Mark Dreyer

My nephew in law is a cop in Asheville. We just spend some time up there with family up there and he was telling me that their department has been decimated with resignations since this “defund the police” movement started. He was saying that there are now zero officers in the property crimes department. He is a detective and fielded a call from a woman from the “bougie” part of town wanting an officer to investigate a break in. He had to tell her there was no one. She asked who she could appeal to at a higher level than him, and he suggested the city council.

Mark Dreyer

One additional comment about Asheville area. My wife and I spend a few weeks in the surrounding mountains near the city each summer, and I must say the level of courtesy we see from fellow drivers up there is astounding to someone who lives most of the year in Orlando area. It’s rare that someone camps out in the turning lane on a highway for instance. And darting in and out of lanes to get nowhere fast is pretty rare up there also. So despite the decreased police presence up there, I think there is a cultural tie to politeness that hasn’t totally vanished at least yet anyhow. That’s one of many reasons I really love the mountains of western NC.

slivel

Aggressive and discourteous driving contributed to my retiring form racing. I had a good run (23 years) and my track skills were fine but towing my enclosed trailer through southern California was harrowing. Drivers were constantly moving into my lane and cutting off any measure of safe braking distance to the car ahead. It has gotten progressively worse over the last decade or so. As has been said the impersonality of driving causes people to act differently than they would face-to-face, somewhat like interactions on the internet.

Nowanker

Can't speak to any correlation with aggressive driving, or if this is a common issue in other parts of the country.

Mid-sized Bay Area town from where I recently escaped...
Darned little 'real' traffic enforcement.
Watched a car blow through a red light, right past the cop at the head of the left turn lane next to him.
Cop did nothing.
Why would he risk his life just to write a ticket?
Same department regularly ran ticket factories around town, groups of 3 or 4 motorcycle cops set up for tag team in likely ares.
"Work Zone Ahead" was their favorite. No construction there for weeks... and double fines, too!
Staking out the quiet industrial areas was also popular.
Rolling stop is just as big a fine as running any light in town, but an easy-breezy bust.
Look at the great job I'm doing! Just look at number of citations I've written!

dgrobs

👮🏻‍♂️?

paradocs98

A lot for thought here. I don’t think absolutely everything is political. In terms of driving, narcissistic jerks litter both sides of the political spectrum. I definitely agree that there seems to be very little appetite among the police these days to pursue those committing “low level” crimes, largely due to the infuriating catch-and-release policies for criminals here in NY. Several months ago we had a rash of car thefts in our area residential neighborhoods. Mainly BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, Range Rovers being stolen out of driveways by teens coming here to Long Island from the city and NJ. They would case neighborhoods in a stolen BMW or Mercedes to blend in, and got so bold they were doing it in the middle of the day. A new Ring camera video would get posted of another theft almost daily on Facebook. Finally a group of them got caught in the act and were pursued by multiple patrol cars. They led the police on probably a 20 minute chase through local neighborhoods in a stolen Mercedes SUV and were ultimately apprehended, but only after ramming multiple police cruisers, putting five officers in the hospital with injuries. A loaded handgun was found on them in the stolen Mercedes. Their ages were 17, 17 and 18. The 17 year-olds were booked and released to their parents. And the only reason the 18 year-old was held was because he had prior convictions. Why risk your health and career as a cop pursuing criminals if they just get released? And I’m sure the criminals and other lawbreakers are well aware of this.

The demographic I’m used to associating with high-speed, aggressive and dangerous driving in heavy traffic—young guys in their 20s—are still busy doing it. But what’s surprising is how many young women I see doing it now, too, in their Jeeps, etc. As for the people obnoxiously cutting in line to make a right turn from the left-turn lane, and other selfish/narcissistic traffic behavior, the guilty parties are actually some of the Wall Streeters, doctors and lawyers who live in my town.

justabout

1) Cars have gotten very responsive with very good brakes so drivers naturally feel more in control during aggressive driving. Put the offenders Jeep Wranglers see how their driving changes (unless they are crazy).

2) Driving is a game for some with a need to demonstrate superior skills to “win”.

3) Self importance. My time is more important than yours.

4) Population density. Always found it odd how highways speeds increase dramatically when approaching a city (Philadelphia comes to mind)

dgrobs

About 20 years ago, I read in the paper (NY Post I think), that 85% of all car thefts happen within 5 miles of your home…..so we moved.

Bxstr

To answer your questions:

Is this regional? No - it is happening in OH and I've seen it in PA when driving there too. My friend mentioned he saw it in ATL when he was living there.
Is it metro or suburban? I've seen it in both. Definitely more prevalent in big cities, however, some of that is because that is where people are commuting, there's more people making it seem worse. You may see 100 cars every minute in the city compared to 100 cars every hour in a rural area. People driving in a rural area may be in less of a rush also. Also the larger cities will have your highways and typically that is where I see the worst behavior. On the contrary, I've seen some crazy driving on rural backroads such as aggressive passes, tailgating, crossing double yellows to pass as well as just drifting across the center line.
Why is it happening? No clue. My thought is people can be selfish and are interested in whatever suits them. If they want to get to the store or their job quickly and are running late, it doesn't matter who else they're inconveniencing. Also, everyone is on their phone. I've seen people weaving in and out of traffic at 90mph while texting. I do think some of it started when there were less people on the road during COVID. Once people start doing something, they figure if nothing bad has happened yet, why not continue it.

Also, from fellow car enthusiasts, I've seen some crazy driving behavior. Sure, as car enthusiasts everyone claims that they "know what they're doing" or are doing it in a safe manner, but there's some insane driving that has been put on video on social media or that I've seen first hand on the roads that I think needs to end. But that is a conversation for another day.

paradocs98

I can't imagine the stress of trying to safely navigate an F250 pulling an enclosed trailer and racecar around here or any other congested metro area. You leave a safe distance in front of you, and everyone sees that as an invitation to fill the gap in front.

As for the "autobahn racers" coming up super fast from behind with no free space ahead, I unfortunately see that multiple times a day. I always go into high alert mode, knowing I might need to take evasive defensive action...

Interesting comment about cars being much more capable today and likely encouraging overly enthusiastic driving. You even see it in TV ads, where Nissans are depicted squirting through dense traffic and taking turns at 70mph in city centers. The crazy thing is, I often see Jeep Wranglers and Cherokees taking curved on-ramps at 60-70mph around here, leaned over and on the verge of tire squeal. How can that be comfortable?

paradocs98

Veloce Raptor

Darwin was an optimist

paradocs98

Mic drop.

PGas32

I don’t have any answers, but it’s worth pointing out that we’re not immune from this type of behavior. There have been several threads here with lengthy discussions on the sharp increase in the number of incidents at HPDEs and overall lack of respect and increase of aggression at Club Races. I doubt that defunding the police is impacting on-track behavior, but the lack of patience and respect seems to have bled over

dgrobs

So was Brandon….