This is barely hyperbole lmao I love it
I have a friend who is super car focused. Where she lives, there is a bridge where people often cross the road, and they painted the road with some blue waves, to showcase that. I often drive whe. She's with me, because she drives like a maniac. Anyway, people were crossing the road and i waited. She told me that cars have the right of way here and i could just go. I just gave her a look and then drove off when people were done, like 5 seconds later. The next time a few weeks later, she said the same thing and i told her: I don't care how often you tell me that, i'm not gonna run over people to save 5 seconds. She told me that she would usually just honk or rev up her engine, or "pretend to run people over" it's so weird to me what they get out of that behaviour
That kind of behavior should be considered attempted assault with a deadly weapon.
But she only threatens to murder pedestrians so that makes it okay. She wouldn't actually murder them (as long they scurry out of her way
If a street is to be shared with pedestrians, they should get the ultimate right of way, followed by push bikes then motor vehicles.
Your friend is a fucking psychopath and I can’t imagine how you’re still friends with them. I know it’s only one thing we’re seeing from your comment but I don’t think there’s much one can do to redeem “doesn’t have the barest consideration for strangers or their lives”.
Yikes.
it's the IMPLICATION
My favorite is when someone has some minor road dispute that cost them maybe a couple of seconds in drive time, and they follow you to catch up with you and scream at you about it....almost as if they weren't actually on their way to go fucking do anything.
They were already late to whatever they're supposed to be doing, and you've just become the excuse they needed.
Reminder that a pattern of behavior is not an accident, it is born from intentional choices. Running late isn't something that just happens to people, it is a choice. They choose not to leave on time, they choose not to manage their time, and at a subconscious level they enjoy speeding so leaving late is often an exercise of rationalization. It justifies their speeding and absolves them of guilt when they end up hurting or killing someone. 'Sure, they were speeding and they know speeding causes accidents... but they didn't have a choice, they had to speed or they might of lost their job!' 😮💨
In all seriousness, what the hell is up with the psychology of drivers? So much road rage, nastiness, and utter contempt for everything around their metal box of death on wheels.
In the US at least, Trump has validated half the country to express naked contempt for anyone they deem "other." This includes: any person of color, any woman, anyone younger than them, anyone that "looks" educated, anyone walking, anyone on a bicycle, and anyone in an electric car, among others.
I love that you worked a Trump reference into this but I’ve seen this sort of terrible behaviour from drivers since I was a kid (I’m 40). It’s also not unique to North America, nor even the West (seen the same thing in China).
No, it’s something about cars that creates a disconnect between us and other people. It’s like people outside the car’s windows are TV characters, not real people.
Not excusing the behaviour but I'd bet it's the amount of traffic people often sit through everyday along with the overall pace of life feeling faster.
I'm lucky to work weird hours where traffic is almost zero, but personally, sitting in hours of traffic everyday to and from work would make me want to pull my hair out.
Either they're forced or they believe they're forced to drive cars. I'd become insane too.
I’m sure that’s part of it but it can’t be the whole story. Some of the worst asshole drivers I’ve seen were driving not what I’d call “A-B cars.”
What's wrong with drivers? Frustrated mammal instincts while physical venting is impossible.
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The feeling of wearing big heavy armour (the car) and being separated from others not perceived quite as human in their armour intuitively calls for extreme force in all interactions, but the instinct is frustrated by knowing any collision is expensive and must be avoided, the opposite of folkrace. (Imagine the stress and frustration if rugby armour was expensive and easily dinged and scratched, so the players would have to avoid getting rough, and if someone hit your expensive armour, it would suddenly become your job to extract insurance info or money from them while the game went on.)
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Being agitated by imperfect humans in traffic while not being able to vent the anger out through muscle action is frustrating - you have to sit stiff in place and keep the controls steady. On a bike you can direct the anger to your muscles and get rid of it. A stimulant crash (often anger) while driving in heavy traffic is extra bad and common after a day of stimulants at work. (When the power steering belt broke on a Volvo V70 I was driving as a taxi, it was nice, healthier and more fun to use force to make the car turn. Why don't car makers allow me to adjust the powering ratio when it's all programmable now? Why are cars and computers designed to deprive the driver and user of all exercise?)
I worked in a university traffic research unit (psychology and cognitive science angle) after being a taxi driver.
(This text editor is shitty and frustrating, and my Lemmy feed is poison, but luckily I can fidget and pace a bit here by the computer.)
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I hate driving, it feels like it got way worse after covid, like people forgot how to drive properly
I think people all just hate each other more now. Generally stress makes little aggressions feel more extreme and the world is in fact falling apart at the seams.
Plus scientific studies have shown people with more bumper stickers were more violent and more likely to commit road rage seeing the car as an extension of themselves and interactions with the car as attacks on personal self and people are much more aware of "personal space" than before covid probably upping the sense of the car being an extension for more people.
I wouldn't say people hate each other. I think it is more that car dependency is deeply dehumanizing and stressful in a way that leads to violent outbursts that further erode our sense of community and collectiveness. It doesn't help that capitalism is a cut throat system that primes people to see others as being competition rather than comrades. Together we have become a people of hyper individualist, anti-social consumers... A spiritual sort of rot that is incompatible with the ideals that civilization itself is built on.
It's the same phenomenon of de-socialization that was radically accelerated during peak Covid that has led to everything from a 1000% increase in unruly passengers on airlines, to a drastic decrease in relationships and dating, to a whole host of people just checking out from the social contract and embracing ludicrous conspiracy theories and retreating to online safe-spaces where any crazy thought will be validated and praised.
As a species we were not meant to have constant exposure to millions of people's innermost thoughts and feelings and unrestrained impulsive ideas. It fucks with your head. Combine that with the economic incentive of keeping people in one spot, scrolling their attention-span to sawdust, and you are training an entire generation of people to turn off their inner monologues and to stop thinking entirely, just seeking validation and things to click on.
I feel strongly that AI ruining the internet will be a net-positive, as it's going to drive more people to human spaces to connect with each other. Sure there will be a whole segment of people raised in the AI slop of the next decade, but there will also be a subset of people who want more and create their own spaces with other real humans.
Ok but it does seem like people drive way worse now than just a few years ago. I have theories though.
Theory 1: Existential dread. People are so beat down by climate, endless war, failing economy, and more that they’ve gone completely insane.
Theory 2: Long covid brain.
Theory 3: Trump and other authoritarian world leaders/parties/orgs has validated unmitigated rage and contempt towards almost anyone for almost any reason.
I think the number of people with little care for those outside their vehicle has increased. At least a chunk of it is due to the vehicle design - it's hard to be aggressive in a 1970s car, it's easy in how separate you are, how isolated from people outside, in an SUV
"unholy merging of flesh and metal" got me. Oh that's good.
I guess the holy merging would be human and bicycle.
You've never had a cyclist on the sidewalk yell that you're walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk as they blast past you at road speeds?
Assholes are assholes, regardless of what flavor unholy chimera they've merged into. They're just less deadly when they're non-charmeras.
That's true, I have had cyclists yell at me as a pedestrian and driver (no I didn't do anything wrong as the driver).
Honestly no, never, and that feels more like a problem of not having proper cycling paths. Nobody wants to cycle on the sidewalk.
San Francisco is taking an interesting approach to this problem: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/sf-police-wear-flashy-costumes-to-catch-drivers-19769362.php
Put this in the sidebar (it can hold images just like comments and posts)
Carmera.
