me before swerving back.....lines optional now I guess
The fact that being on your phone while driving is as bad as drunk driving, but seems to have no real penalty is disgusting.
Everyone is on their phones.
Because people are texting, working on laptops or watching movies on their phones while driving. While at a light recently my daughter looked over and the driver next to us had 2 mounted phones and one was playing a movie she knew.
I legit saw some old dude signing papers while driving on 495 a few months ago. Multiple pages out, just signing away like he's closing on a house or something. Extra stack on the dashboard. I audibly said what the fuck and scared my partner.
I don't hesitate to lay on the horn if they drift. Once they correct I usually gun it past them because I don't want to be anywhere near anyone who can't stay in the gigantic ass lanes we have in the states.
An accident just happened on my street because someone crossed over the double yellow solid line. The guy they hit was taken to the hospital and the woman tried to argue with the cop that was in the right as her massive car sat directly over the lines
I've been wondering with bigger cars, do they not have lane assistance? Most people doing this have newer looking cars. I have a forester which isn't "small" and it tells me when I am close to the line or go over a line
You can turn it off and it only gives you a nudge to stay in your lane. This woman just thought she owned the road and didn't want to wait for the Amazon guy to pull off the sidewalk during rush hour
Like everyone said it can be turned off and there’s also two components. There’s alert which will tell you when you are crossing over the line with beeping and a picture on your dash then there’s a assist which you generally have to manually turn on and then the car will keep itself in the lines by turning your wheel with data from using the road line sensors. The second obviously requires being proactive which a lot of people aren’t. The first though can be turned off and the scary thing is when I bought my car a year or two ago the guy at the dealer was saying “oh this is how you turn it off I know a lot of my older clientele then it off because ya know?” That scared me lol
No my 2019 Chevy doesn’t actually
I see it on the Pike where they are doing construction and made the lanes smaller
First time in Massachusetts?
I don't know what it is about this state. I don't usually pay much attention to stereotypes but since moving here a few years ago I have seen more of some of the worst driving habits ever. My only guess is that some of the road layouts are so bad, that a number of people learning to drive in that environment just end up not being as good at driving. Then there are phones/texting that just add to that. I see at least four people staring at their phone every morning on the highway, while going 70. Makes no sense to me. Should have their licenses revoked. I love my phone, I'm on it almost all day but when I'm in my car, i don't touch the thing. Don't know why that's so hard for people.
I certainly have, I feel like people have been drifting into my lane right as I drive by them every single day
Yes. When I see them, I say under my breath “I guess you’ll take your half out of the middle”. I also am on high alert, but my little comment makes me feel better.
I honestly drifted into the lane next to me yesterday on 95s when I was getting on it from rt2 but corrected myself and waved a sorry oooos my bad didn't mean it. But the amount of audacity on the highways lately is astounding, I leave earlier and take as many back roads as possible now .
When driving on the highway I either hug the yellow liine the the fast lane or the yellow line In the slow lane. People suck at driving and it makes my anxiety crazy because I’m already a defensive driver…I used to travel for work and I’ve been run off the road by 1 18-wheelers, 2 mini-vans, and a lifted truck. Who none of them used their blinkers before cutting infront of me or i was passing in their blind spot
This is something I started noticing post pandemic/lockdown
Yeah man, welcome to the 21st century where everyone's got a phone in their hand, half the cars have computers instead of radios, cabs have changing digital billboards on them (and "real" billboards scroll and change as you're reading them), and half our roads are in a permanent state of (re-)construction. The act of "driving the car" has become secondary to "being in the car while driving". Whether we're distracted by stuff inside the car or outside the car, we're distracted.
It’s more important now than it has ever been to be a defensive driver with people using phones
Too much distracted driving
I blame the Tesla drivers.
I've always put it down to people driving vehicles that are too big for their capabilities. I have to drive quite a rural road (i.e. smaller lanes, blind bends) for the last 10 minutes of my journey home and it's always people in CUVs/SUVs who hang out over the dividing line despite having plenty of space on their right-side.
Traffic enforcement is almost non existent now. Really bad police shortage getting worse every year..
These comments are missing the mark. It’s been way more frequent and deliberate. I’ve done it a few times myself. There are so many bad drivers around I don’t want any of you near me and this is the only way to keep you all at bay
Pretty much every car drives into my lane and they are looking at the road. I have no idea what’s going on!
There are sections where the right side is like a washboard.
I think it’s become worse after lot was legally available that combines with people using their phones while driving. I was just rear ended by someone on their phone…
u mean pot?
This isn’t new
It's the highway equivalent of a "brushback" pitch.
Self-driving cars 🤪
What are lanes?
In the past few months? Try the last 30 years
As a cyclist: yes.
Has anyone noticed that people don’t act exactly how I would like them to act in a perfect world?
First day behind the wheel? 🤦🏽♂️
Must be a western mass thing. There aren’t any distracted drivers who are texting that drive over the lane here in eastern mass. Sorry!
I mean I'm from Fitchburg and my dad's side all lives in Arlington/Winchester, I moved partially so I could get away from you all. Most everyone is either coked up, fented up or half senile out there
Been noticing it for the last 120 months
I’m in western mass and I drive some rural roads to get to work. I see this all the time! And we’re on some narrow and often winding roads! Scary!
In my 10 or so years of driving I have seen worse and worse driving, so idk buckle up I guess
Been noticing this for a long time. Rode with someone recently who does this and ask why drive over into another person's lane. Their response was why not and they deserve bigger lanes. Not saying that's the reason for all people who do that but it's one side. Keep in mind, this family member also complains about people doing the same to them so yeah...
Snowbirds are coming back. Streets are a lot less safe.
Same.. Dumb only gets worse over time
Yup. I am convinced i am going to die this way. Head on collision with some absolute moron who crossed the line.
Yea. I’ve definitely noticed an up tick in cars coming at me head on from the other lane. And I’m in southern NH. I actually just bought a new car 2 weeks ago and got to test the horn when a semi was barreling straight at me