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Comment by csours | Hacker News Reader

Anecdote: The few times I've driven in the last couple weeks I've noticed at least one person driving like they forgot how to drive. I don't know if everyone is just amazed that the streets are empty, or if people really have forgotten how to drive or what, but it's very eerie.

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I noticed something similar. My theory is that the set of people who are unwilling to heed stay-at-home orders has a significant overlap with the set of people who are inattentive or reckless drivers. As a result, there is a disproportionate number of bad drivers still on the roads.

Anecdotal, but I've had to still go to work and many of the people I see driving are old, like 60+ (lots of gray hair/ wrinkles).

Corollary: The people who are willing to heed stay-at-home orders are more intelligent, and more intelligent people drive better.

When panic buying set in here in the UK a few weeks ago I was out driving with my wife and commented that people seemed to be driving very aggressively and impatiently. A few minutes later after making that comment, and saying I felt the same impulse, we passed a crash scene. Also a few days ago I drove past another crash scene with a car all smashed up at the front by the side of the road. I suspect people feel stressed and distracted, and particularly during panic buying a ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality set in a bit.

All anecdotal though, I’m sure the insurance numbers don’t lie, there must be many factors at play. I live in a dense urban area, so maybe there are locale specific effects.

Just a glimpse of why "public panic" is important to prevent.

Well at least Polish police has released numbers recently saying that in the last 2 weeks the number of accidents fell down, but the number of killed on the roads has stayed the same. Fewer people drive on the roads, but those that do drive more aggressively.

Also anecdotal: I have to admit I went down a one way road next to my house the other day. I have driven past it thousands of times. I needed to take the following turn. I got to the next intersection where the stop signs were facing the opposite way and was simply confused. Every time since that I’ve been hyper aware (hopefully) but it really only takes one mistake in a car to have a fatal accident and I’m very lucky no one was around when it happened.

What's your definition of "forgot how to drive"?

In my observation the standard deviation from mean and median speed has definitely increased but the number of discourteous interactions between drivers has sharply decreased. People are driving 60 in a 40 and 40 in a 60, taking exits from the left lane and passing people in the right lane. These would be inappropriate moves if the roads had the usual congestion on them but with the reduction in volume nobody seems to be inconveniencing anybody else (or causing close calls) so I guess it's fine.

Anecdote: Drove the other day around my small town and never exceeded the speed limit and was actually 5-10 MPH below whereas normally I'm 5-10 over. It was Sunday, I wasn't in a rush but the lack of other vehicles certainly changed my driving style.

Yeah, normally I feel pressured to go faster when there's a line of cars behind me.

It's likely because people pay less attention when the roads are empty.

I live in an area with aggressive drivers in the best of times. these last few weeks, it's been more like mad max everytime I get on the freeway. plenty of room to go as fast as you want in the left lane, but people are weaving across all three lanes at 95+ in their old civics.

I drove through Los Angeles at rush hour last week without slowing below 45 miles per hour at any point. It was like driving inside a pinball game where multiball had just been triggered.

The usual weavers were rocketing across all lanes, suddenly unimpeded by the usual dense line of cars. But you still had the occasional slowpoke traveling waaaay below the prevailing speed of traffic.

It was freaky to watch as the clock ticked over to 5:00 while rolling along the I-5 downtown at full speed. But it was also necessary to stay on alert because there were so many terrible drivers out and about.

I noticed a lot of people in BC are teaching their kids to drive as the roads are pretty empty. (You can tell because learners have to display a sign on the vehicle).

It's easy to let your mind wander and get lost in your thoughts when there is so much turmoil and uncertainty.

I went to work once on December 27th. I hadn't realized it was a holiday. Anyways the streets were pretty empty, & so of course the few cars there were were cruising along faster

Empty roads encourage speeding. Similar to how traffic can be slowed down by making narrower roads

Gig workers trying to switch apps and check for jobs while driving to drop off a gig will look like this sometimes. I wish they’d not do it, even if I’m grateful to them for doing their gigs.

This makes me worried for what happens when folks are getting back on the streets. Everybody will have forgotten how to drive properly, and have to get back into the habits.

it does trouble me, I don't know what to expect anymore (usually the flow of cars is a hint) and I also feel like the road belongs to me a bit

I suspect those people are always there, hence collisions occur.

Maybe they’re just easier to spot now?

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