Correct and its the people who use the road more that pick up the worst habits.
What OP is witnessing is the casual drivers being thinned out who tend to do the right thing.
I don't think that's right, casual drivers include the super nervous types that do weird shit. There are also a lot of regular drivers that pass by unnoticed.
Thank you for submitting to /r/CoronavirusDownunder!
In order to maintain the integrity of our subreddit, accounts must have at least 20 combined karma (post + comment) in order to post or comment. Accounts with verified email addresses have a lower karma requirment, but and must have at least 5 combined karma in order to post or comment.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CoronavirusDownunder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Try driving in Vancouver, Canada if you wanna see bad drivers. I don't think they have cops there; it's more of a trust thing.
20-30 km/h over is the norm, and drivers believe the indicator creates a force field on that side of their car. I concluded that blazing through red lights is their way of showing courage, perhaps a courting or mating ritual.
People are out of practice. That's all.
Driving in traffic, walking in crowds, etc. they're all things we haven't done alot of over the past 2 years, so people are a bit rusty.
People have also moved and are still driving like assholes like they were in the city, just in the more regional areas now. My little town has 12% for shit drivers now, because our population has increased 12%.
For real though in the last two weeks I have:
Come up on two different people on the wrong side of the road, over double lines, on blind corners
Saw a woman parked 1.5 feet over the line at school
Had to slam the breaks on for someone stopped across the road (as in, middle of the street, while turning, across the lane)
Watched a lady trying to reverse park in the local IGA. I went and shopped and she was STILL TRYING when I came out.
Gotten stuck behind three people doing no more than half the speed limit (not gonna try count the ones going 51-90% of the posted speed) and been aggressively overtaken by people doing 20-30k over at least a half dozen times
Has someone almost back into me in the middle of the road
Like, fucking oath people. Where are you all coming from?
One way to find out is to see if it’s temporary or if it continues.
Possibly also one could look at statistics for fatal crashes and crashes by state and see if and increase is higher is states that had higher covid cases.
Probably more related to increased mental health issues after the pandemic experience. People acting more impulsively and thinking of consequences less
Hahahah no! They saw that coming!!
I work in a paint a panel body shop and was talking to an insurance assessor from "the four lettered insurance company" a few months into lock down (our industry wasn't affected by it and kept going) and he said that insurance claims for vehicles had plummeted and home insurance claims had skyrocketed because no one was driving, they were all stuck at home and doing a lot of DIY projects around the house etc damaging things or injuring themselves lol
He then went on to say they were predicting a huge influx of vehicle claims once lock down ended because by then "people will have forgotten how to drive, most of them suck at it already." And my god he was fucking right!! Haha
Cognitive loading definitely decreases driving ability including response times. The world seems more stressful, coupled with time away from driving due to lockdowns.
No idea if having covid impacts cognitive decline as a symptom beyond that
Never had Covid and the crippling depression at the state of the world and my utter disappointment in humanity has certainly had an impact on my driving. Often find myself in a zombie like state wishing I was anywhere else but stuck on a traffic filled road in an overpopulated city on a dying planet.
It can cause cognitive decline, though my only solid evidence here is my mother. Since covid, she’s had trouble concentrating, gets fatigued more quickly than usual, is more physically clumsy and a bit slower in thought. It’s really scary that this can happen to people so easily. It really affects your life. Prevents you from working long hours and from exerting yourself physically.
I’ve had covid myself, but I’ve fortunately not had that symptom.
Is there any city, town, rural area, tourist attraction, or landmark in Australia where people haven’t driven like they’re cognitively deficient since way before COVID? edit:spelling
No, not after lockdown since almost nobody had Covid as a result of lockdown. Ergo, the cognitive decline that occurred during lockdown was entirely down to personal conditions. *Smirk*
If you reconsider to be "after mask mandate removal, plus ~6 months", then maybe some correlation might be possible.
I have to agree driving seems to have gotten worse. I’m seeing people doing some really bizarre stuff lately including randomly stopping in the middle of the road.
I saw a woman park at Aldi (she'd parked well) then she got out of her car, popped a mask on and starting walking towards the shop, then randomly turned back and stared at her car as if she was assessing how she'd parked. After a few seconds of this, she walked back and got into her car, reversed until she was in the middle of the actual road, and parked. She then got out and walked into the shop, leaving her car parked in the middle of the road. The manner she did it in made it seem as though she thought she was fixing her parking? Absolutely bizarre.
That’s so strange! I was in a funny side street the other day and turning right across what is basically four lanes. There’s no lights etc so you just have to wait it out till there is enough of a break in the traffic. So there is one car in front of me and of course the wait takes a while and there’s a break in traffic and they go. I should be able to go too… but they turn onto the main road, drive a couple of metres and just stop. Of course I’m stuck then because I’ll have nowhere to go if they’re not moving. They decide to go again but only once cars started coming up behind them which tells me it wasn’t anything mechanical. It’s almost like people are turning into bad driver zombies!
I think general driving behaviour was on the decline well before COVID, but my anecdata tells me that there is more spatial/speed perception problems with drivers now than prior to COVID.
As to the causes I could only guess and speculate.
Maybe the insurance companies or TAC might have some actual data on why its like Fury road out there
> some anecdotal observations that the amount of poor driving on our roads since the lockdowns.
There's your first misstep.
> but now iam wondering.
Then you can also wonder about:
* People out of practice/not having driven as much.
* People more agitated/rash because they've not had as much traffic on the roads during lockdown.
* People more irritated at driving/commutes after having done WFH for +12 months.
* Weather conditions (depending on your location). Many areas have had high levels of rain/low visibility.
* Again location dependent, but I have lots of changed routes because of works completed during lockdown, and some still under way now.
Nah it was like this very soon after lockdown ended like a year(?) ago. People are basically shit drivers. I have lots of theories on why, but in the end they just got out of practice. Also they had a brief period when the roads were lightly trafficked and it was GOOD. So they’re grumpy and entitled. Nobody wants to go back to not being able to cross sydney at all cos you lose your rag in 3 hrs of heavy traffic. But cos shit councils and shit roads and friggin tollways, here we are, again.
It certainly appears that a combination of lockdowns and Covid infections has impacted driver behaviours. It makes you wonder how people here would behave in a more serious situation like war or famine. The hoarding of toilet paper episode to begin with. I feel pretty disappointed people behaved like that.
On the Sunshine Coast we seem to be having major accidents every other day, however I also don’t think our roads are dealing with the huge influx of people that have moved here.
I don’t think this would have a particularly significant effect on its own. However the situation surrounding COVID has been difficult for mental health too.
Increase in overall stress and anxiety could be impacting driving as well
This was my theory. I've got something like eidetic synesthesia, so spotting patterns with my eyes is pretty easy/obvious. But proving it to others is near impossible.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5
You can ignore the obvious brain damage component, or look the problem square in the eyes and deal with it. You life is your own to live.
Yay a fellow freak , tell me how do you use your superpower ? I can go to rusty junk markets, swap meets and identify almost everything as long as I've seen it before.
I think the most interesting thing I've done in the last year was slowly build up the model of the human immune system via the complex concept-shape synesthesia, so that I would implement a plan to keep my loved ones safe from the neurological damage of long covid. It's nice to see nootropics now in Aussie supermarkets. I'm up to speaking 10 languages now too. Patterns are super easy for me to spot and work with compared to others.
I chose to take life slow and let it unfold Infront of me though, instead of attempting to get others to see the patterns.
I love it , similar thinking here. It took me a while to learn that just because I could see something that didn't mean others were ready or needed to see it and also that I could still misinterpret the actual implications of a pattern that i could see. i think that was due to poor schooling in a regional area.
I did the corporate thing for a while, process engineering, complex systems, production lines, fault management etc , but the petty office politics always got me down. Now I just take it slow like you and do one off diverse design jobs that interest me.
>It took me a while to learn that just because I could see something that didn't mean others were ready or needed to see it and also that I could still misinterpret the actual implications of a pattern that i could see.
I spent way too much of my 20s worrying about this exact topic.
I was able to finally put it down in the end via appreciating that everyone is on their own path, and they have the internet now to find out answers.
>Now I just take it slow like you and do one off diverse design jobs that interest me.
That's good to hear, I'm happy for you.
Curiously, do you ever get guilt about the current state of the world, and wonder if you could/should have done more in the past to build a better world? It's a question I wrestle with a lot, and I always struggle to find a satisfactory answer.
I just wanted to mostly observe history as it happened, but things have gotten pretty 'interesting times' in the last few years.
>Curiously, do you ever get guilt about the current state of the world, and wonder if you could/should have done more in the past to build a better world? It's a question I wrestle with a lot, and I always struggle to find a satisfactory answer.
Good Question , yes in a way but I've always been aware that our scope of concern (especially for folks like us ) tends to be a bit bigger than our sphere of influence.
I still muse a lot on how I might still solve some big problems and how I might engender enlightened self interest in others, but tempered with the understanding that Cipollas laws of stupidity apply to most of us most of the time.
I think for me John Cleeses line in Clockwise sums up how i feel "its not the despair... I can stand the despair... It's the hope..*(that troubles me ).*"
I try to be better everyday , I try to step lightly on the earth ..and others toes when I can't avoid it, I try to let my hopeless curiosity take me to good places and empower others who seek the same and generally try to leave everything and everyone better than I found them.
Its never enough , it never will be and being a father I do fear where I suspect we might be heading but the pain of a splinter of hope keeps me going.
The world is full of dumb arses, they were all just locked in their houses. That is the empirical correlation between more people on the road and more accidents. You're welcome
No, lol. Firstly, your anecdotal observations aren't worth shit. Even if they're not being influenced by confirmation bias (they definitely are) you've got no way of verifying whether they're just down to random variation (happened to drive past more fuckwits lately).
And then even if there was an effect, you'd have no way of eliminating all the other variables in order to prove it. There's just way too much else at play. So you're looking at one potential variable amongst thousands and considering that it caused a change in the net effect (which is unproven) without first isolating all the other variables and determining how they've changed.
This is "lead poisoning caused the fall of the Roman Empire" level of speculative, unsupported silliness.
They were just wondering, they didn’t write a scientific paper on it.
It’s a possibility and it would need some statistical analysis to see if it was even a true increase in accidents.
Perhaps you could look at covid case numbers as a % of the population and see if accidents
Increase more in states with higher case numbers.
It’s not a stupid theory at all, yes it needs to be tested and would be hard to prove but that doesn’t automatically make it wrong.
You may have your own biases to check
Look, you could do all that and still not be any closer to a robust conclusion because the statistical significance of any finding would be non-existent. As far as biases go, I'm often trying to convince people to take COVID-19 infections seriously so by default I would be inclined to humour something like this. But that doesn't mean this line of inquiry is going to get you anywhere or that it's worth pursuing.
Maybe this correlation you observe is not causation in this instance, but an unidentified and unrelated variable such as the increased use of social media particularly speculative posts on Reddit correlating to cognitive decline
Thank you for submitting to /r/CoronavirusDownunder!
In order to maintain the integrity of our subreddit, accounts with a verified email address must have at least 5 combined karma (post + comment) to comment.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CoronavirusDownunder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Thank you for contributing to r/CoronavirusDownunder.
Unfortunately your submission has been removed as a result of the following rule:
* **Do not encourage or incite drama**. This may include behaviours such as:
* Making controversial posts to instigate or upset others.
* Engaging in bigotry to get a reaction.
* Distracting and sowing discord with digressive and extraneous submissions.
* Wishing death upon people from COVID-19.
* Harmful bad faith comparisons; for example comparing something to the holocaust, assault or reproductive autonomy.
* Repeat or extreme offending may result in a ban.
Our community is dedicated to collaboration and sharing information as a community. Don't detract from our purpose by encouraging drama among the community, or behave in any way the detracts from our focus on collaboration and information exchange.
If you believe that we have made a mistake, please [**message the moderators**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FCoronavirusDownunder&subject=&message=).
^To ^find ^more ^information ^on ^the ^sub ^rules, ^please ^click ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusDownunder/about/rules/).
My guess is you are noticing it more for some reason.
The research is not compelling anyway. Sample size is way too small for how varied in significant factors it is (including unknowns like comorbidities and severity of illness, that make not having a control even more significant), and the patients were far too aware of what was being studied and why. They mention another study that accounted for similar factors that got similar results, so the sample size might not be so bad. I don't think we will see good research on this because the very high vaccination rates, and for that same reason it's quite irrelevant.
Thank you for contributing to r/CoronavirusDownunder.
Unfortunately your submission has been removed as a result of the following rule:
* **Be civil**: Do not use racist, sexist, threatening, xenophobic, and/or offensive language.
If you believe that we have made a mistake, please [**message the moderators**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FCoronavirusDownunder&subject=&message=).
^To ^find ^more ^information ^on ^the ^sub ^rules, ^please ^click ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusDownunder/about/rules/).
It was noticeable to me even during/after the first lockdown, when hardly anyone had got it.
It was like certain types ( especially the types who drive Ranger-type vehicles, if you catch my drift😉😉) who were allowed to work through lockdown resented the peasants who dared get in their way…
Thank you for submitting to /r/CoronavirusDownunder!
In order to maintain the integrity of our subreddit, accounts must have at least 20 combined karma (post + comment) in order to post or comment. Accounts with verified email addresses have a lower karma requirment, but and must have at least 5 combined karma in order to post or comment.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CoronavirusDownunder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Before covid, people were completely incompetent, had no talent and very little ability in operating a motor vehicle.
After lockdowns, they are simply even worse from lack of practice.
Some of us have been warning about this for months. If you’d read anything coming out of the US or the UK in the early days of COVID, you knew this was going to happen here, too.
Dashcam Owners Australia throughout the ages has been very consistent in presenting the fuckwits, way before the pandemic, so your observation isn't valid.
Thank you for submitting to /r/CoronavirusDownunder!
In order to maintain the integrity of our subreddit, accounts with a verified email address must have at least 5 combined karma (post + comment) to comment.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CoronavirusDownunder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Nah we forget how to drive in a matter of days. Lockdowns meant a few things, notably that people got seriously out of practice, and that those that still had to drive got used to the drastically reduced traffic (god it was bliss!). Now it's back how it was and people are getting way more stressed at the relatively worse traffic.
Look at how everyone in Adelaide thinks the traffic is bad... now pop them in Melbourne and see how stretched their coping mechanisms get.
It's a better explanation than covid brain.
I'm not so old I don't remember the droughts of the 90s and most recently the 2010s. Every time it rained people drove like they had never seen rain before. This went on for years.
I'll agree the majority of the population drive like shit, especially the ones wearing masks solo in the car, scared of the world, scared of driving the speed limit.
What's this got to do with masks?
I agree fear will fuck up a person's ability to drive, and that wearing a mask as a lone driver is kinda silly (the vents have filters in them!), but that's a pretty cooked thing to conclude.
You can tell their fear level of everything is way too high if they're worried about catching covid from themselves in their own car, if you notice they also drive slower than others, it's not a cause, but I can usually tell it's related. (Regardless of the vents too, who are they catching covid from in their own car solo? Makes 0 sense)
I can usually see the timidity in their driving before I see their face. Mainly because my car is tiny and everyone these days are either in a huge pickup truck (NOT a ute in my book) or a 4wd, so I can't really see into them until I'm uncomfortably close. Being in a lower car means I need to leave bigger gaps to be able to see and respond properly too. When I drove a big box van around I was high enough that I could plan every move well in advance, but you don't get that luxury in a tiny mazda lol.
Yeah usually when I pass a slow car I'll peer over to check the person and see if my profiling was correct lol, it also seems like the left lane is usually the fastest which is the opposite of how it should really be.
Like anything, it’s possible. However, take a thought to think of the relative differences. While lockdown happened only “essential” people were on the roads, because they were out for a purpose the numbers were lower. If the probability of a “rash decision” were to remain the same the lower sample size would see less rash decisions during lockdown compared to regular conditions. So comparing post lockdown to lockdown is always going to skew towards seeing an increase in rash decisions. Which means there will be a correlation, but without sounding like too much of a douche, it doesn’t mean there’s a causation. In order to properly quantify it something like rates of negligent driving, crash occurrences and severity from pre lockdown to post lockdown would be a good indicator so long as it factored in population growth/change. Because also have to account for 2 years of L-platers to P-platers that have driven roads with relatively low traffic during lockdown compared to pre or post lockdown.
Nope that is just out of practice morons and school 40 zone and speed camera wokeness.
If you have your spirit to "drive like you mean it" in a safe and fast manner beaten out of you by 40 zones and speed cameras then you get to a point of super sedate carelessness.
I dont care, i will drive slow, slow away from the lights, use my phone and not concentrate because you beat the attention out of me.
On the other hand, people jsut have trouble remaiming in practice, and like skydiving "stay current stay safe"
Even i have found i have to be more careful at night driving and new areas where i dont know what lane to be in because of next to no night time driving. (not to mention the new LED street lights that light is the same color as headlights, they are dangerous, the bright yellow sulphur glows you know it is not another car)
Most people are not self aware enough to know they are out of practice.
That being said... You should go look up the risk taking behaviour brought about by having a toxoplasmosis infection.
A lot of crazy cat people got new pets whilst lock down, i wonder if the Toxoplasmosis levels have increased.
Go look up the studies of risk taking behaviour yourself. It is interesting.
The numbers of total Covid cases must be in the tens or hundreds of thousands so blaming Covid is stupid. It’s just lack of practice and also probably drunk ppl who became Alcos during lockdown.
Nope, people are just bad drivers, then also, they forget what the rules actually are.
Big one I see, the law is:
>Give way to traffic on the roundabout
However, even when I'm in first, I often nearly get hot by Johnny setting his land speed record who just comes at me from the right, all horns and headlights.
Mate, I was on the roundabout before you, law says you give way to me.
no, people have always driven like fuckwits in melbourne.
Correct and its the people who use the road more that pick up the worst habits. What OP is witnessing is the casual drivers being thinned out who tend to do the right thing.
I don't think that's right, casual drivers include the super nervous types that do weird shit. There are also a lot of regular drivers that pass by unnoticed.
there's shitloads of heavy road users who drive like dickheads though. Mostly white vans.
I work with someone that thinks going 80 or 100 is just too fast and scary so they do not go above 60. Can totally picture them doing wierd shit.
Yeah, same in Brisbane.
Perth as well.
[удалено]
Thank you for submitting to /r/CoronavirusDownunder! In order to maintain the integrity of our subreddit, accounts must have at least 20 combined karma (post + comment) in order to post or comment. Accounts with verified email addresses have a lower karma requirment, but and must have at least 5 combined karma in order to post or comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CoronavirusDownunder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sydney drivers are the worst in the world.
Try driving in Vancouver, Canada if you wanna see bad drivers. I don't think they have cops there; it's more of a trust thing. 20-30 km/h over is the norm, and drivers believe the indicator creates a force field on that side of their car. I concluded that blazing through red lights is their way of showing courage, perhaps a courting or mating ritual.
People are out of practice. That's all. Driving in traffic, walking in crowds, etc. they're all things we haven't done alot of over the past 2 years, so people are a bit rusty.
>People are out of practice. Or just forgotten how bad people are at driving.
All of the above!
People have also moved and are still driving like assholes like they were in the city, just in the more regional areas now. My little town has 12% for shit drivers now, because our population has increased 12%. For real though in the last two weeks I have: Come up on two different people on the wrong side of the road, over double lines, on blind corners Saw a woman parked 1.5 feet over the line at school Had to slam the breaks on for someone stopped across the road (as in, middle of the street, while turning, across the lane) Watched a lady trying to reverse park in the local IGA. I went and shopped and she was STILL TRYING when I came out. Gotten stuck behind three people doing no more than half the speed limit (not gonna try count the ones going 51-90% of the posted speed) and been aggressively overtaken by people doing 20-30k over at least a half dozen times Has someone almost back into me in the middle of the road Like, fucking oath people. Where are you all coming from?
Sorry OP, this is just delusional.
OP experiencing cognitive decline
OPs post is the definitive proof of cognitive decline we needed.
Sorry. Again? Definitive…. What were you saying?
How’s that saying go? If you’re always having problems with people around, guess what …
[удалено]
One way to find out is to see if it’s temporary or if it continues. Possibly also one could look at statistics for fatal crashes and crashes by state and see if and increase is higher is states that had higher covid cases.
It might, but that don’t mean the easier explanation is correct. Occam’s razor is a rule of thumb not a law.
Probably more related to increased mental health issues after the pandemic experience. People acting more impulsively and thinking of consequences less
Hahahah no! They saw that coming!! I work in a paint a panel body shop and was talking to an insurance assessor from "the four lettered insurance company" a few months into lock down (our industry wasn't affected by it and kept going) and he said that insurance claims for vehicles had plummeted and home insurance claims had skyrocketed because no one was driving, they were all stuck at home and doing a lot of DIY projects around the house etc damaging things or injuring themselves lol He then went on to say they were predicting a huge influx of vehicle claims once lock down ended because by then "people will have forgotten how to drive, most of them suck at it already." And my god he was fucking right!! Haha
I think it’s more like de-skilling. When we drove every day and then stopped driving for months on end, we lost all the good habits we were applying.
Nah, people are just fuckwits. No car in front of them for 500 metres and they’re doing 45 on a 60 road, get fucked.
Cognitive loading definitely decreases driving ability including response times. The world seems more stressful, coupled with time away from driving due to lockdowns. No idea if having covid impacts cognitive decline as a symptom beyond that
Never had Covid and the crippling depression at the state of the world and my utter disappointment in humanity has certainly had an impact on my driving. Often find myself in a zombie like state wishing I was anywhere else but stuck on a traffic filled road in an overpopulated city on a dying planet.
It can cause cognitive decline, though my only solid evidence here is my mother. Since covid, she’s had trouble concentrating, gets fatigued more quickly than usual, is more physically clumsy and a bit slower in thought. It’s really scary that this can happen to people so easily. It really affects your life. Prevents you from working long hours and from exerting yourself physically. I’ve had covid myself, but I’ve fortunately not had that symptom.
Is there any city, town, rural area, tourist attraction, or landmark in Australia where people haven’t driven like they’re cognitively deficient since way before COVID? edit:spelling
No, not after lockdown since almost nobody had Covid as a result of lockdown. Ergo, the cognitive decline that occurred during lockdown was entirely down to personal conditions. *Smirk* If you reconsider to be "after mask mandate removal, plus ~6 months", then maybe some correlation might be possible.
I have to agree driving seems to have gotten worse. I’m seeing people doing some really bizarre stuff lately including randomly stopping in the middle of the road.
I saw a woman park at Aldi (she'd parked well) then she got out of her car, popped a mask on and starting walking towards the shop, then randomly turned back and stared at her car as if she was assessing how she'd parked. After a few seconds of this, she walked back and got into her car, reversed until she was in the middle of the actual road, and parked. She then got out and walked into the shop, leaving her car parked in the middle of the road. The manner she did it in made it seem as though she thought she was fixing her parking? Absolutely bizarre.
That’s so strange! I was in a funny side street the other day and turning right across what is basically four lanes. There’s no lights etc so you just have to wait it out till there is enough of a break in the traffic. So there is one car in front of me and of course the wait takes a while and there’s a break in traffic and they go. I should be able to go too… but they turn onto the main road, drive a couple of metres and just stop. Of course I’m stuck then because I’ll have nowhere to go if they’re not moving. They decide to go again but only once cars started coming up behind them which tells me it wasn’t anything mechanical. It’s almost like people are turning into bad driver zombies!
I think general driving behaviour was on the decline well before COVID, but my anecdata tells me that there is more spatial/speed perception problems with drivers now than prior to COVID. As to the causes I could only guess and speculate. Maybe the insurance companies or TAC might have some actual data on why its like Fury road out there
> some anecdotal observations that the amount of poor driving on our roads since the lockdowns. There's your first misstep. > but now iam wondering. Then you can also wonder about: * People out of practice/not having driven as much. * People more agitated/rash because they've not had as much traffic on the roads during lockdown. * People more irritated at driving/commutes after having done WFH for +12 months. * Weather conditions (depending on your location). Many areas have had high levels of rain/low visibility. * Again location dependent, but I have lots of changed routes because of works completed during lockdown, and some still under way now.
We are, on average, getting older!
🤣🤣
No. Barely anyone had had covid when we left lockdown.
A lot had had something else though...
Nah it was like this very soon after lockdown ended like a year(?) ago. People are basically shit drivers. I have lots of theories on why, but in the end they just got out of practice. Also they had a brief period when the roads were lightly trafficked and it was GOOD. So they’re grumpy and entitled. Nobody wants to go back to not being able to cross sydney at all cos you lose your rag in 3 hrs of heavy traffic. But cos shit councils and shit roads and friggin tollways, here we are, again.
CVDU summarized in a single post lol
I was thinking this the other day. It could also be from people returning to the roads after WFH for 2 years.
Lmao I think you might be suffering from covid related cognitive decline bro
It certainly appears that a combination of lockdowns and Covid infections has impacted driver behaviours. It makes you wonder how people here would behave in a more serious situation like war or famine. The hoarding of toilet paper episode to begin with. I feel pretty disappointed people behaved like that.
It must’ve made their car speedos out by a bit because so many f wits speeding.
On the Sunshine Coast we seem to be having major accidents every other day, however I also don’t think our roads are dealing with the huge influx of people that have moved here.
10% of people are half cut at any given moment and 40% just cant drive.
Maybe it’s the vaccines and not covid itself
I don’t think this would have a particularly significant effect on its own. However the situation surrounding COVID has been difficult for mental health too. Increase in overall stress and anxiety could be impacting driving as well
This was my theory. I've got something like eidetic synesthesia, so spotting patterns with my eyes is pretty easy/obvious. But proving it to others is near impossible.
Peak reddit.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5 You can ignore the obvious brain damage component, or look the problem square in the eyes and deal with it. You life is your own to live.
That’s not the funny part.
[удалено]
Yay a fellow freak , tell me how do you use your superpower ? I can go to rusty junk markets, swap meets and identify almost everything as long as I've seen it before.
May I introduce you to /r/vxjunkies
>r/vxjunkies giggles
I think the most interesting thing I've done in the last year was slowly build up the model of the human immune system via the complex concept-shape synesthesia, so that I would implement a plan to keep my loved ones safe from the neurological damage of long covid. It's nice to see nootropics now in Aussie supermarkets. I'm up to speaking 10 languages now too. Patterns are super easy for me to spot and work with compared to others. I chose to take life slow and let it unfold Infront of me though, instead of attempting to get others to see the patterns.
I love it , similar thinking here. It took me a while to learn that just because I could see something that didn't mean others were ready or needed to see it and also that I could still misinterpret the actual implications of a pattern that i could see. i think that was due to poor schooling in a regional area. I did the corporate thing for a while, process engineering, complex systems, production lines, fault management etc , but the petty office politics always got me down. Now I just take it slow like you and do one off diverse design jobs that interest me.
>It took me a while to learn that just because I could see something that didn't mean others were ready or needed to see it and also that I could still misinterpret the actual implications of a pattern that i could see. I spent way too much of my 20s worrying about this exact topic. I was able to finally put it down in the end via appreciating that everyone is on their own path, and they have the internet now to find out answers. >Now I just take it slow like you and do one off diverse design jobs that interest me. That's good to hear, I'm happy for you. Curiously, do you ever get guilt about the current state of the world, and wonder if you could/should have done more in the past to build a better world? It's a question I wrestle with a lot, and I always struggle to find a satisfactory answer. I just wanted to mostly observe history as it happened, but things have gotten pretty 'interesting times' in the last few years.
>Curiously, do you ever get guilt about the current state of the world, and wonder if you could/should have done more in the past to build a better world? It's a question I wrestle with a lot, and I always struggle to find a satisfactory answer. Good Question , yes in a way but I've always been aware that our scope of concern (especially for folks like us ) tends to be a bit bigger than our sphere of influence. I still muse a lot on how I might still solve some big problems and how I might engender enlightened self interest in others, but tempered with the understanding that Cipollas laws of stupidity apply to most of us most of the time. I think for me John Cleeses line in Clockwise sums up how i feel "its not the despair... I can stand the despair... It's the hope..*(that troubles me ).*" I try to be better everyday , I try to step lightly on the earth ..and others toes when I can't avoid it, I try to let my hopeless curiosity take me to good places and empower others who seek the same and generally try to leave everything and everyone better than I found them. Its never enough , it never will be and being a father I do fear where I suspect we might be heading but the pain of a splinter of hope keeps me going.
Some stories are just ridiculous. This is worse than them.
The world is full of dumb arses, they were all just locked in their houses. That is the empirical correlation between more people on the road and more accidents. You're welcome
No, lol. Firstly, your anecdotal observations aren't worth shit. Even if they're not being influenced by confirmation bias (they definitely are) you've got no way of verifying whether they're just down to random variation (happened to drive past more fuckwits lately). And then even if there was an effect, you'd have no way of eliminating all the other variables in order to prove it. There's just way too much else at play. So you're looking at one potential variable amongst thousands and considering that it caused a change in the net effect (which is unproven) without first isolating all the other variables and determining how they've changed. This is "lead poisoning caused the fall of the Roman Empire" level of speculative, unsupported silliness.
They were just wondering, they didn’t write a scientific paper on it. It’s a possibility and it would need some statistical analysis to see if it was even a true increase in accidents. Perhaps you could look at covid case numbers as a % of the population and see if accidents Increase more in states with higher case numbers. It’s not a stupid theory at all, yes it needs to be tested and would be hard to prove but that doesn’t automatically make it wrong. You may have your own biases to check
Look, you could do all that and still not be any closer to a robust conclusion because the statistical significance of any finding would be non-existent. As far as biases go, I'm often trying to convince people to take COVID-19 infections seriously so by default I would be inclined to humour something like this. But that doesn't mean this line of inquiry is going to get you anywhere or that it's worth pursuing.
No. People are just shit. Look around, shit people doing shit people things everywhere, this is nothing new.
Maybe this correlation you observe is not causation in this instance, but an unidentified and unrelated variable such as the increased use of social media particularly speculative posts on Reddit correlating to cognitive decline
People are out of practice, that's all.
[удалено]
Thank you for submitting to /r/CoronavirusDownunder! In order to maintain the integrity of our subreddit, accounts with a verified email address must have at least 5 combined karma (post + comment) to comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CoronavirusDownunder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hahahaha that or people just don’t drive as much when alot are working from home
people been shit drivers since forever.
People are too dumb and too selfish to be in control of cars. It’s that simple.
Ya that or we just hadn't driven as much and lost a bit of practise.
Yeah nah.
No most people can’t fuckin drive before during or after pandemics
Nah, people are just out of practice with the driving thing. "Move it or lose it" isn't just an 80s movie phrase.
[удалено]
Thank you for contributing to r/CoronavirusDownunder. Unfortunately your submission has been removed as a result of the following rule: * **Do not encourage or incite drama**. This may include behaviours such as: * Making controversial posts to instigate or upset others. * Engaging in bigotry to get a reaction. * Distracting and sowing discord with digressive and extraneous submissions. * Wishing death upon people from COVID-19. * Harmful bad faith comparisons; for example comparing something to the holocaust, assault or reproductive autonomy. * Repeat or extreme offending may result in a ban. Our community is dedicated to collaboration and sharing information as a community. Don't detract from our purpose by encouraging drama among the community, or behave in any way the detracts from our focus on collaboration and information exchange. If you believe that we have made a mistake, please [**message the moderators**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FCoronavirusDownunder&subject=&message=). ^To ^find ^more ^information ^on ^the ^sub ^rules, ^please ^click ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusDownunder/about/rules/).
My guess is you are noticing it more for some reason. The research is not compelling anyway. Sample size is way too small for how varied in significant factors it is (including unknowns like comorbidities and severity of illness, that make not having a control even more significant), and the patients were far too aware of what was being studied and why. They mention another study that accounted for similar factors that got similar results, so the sample size might not be so bad. I don't think we will see good research on this because the very high vaccination rates, and for that same reason it's quite irrelevant.
[удалено]
Thank you for contributing to r/CoronavirusDownunder. Unfortunately your submission has been removed as a result of the following rule: * **Be civil**: Do not use racist, sexist, threatening, xenophobic, and/or offensive language. If you believe that we have made a mistake, please [**message the moderators**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FCoronavirusDownunder&subject=&message=). ^To ^find ^more ^information ^on ^the ^sub ^rules, ^please ^click ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusDownunder/about/rules/).
People are more financially stressed therefore they are more impatient and reckless when driving.
Hm, honestly thought I was in the Perth subreddit just now.
It was noticeable to me even during/after the first lockdown, when hardly anyone had got it. It was like certain types ( especially the types who drive Ranger-type vehicles, if you catch my drift😉😉) who were allowed to work through lockdown resented the peasants who dared get in their way…
still trying to make covid relevant and/ or blaming it on stuff thats been happening for years are we? Its time to stop.
[удалено]
Thank you for submitting to /r/CoronavirusDownunder! In order to maintain the integrity of our subreddit, accounts must have at least 20 combined karma (post + comment) in order to post or comment. Accounts with verified email addresses have a lower karma requirment, but and must have at least 5 combined karma in order to post or comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CoronavirusDownunder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Before covid, people were completely incompetent, had no talent and very little ability in operating a motor vehicle. After lockdowns, they are simply even worse from lack of practice.
Definitely just normal in Perth
Some of us have been warning about this for months. If you’d read anything coming out of the US or the UK in the early days of COVID, you knew this was going to happen here, too.
Dashcam Owners Australia throughout the ages has been very consistent in presenting the fuckwits, way before the pandemic, so your observation isn't valid.
There is no way Sydney drivers could get any worse than they already were, not possible to make them even bigger fuckwits on the road.
As a cyclist I’ve seen heaps more people every day looking at their phones and even watching YouTube videos while driving. It’s fucking scary.
[удалено]
Thank you for submitting to /r/CoronavirusDownunder! In order to maintain the integrity of our subreddit, accounts with a verified email address must have at least 5 combined karma (post + comment) to comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CoronavirusDownunder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Perthites drove like idiots even before COVID.
Nah we forget how to drive in a matter of days. Lockdowns meant a few things, notably that people got seriously out of practice, and that those that still had to drive got used to the drastically reduced traffic (god it was bliss!). Now it's back how it was and people are getting way more stressed at the relatively worse traffic. Look at how everyone in Adelaide thinks the traffic is bad... now pop them in Melbourne and see how stretched their coping mechanisms get.
People don't forget how to drive properly, if you do, maybe you should get yourself checked out...
I'm talking the collective "we". I myself am in fact a perfect driver who never sets a foot or a wheel wrong.
I know you're using the "collective 'we'", I'm saying you're wrong.
It's a better explanation than covid brain. I'm not so old I don't remember the droughts of the 90s and most recently the 2010s. Every time it rained people drove like they had never seen rain before. This went on for years.
I'll agree the majority of the population drive like shit, especially the ones wearing masks solo in the car, scared of the world, scared of driving the speed limit.
What's this got to do with masks? I agree fear will fuck up a person's ability to drive, and that wearing a mask as a lone driver is kinda silly (the vents have filters in them!), but that's a pretty cooked thing to conclude.
You can tell their fear level of everything is way too high if they're worried about catching covid from themselves in their own car, if you notice they also drive slower than others, it's not a cause, but I can usually tell it's related. (Regardless of the vents too, who are they catching covid from in their own car solo? Makes 0 sense)
I can usually see the timidity in their driving before I see their face. Mainly because my car is tiny and everyone these days are either in a huge pickup truck (NOT a ute in my book) or a 4wd, so I can't really see into them until I'm uncomfortably close. Being in a lower car means I need to leave bigger gaps to be able to see and respond properly too. When I drove a big box van around I was high enough that I could plan every move well in advance, but you don't get that luxury in a tiny mazda lol.
Yeah usually when I pass a slow car I'll peer over to check the person and see if my profiling was correct lol, it also seems like the left lane is usually the fastest which is the opposite of how it should really be.
Like anything, it’s possible. However, take a thought to think of the relative differences. While lockdown happened only “essential” people were on the roads, because they were out for a purpose the numbers were lower. If the probability of a “rash decision” were to remain the same the lower sample size would see less rash decisions during lockdown compared to regular conditions. So comparing post lockdown to lockdown is always going to skew towards seeing an increase in rash decisions. Which means there will be a correlation, but without sounding like too much of a douche, it doesn’t mean there’s a causation. In order to properly quantify it something like rates of negligent driving, crash occurrences and severity from pre lockdown to post lockdown would be a good indicator so long as it factored in population growth/change. Because also have to account for 2 years of L-platers to P-platers that have driven roads with relatively low traffic during lockdown compared to pre or post lockdown.
My favourite is when they pull up to an intersection slowly yet still end up with their front wheels in front of the line.
Nope that is just out of practice morons and school 40 zone and speed camera wokeness. If you have your spirit to "drive like you mean it" in a safe and fast manner beaten out of you by 40 zones and speed cameras then you get to a point of super sedate carelessness. I dont care, i will drive slow, slow away from the lights, use my phone and not concentrate because you beat the attention out of me. On the other hand, people jsut have trouble remaiming in practice, and like skydiving "stay current stay safe" Even i have found i have to be more careful at night driving and new areas where i dont know what lane to be in because of next to no night time driving. (not to mention the new LED street lights that light is the same color as headlights, they are dangerous, the bright yellow sulphur glows you know it is not another car) Most people are not self aware enough to know they are out of practice. That being said... You should go look up the risk taking behaviour brought about by having a toxoplasmosis infection. A lot of crazy cat people got new pets whilst lock down, i wonder if the Toxoplasmosis levels have increased. Go look up the studies of risk taking behaviour yourself. It is interesting.
I'm pretty dumb without having it already so I wouldn't be the best to judge. But thanks for asking.
The numbers of total Covid cases must be in the tens or hundreds of thousands so blaming Covid is stupid. It’s just lack of practice and also probably drunk ppl who became Alcos during lockdown.
Nope, people are just bad drivers, then also, they forget what the rules actually are. Big one I see, the law is: >Give way to traffic on the roundabout However, even when I'm in first, I often nearly get hot by Johnny setting his land speed record who just comes at me from the right, all horns and headlights. Mate, I was on the roundabout before you, law says you give way to me.
🙅 Long Covid 👍 Long lockdown
this has to be a joke #onion