I was one of three cars stopped behind a bus (not school bus) this morning. The women who would be 4th in line decided that wasn't for her and passed us all in the oncoming traffic lane.

And she had a kid in her car.

Good times.

I don’t live in DC and I’ve noticed this in my city too.

Yes - I've noticed it too. I live on a busy street near NIH and even though there's less traffic overall, drivers now seem determined to make it impossible for me to pull out of my drive (or even to slow down to pull in.)

My commute downtown is like an obstacle course - half the drivers are literally staring at their phone, many are doing insane things like pulling a U-turn in the middle of Conn or Wisconsin Aves, there are so many cars double parked that everyone is slaloming in and out of lanes trying to avoid getting stuck.

A car almost hit me today and both the driver as well as a backseat passenger leaned out the window screaming curses (even though they were the ones trying to turn on a red light.) It really feels like the Wild West out there.

I live of Carroll in Takoma Park and saw someone really laying on the horn after someone else turned in front of them. Maybe justifiably, maybe they were going too fast, who knows. What really scared me was that they then made a U turn and I saw them screeching down the road after the turning car. I think just enough time had passed that they didn't catch them - I didn't hear more honking or, God forbid, anything worse. But it really scared me to think that people with that kind of hair trigger temper are out there driving.

Anonymous wrote:Flagrant red light running seems so much worse now. It used to be rare to see someone gunning through a red light (not yellow) and now I see it daily; sometimes more than once.

+10000

I always wait a second or two before going through the intersection. It is maddening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone tried to run me down in a cross walk yesterday. I was crossing with a stroller and they just straight up ran the red light through the intersection.

Yep. I’ve found that drivers actually speed up when I’m in a crosswalk as if it’s some weird game of chicken. Wondering what they would do, if I didn’t speed up to get out of their way. Mow me down, I guess.

Yes, they will. In downtown Bethesda you'd better be on the other side of the street when the crosswalk hits "0" or they will put the pedal to the floor. Unbelievable.

I am driving as I compose this very message

I just assume they are either high or texting.0

I’ll get flamed, but I’m my area it’s recent immigrant drivers that are driving like they’re in their home country. South American and Indian.

^^^yeah, even the driving in close in New Jersey (except for GSP) is better than here. Respectful of pedestrians and no speeding in neighborhoods

Yes OP, it is very bad these days. Sooooo much aggressive driving. Much worse than the 90s and 00s. I don't know what's wrong with people these days. Everyone has gotta speed 40-50+ mph over the limit. I'll be on local roads in the DMV going 40-45 mph in a 35 and still get tailgated hard to the point I can't even see the driver's headlights because they wanna go 70. Saturday nights are the absolute worst on I95 between Baltimore and DC. Literal lunatics everywhere going 100-130 mph weaving in and out of traffic. There's really just no more enforcement anymore of speeding and aggressive driving laws, so people take extreme liberties.

Also, it is definitely something unique to the East Coast/this region. We traveled to Washington and Oregon last year and were shocked about how docile people drive in the North West. They're just way more laid back, and aggressive driving compared to here is was basically zero.

Its the street racing that makes me sick. We need to heavily crack down on this before gun violence imho

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone tried to run me down in a cross walk yesterday. I was crossing with a stroller and they just straight up ran the red light through the intersection.

Yep. I’ve found that drivers actually speed up when I’m in a crosswalk as if it’s some weird game of chicken. Wondering what they would do, if I didn’t speed up to get out of their way. Mow me down, I guess.

I’m a PP who said I feel unsafe as a pedestrian - this is a huge reason why! I feel like drivers speed up (a) when you’re crossing the street and (b) when you’re making a left turn.

I really don’t understand why people are driving like this. It’s horrifying!