Driving is no fun.

[240260280z]

It seems like any time I drive, now, I am behind a moron going 20 below the speed limit, someone who loves to ride their brakes, crazy lane shifters w/o turn indicators, excessively slow drivers in the snow and rain, erratic texters, yield sign stoppers, acceleration lane stoppers, green light brakers, slow drivers in the faster passing lanes, won't merge into traffic until the nearest car is 1km awayers, and high beamers.... did the world suddenly turn stupid? What the hell? I'm getting tired of trying to avoid all of these fools. Anyone else noticing this increase over the past 10 years?

Edited January 16, 2014 by Blue

[SteveJ]

Not too much, but then again, I moved to a less populated area about 7 years ago.

[240260280z]

I'm wondering if it is the increase in older baby-boomers and the new generation of social networking kids all coming on line?

[rcb280z]

Philip, it is just as aggravating here in CA! It has been a topic for discussion lately in our house. Just this morning a driver darted across 3 lanes on the freeway, cutting me off, just so they could make the exit they almost missed. My wife balled up in a fetal position because she just knew we were going to crash but we didn't. I feel your pain my Z brother.

[Mikes Z car]

I haven't most of the time but I know someone who would agree with you 100% (my wife)

To help her cope with driving frustrations she put a plastic medallion on the dash of a blue smurf dude with a movie camera. This is to remind her that others are playing out the movie of their life, which is different from the movie that she is playing. She was told about this idea by a naturopathic doctor who has an amazing sense of intuition. I don't know how effective it is. I don't have a smurf dude in my Z but I get frustrated once in a while. (Here would be a great place to step on the gas a tiny bit but that guy in front of me insists that I get good gas mileage on this stretch)

Edited January 16, 2014 by Mikes Z car

[Oiluj]

I see so many people texting on the freeway I think I'm in Starbucks. They are completely disconnected with the task at hand. I often change lanes to avoid the obviously distracted drivers.

My fear is that much like flying a fighter plane, it's the one you don't see that gets you...

IMO, fines for texting while driving should be tripled.

[ajmcforester]

It's getting worse, but it was about 10 years a go I moved to New Jersey from Arizona and Colorado. What I notice is how much worse the Pennsylvania license plate cars in NJ drive. They were bad now even worse. I just watched a car this week drive off the road and into the center median and the 50-60 year-old woman was texting while driving over 85mph (with PA plates).

Or this weekend, how about the car following me so close in my FJ Cruiser on a divided highway at 50mph, that I could not see the car in any mirrors when I when to stop for the light they whipped the car off the road, over the curb into the embankment and hitting a parked car in a parking lot. The worse part is I knew they were back their and I slowed down slowly to avoid getting hit, glad I did not need to avoid something else beside them.

[olzed]

I totally get it.

Where i live drivers do 40-45km in 60km zone. Drives me nuts.

And drivers texting or dreaming at stop lights, meaning they and two or three other cars get the green.

[Mark Maras]

There is only a small percentage of the drivers out there that truly love to drive. For the rest, it's just another thing they have to do to get somewhere on time. In all fairness, they have never had a Z experience, "They" don't understand why on earth anyone would choose to drive and work on an old two-seater especially with a manual transmission. Well, OK, Maybe we're a little "eccentric", But the fact is, we love to drive. The solution to crappy drivers is stay as far away from them as possible and play a prophecy game. Try to guess what the hell they're going to do next. You'll be surprised how well it works. P.S. If you time them right, freeway on ramps can be a lot of fun.

Mark in Portland

[djwarner]

Recently, our driving experience has deteriorated.... but happens every winter in Florida. But every time I think its getting bad, I remember it could be worse as in.....

[hr369]

Some researchers have said that iq's

have gone up since lead was removed from paints and gasoline but others

have noted a shift in the other direction.

Check out this yahoo news article on the subject

Yahoo!

"previous research studies have found that women of higher intelligence tend to have fewer children on average, meaning that population growth may be driven by those with a lower IQ. And over time, the abundance of less intelligent offspring would affect the overall IQ average"

Darwin and his theory of survival of the fittest must be flawed.

As for slow drivers and high beamers you should see what i have to deal with in hawaii. I've had

to buy night driving glasses that are

slightly tinted so im not temporarily blinded by oncoming high beams.

Edited January 16, 2014 by hr369

[bartsscooterservice]

It seems like any time I drive, now, I am behind a moron going 20 below the speed limit, someone who loves to ride their brakes, crazy lane shifters w/o turn indicators, excessively slow drivers in the snow and rain, erratic texters, yield sign stoppers, acceleration lane stoppers, green light brakers, slow drivers in the faster passing lanes, won't merge into traffic until the nearest car is 1km awayers, and high beamers.... did the world suddenly turn stupid? What the hell? I'm getting tired of trying to avoid all of these fools. Anyone else noticing this increase over the past 10 years?

Finally someone who comes up with this ! I live here in The Netherlands, and it's really bad, to much idiot drivers imo, don't know what's going on ? Also they can't maintain constant travelling speeds which is very annoying.. and all those speed bumps and speed regulations here don't help either..

This country is really to small to enjoy some cruise, except the highway, it's constantly slowing down and accelerating..

All the points i've read above here, it's also here..like the high beams etc, alot actually..

By the way you should check out traffic in Russia it's mad !

Edited January 16, 2014 by bartsscooterservice