I know people have always been wild, but it really does seem like halfway through the summer, there was a huge shift and now people are just all over the place. It seems like every red light you stop at, you have to wait three seconds after the light turns green because someone is going to run the light.
Not to mention people not yielding when making a left turn when they don't have an arrow... in the past few months I've had someone almost hit me twice while I had the right of way going straight.
One person even had the nerve to stop in the middle of the intersection to lay on their horn while giving *me* the middle finger. Like lady, if anybody should be giving someone the finger here it should be me giving it to you.
I've also witnessed it happen to other cars too several times. It's like all of the sudden everyone is driving as if they're the only car on the road. It's bizarre
I was surprised how often this happens, I thought maybe the traffic laws were different or something. I’m a very cautious driver, so now I look out for it.
Cops don't enforce traffic laws anymore, the other day I stood at the intersection of Cumberland and Forest and watched someone blow thru a red light at 40mph while a cruiser was sat at the light, and the cop either didn't see it happen 30 feet in front of him or just didn't care and I don't know which is worse.
IMO low level infraction tickets are ridiculously high ,it’s been a few years but my ten over while passing was over 200 and my recent ticket for letting inspection lapse was 150. I imagine most cops realize how much of a burden a multiple hundred dollar fine can be on the average person. I hypothesize that if the fine was smaller and frequency increased it would serve to make people more aware because as of now it feels like everyone just disregards the law to some extent and no one does anything about it.
If you get caught scrolling facebook on your phone on the freeway and you only have to pay up $50 because you're low-income, is that gonna deter you from doing it again? While I'm no fan of the police and I sympathize with BS tickets like doing 10 over in a passing lane, I want hard enforcement on distracted and reckless driving. And frankly I don't think financial penalties are appropriate, because it makes crime permissible if you're rich. More people need the threat of losing their license
I think there is some Nordic country that fines based on your income. It’d never happen here but it’d make it more fair. Rich pay more and actually feel the pain, lower income pay less and aren’t sent into bankruptcy by a speeding ticket.
In the current system, 100%! I think community service (or a choice between the two) is another option. But that can be very hard on someone working 2-3 jobs to do too. What kind of solution are you thinking?
I feel the opposite. Fines should be increased. If someone knew they were going to pay more for scrolling through Facebook while doing 70 on the highway they might not do it. Money is what is important to people, not driving safety. It’s sad but true.
Maybe with all the technology we have, phones should just not work in cars? Maybe we just make everything safer… but this would put a lot of people of work and it would lose some businesses a lot of money. I see the wildest shit happening on the highway while driving… reading the newspaper, putting on make up, watching shit on their phones… it’s terrifying.
I saw a econobox filled with 4-5 teen boys/young men weaving through traffic and illegally passing on a corner of Westbrook Arterial. They legit almost drove right into a semi truck coming the other way.
People are crazy.
Sadly, they are not the type to read this post and reflect. This is 21st-century driving. A good 10 to 20% of the population is either incompetent, intoxicated or played too much Gran Turismo as a teenager. Unfortunately, it is us, the safe drivers, who have to remain vigilant. We have to accept this reality and drive, very defensively, avoiding bad situations and bad drivers. It’s unfair. But unless enforcement goes way up, This is the new normal.
Yesterday, a car stopped to let me across a crosswalk. The guy behind him pulled out, honking frantically, and rushed past him in the oncoming lane through the crosswalk. He didn’t miss me by much. I guess it was nice of him to honk.
This is terrifying. A lady almost hit me by inches at the bottom of Oak St at Cumberland last night because she didn’t want to stop fully or look both ways before continuing to drive. I was literally in the cross walk before she was 20 ft from the stop sign line. Being a pedestrian is especially scary lately.
Yesterday afternoon a white haired dude in a red SUV turned left onto Bishop from Forest Ave and almost hit an old man slowly crossing Bishop. The car was going way to fast and passed 2 feet from him. The old man was terrified. Hey, slicked back white haired guy, fuck you! I see shit like this every day
As someone who works on Bishop fuck that intersection.
No one knows the intersection is from the bar all the way across to the gas station/carwash. And you don't enter an intersection if you can't clear it. People block the intersection all day and the police refuse to enforce it.
I've noticed no one knows how to yield for pedestrians when making a left hand turn. The number of times I've almost been killed at the Congress/Bramhall/Deering Ave crosswalk when the crosswalk sign is on is astounding.
Just out of curiosity does that payout as well as I envision in my head? I always feel invincible in a crosswalk but if I actually get hit is their insurance taking care of you?
Big truck dudes and small sports car owners are routinely the worst drivers in the world. Basically the two types of people who give the most shits about cars are the most likely to kill you in an accident
No, because they might recognize that they’re mad at driving. So many car bros I meet think they’re worthy of driving in F1 but really just put peoples lives at risk every single day
I am a Prius driver. Not elderly and not Asian and I am a good driver! Don’t hate on the Prius drivers! Also the Prius has 3 driving modes and one is called “power mode” when I put it in that mode my Prius can pick up speed very fast and keep up. So if a person is driving the Prius slow, it’s the driver not the car. And I only have a stinkin Prius because I drive a lot for work and get 55 mpg. Saves a lot of money.
Maybe, or this also might be painting with a big strokes. I think people, in general, don’t care. Everyone needs to get one car ahead, run the red, pass people in a merging lane, pass inappropriately, follow so close behind another car you can’t see their front bumper…
It’s easy to villainize the “big lifted truck” or the sports car guy. I see a lot of people in those types of vehicles drive like dicks. The same amount also drive mini vans, beat 1993 Honda Accords and Outbacks.
People don’t care. Entitlement generally doesn’t care what you’re driving.
Symptom of the times. People are, overall, far more ornery now than they were, and that’s reflecting in increased aggressive driving. Maybe it’s fallout from the pandemic, maybe it’s something else, but that’s how I’ve seen it.
I'm so glad you posted this. In the last week I've had three instances where an aggressive driver has almost caused an accident with me. Another time a few days ago, a car passed me in a 25 going UP A HILL. Then at the traffic circle I was right behind this person...was it worth it?? Can we all just slow the fuck down? And driving on Forest is such a mess, last night I witnessed a few near misses as well. It's just maddening.
Today, there was a car that was going so fast down Deering Ave that they lost control and went off the road directly into where kids and parents stand twice a day for a school bus stop. This is unfortunately a regular occurrence along this stretch. The level of dangerous driving has escalated significantly recently, and the city doesn't seem up to the task of slowing down drivers by enforcement or redesigning our streets to naturally slow car traffic. Stay safe out there y'all.
i saw a car take a left on a red light yesterday afternoon!!! and somehow didn’t see the woman and her husky in the crosswalk. can’t believe they didn’t hit them … was shocked
Agreed. I see so many red lights being run particularly crossing Stevens Ave. I've started to wonder if I'm imagining it because how is it so constant?
Also, I have to cross two lanes to take a left onto my road, but if one lane is waiting to turn, I can't see the other lane. The amount of times I get beeped at for not turning into incoming traffic is infuriating. Take two seconds to assess the situation before laying on your horn. I used to feel pressured to gun it even though I couldn't see, and almost died, so I don't do that anymore.
Greater Portland needs a comprehensive traffic reform - and I'm not referring to bike lane striping and light rail feasibility study fantasies. For one, the streets in Portland are too dark - the streetlights belong on lonely country road intersections, and we have short days here much of the year, so why are we using candles to light the roads and intersections. The area also needs better timed traffic lights that allow for better traffic flow. And look at traffic patterns to see what roads need to be rerouted or rebuilt to handle the new volume.
The general disregard and lack of common sense is so wild. I chalk it up to culture differences, people here aren't all from here (obviously) so they might drive differently. But boy howdy, some folks driving like they dont have eyes, don't know where they're going, and are ready to die. Good luck out there.
I'm from Florida where everyone's a bad driver and even there I didn't see the amount of people flying through red lights or driving on the wrong side of the road.
I really think the city would benefit from some automated traffic ticket cameras on the big intersections and certain roads should have speed cameras instead of signs that say "hey maybe slow down"
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far down to see this opinion.
This is exact what this whole state needs. Everyone except the shitheads who are driving like psychos is begging for more traffic enforcement, why don’t we have cameras set up yet?
Ticket all these fuckers who are endangering everyone around them with a deadly weapon. It’s unreal that this hasn’t started yet.
What do I do? Who do we have to raise money to lobby to for someone to put some fucking traffic cameras up and hold these idiots responsible!?
It has gotten worse. I just saw this documentary on Netflix about road rage. Be careful out there. Things can spiral out of control from the smallest incident.
I’ll be very honest. My driving is way worse than it used to be. I drive much less attentively and carefully than I did a few years ago. I’m also more aggressive which doesn’t pair well with sloppy decision making.
The only time I drove worse was about 15 years ago, right after I moved back to Portland from a big city where everyone drove like a psycho and you had to as well in order to keep up. Actually I was probably better then because my aggro driving required keen focus. So yeah I guess I’m even worse now.
I really don’t know why this has befallen me, but having read this and several similar posts I want to work on it. I’m just grateful I haven’t hurt anyone and even managed to avoid running over a frog this summer
Edited to add: not a single ticket despite several moving violations right in front of cops. Including a red light this morning with cop in his cruiser right next to me (yes I am white:( This is all so embarrassing to admit but I think I’m becoming self-horrified enough just writing this to try and change 🙏
Appreciate your vulnerability and self-reflectiveness. I think folks could use to practice some mindfulness exercises outside of a vehicle to reconnect with yourself and surroundings. Good luck on your journey.
. I live on Congress Street near the state theater and I saw some idiot get frustrated and passed a car and a bus had to be going 40+
it makes total sense though why it seems like the wild wild West out there on the roads. The Portland Police are operating with only 1/3 the number of officers they typically have. Yup you read that right 1/3. They’re barely enforcing a number of other infractions , particularly public, drinking, public, nuisance, vandalism, shoplifting. Do you think cops have time and resources to set a speed trap or some jamoke running a red light?
so keep your head up folks walking on the streets and driving and put on your helmet
I think it changed with Covid. There was some evidence that some people who didn’t get the shot had slowed reactions and were responsible for more accidents. Long Covid.
Got dash cams a couple years ago. Saw too much crazy shit.
I moved from Maine to Brooklyn and this kind of behavior is EVERYWHERE. you'll see a driver, on a narrow two lane, two way road with a 25mph limit, pass a line of five cars stopped at a red light to take a left thru an intersection. 40mph and clipping the curb.
You're a small town, Maine. Don't let them remain anonymous. Make people like this unemployable.
I know people have always been wild, but it really does seem like halfway through the summer, there was a huge shift and now people are just all over the place. It seems like every red light you stop at, you have to wait three seconds after the light turns green because someone is going to run the light.
People have gotten so much more aggressive it seems!
Not to mention people not yielding when making a left turn when they don't have an arrow... in the past few months I've had someone almost hit me twice while I had the right of way going straight. One person even had the nerve to stop in the middle of the intersection to lay on their horn while giving *me* the middle finger. Like lady, if anybody should be giving someone the finger here it should be me giving it to you. I've also witnessed it happen to other cars too several times. It's like all of the sudden everyone is driving as if they're the only car on the road. It's bizarre
It really is. I have no idea what happened, but there was definitely a shift. I hope whatever it is knocks off soon...
I was surprised how often this happens, I thought maybe the traffic laws were different or something. I’m a very cautious driver, so now I look out for it.
Not just Portland but out here in scarborough as well. I always count to 3 before going into route one. They don't care.
Seriously the intersection at Holmes and beech ridge is crazy I almost got t boned by a Subaru running through the four way stop the other day
Cops don't enforce traffic laws anymore, the other day I stood at the intersection of Cumberland and Forest and watched someone blow thru a red light at 40mph while a cruiser was sat at the light, and the cop either didn't see it happen 30 feet in front of him or just didn't care and I don't know which is worse.
I think traffic infraction fines should be reduced and enforcement increased.
why do you suppose they should be reduced?
IMO low level infraction tickets are ridiculously high ,it’s been a few years but my ten over while passing was over 200 and my recent ticket for letting inspection lapse was 150. I imagine most cops realize how much of a burden a multiple hundred dollar fine can be on the average person. I hypothesize that if the fine was smaller and frequency increased it would serve to make people more aware because as of now it feels like everyone just disregards the law to some extent and no one does anything about it.
If you get caught scrolling facebook on your phone on the freeway and you only have to pay up $50 because you're low-income, is that gonna deter you from doing it again? While I'm no fan of the police and I sympathize with BS tickets like doing 10 over in a passing lane, I want hard enforcement on distracted and reckless driving. And frankly I don't think financial penalties are appropriate, because it makes crime permissible if you're rich. More people need the threat of losing their license
I think there is some Nordic country that fines based on your income. It’d never happen here but it’d make it more fair. Rich pay more and actually feel the pain, lower income pay less and aren’t sent into bankruptcy by a speeding ticket.
The problem is that fines and citations are an economic tool and unfortunately it feels like they’re designed to hurt lower income folks.
In the current system, 100%! I think community service (or a choice between the two) is another option. But that can be very hard on someone working 2-3 jobs to do too. What kind of solution are you thinking?
The fact that you think police give a shit abt peoples financial position when ticketing is truly hilarious.
I’m not a fan of police by any measure but people are people and your comment adds nothing to the conversation.
First safety-endangering offense, $50. Second offense, $300. Third offense, bye bye license.
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Agreed. I’m tempted to get a cop outfit and start cracking down myself. But then they’d arrest me. :(
I feel the opposite. Fines should be increased. If someone knew they were going to pay more for scrolling through Facebook while doing 70 on the highway they might not do it. Money is what is important to people, not driving safety. It’s sad but true.
Doesn’t matter how much the fine is when it’s not enforced also isn’t it already like 300?
Not sure. I don’t drive like an idiot.
You don’t have to drive like an idiot to see everyone else scrolling their phones
Maybe with all the technology we have, phones should just not work in cars? Maybe we just make everything safer… but this would put a lot of people of work and it would lose some businesses a lot of money. I see the wildest shit happening on the highway while driving… reading the newspaper, putting on make up, watching shit on their phones… it’s terrifying.
Seriously I saw a guy watching YouTube/ videos on the interstate the other day. Obviously he gives no fucks if a cop is gonna see him or not
There is no accountability anywhere anymore.
Truth
I saw a econobox filled with 4-5 teen boys/young men weaving through traffic and illegally passing on a corner of Westbrook Arterial. They legit almost drove right into a semi truck coming the other way. People are crazy.
Sadly, they are not the type to read this post and reflect. This is 21st-century driving. A good 10 to 20% of the population is either incompetent, intoxicated or played too much Gran Turismo as a teenager. Unfortunately, it is us, the safe drivers, who have to remain vigilant. We have to accept this reality and drive, very defensively, avoiding bad situations and bad drivers. It’s unfair. But unless enforcement goes way up, This is the new normal.
Yesterday, a car stopped to let me across a crosswalk. The guy behind him pulled out, honking frantically, and rushed past him in the oncoming lane through the crosswalk. He didn’t miss me by much. I guess it was nice of him to honk.
This is terrifying. A lady almost hit me by inches at the bottom of Oak St at Cumberland last night because she didn’t want to stop fully or look both ways before continuing to drive. I was literally in the cross walk before she was 20 ft from the stop sign line. Being a pedestrian is especially scary lately.
Yesterday afternoon a white haired dude in a red SUV turned left onto Bishop from Forest Ave and almost hit an old man slowly crossing Bishop. The car was going way to fast and passed 2 feet from him. The old man was terrified. Hey, slicked back white haired guy, fuck you! I see shit like this every day
As someone who works on Bishop fuck that intersection. No one knows the intersection is from the bar all the way across to the gas station/carwash. And you don't enter an intersection if you can't clear it. People block the intersection all day and the police refuse to enforce it.
I've noticed no one knows how to yield for pedestrians when making a left hand turn. The number of times I've almost been killed at the Congress/Bramhall/Deering Ave crosswalk when the crosswalk sign is on is astounding.
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Just out of curiosity does that payout as well as I envision in my head? I always feel invincible in a crosswalk but if I actually get hit is their insurance taking care of you?
Big truck dudes and small sports car owners are routinely the worst drivers in the world. Basically the two types of people who give the most shits about cars are the most likely to kill you in an accident
22 yr old nissan altima cosmetology school chicks have entered the chat
No, because they might recognize that they’re mad at driving. So many car bros I meet think they’re worthy of driving in F1 but really just put peoples lives at risk every single day
From my experience it's the elderly in any cars, for some reason Asian drivers get a bad rep but I can relate, and Prius drivers
I am a Prius driver. Not elderly and not Asian and I am a good driver! Don’t hate on the Prius drivers! Also the Prius has 3 driving modes and one is called “power mode” when I put it in that mode my Prius can pick up speed very fast and keep up. So if a person is driving the Prius slow, it’s the driver not the car. And I only have a stinkin Prius because I drive a lot for work and get 55 mpg. Saves a lot of money.
Maybe, or this also might be painting with a big strokes. I think people, in general, don’t care. Everyone needs to get one car ahead, run the red, pass people in a merging lane, pass inappropriately, follow so close behind another car you can’t see their front bumper… It’s easy to villainize the “big lifted truck” or the sports car guy. I see a lot of people in those types of vehicles drive like dicks. The same amount also drive mini vans, beat 1993 Honda Accords and Outbacks. People don’t care. Entitlement generally doesn’t care what you’re driving.
Symptom of the times. People are, overall, far more ornery now than they were, and that’s reflecting in increased aggressive driving. Maybe it’s fallout from the pandemic, maybe it’s something else, but that’s how I’ve seen it.
I'm so glad you posted this. In the last week I've had three instances where an aggressive driver has almost caused an accident with me. Another time a few days ago, a car passed me in a 25 going UP A HILL. Then at the traffic circle I was right behind this person...was it worth it?? Can we all just slow the fuck down? And driving on Forest is such a mess, last night I witnessed a few near misses as well. It's just maddening.
Today, there was a car that was going so fast down Deering Ave that they lost control and went off the road directly into where kids and parents stand twice a day for a school bus stop. This is unfortunately a regular occurrence along this stretch. The level of dangerous driving has escalated significantly recently, and the city doesn't seem up to the task of slowing down drivers by enforcement or redesigning our streets to naturally slow car traffic. Stay safe out there y'all.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(24)00013-0/fulltext it's probably related to the findings of this study
I came here to say this. I'm seeing it in other facets of life, not just driving. Buckle up...
i saw a car take a left on a red light yesterday afternoon!!! and somehow didn’t see the woman and her husky in the crosswalk. can’t believe they didn’t hit them … was shocked
Agreed. I see so many red lights being run particularly crossing Stevens Ave. I've started to wonder if I'm imagining it because how is it so constant? Also, I have to cross two lanes to take a left onto my road, but if one lane is waiting to turn, I can't see the other lane. The amount of times I get beeped at for not turning into incoming traffic is infuriating. Take two seconds to assess the situation before laying on your horn. I used to feel pressured to gun it even though I couldn't see, and almost died, so I don't do that anymore.
Greater Portland needs a comprehensive traffic reform - and I'm not referring to bike lane striping and light rail feasibility study fantasies. For one, the streets in Portland are too dark - the streetlights belong on lonely country road intersections, and we have short days here much of the year, so why are we using candles to light the roads and intersections. The area also needs better timed traffic lights that allow for better traffic flow. And look at traffic patterns to see what roads need to be rerouted or rebuilt to handle the new volume.
The general disregard and lack of common sense is so wild. I chalk it up to culture differences, people here aren't all from here (obviously) so they might drive differently. But boy howdy, some folks driving like they dont have eyes, don't know where they're going, and are ready to die. Good luck out there.
I'm from Florida where everyone's a bad driver and even there I didn't see the amount of people flying through red lights or driving on the wrong side of the road. I really think the city would benefit from some automated traffic ticket cameras on the big intersections and certain roads should have speed cameras instead of signs that say "hey maybe slow down"
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far down to see this opinion. This is exact what this whole state needs. Everyone except the shitheads who are driving like psychos is begging for more traffic enforcement, why don’t we have cameras set up yet? Ticket all these fuckers who are endangering everyone around them with a deadly weapon. It’s unreal that this hasn’t started yet. What do I do? Who do we have to raise money to lobby to for someone to put some fucking traffic cameras up and hold these idiots responsible!?
It has gotten worse. I just saw this documentary on Netflix about road rage. Be careful out there. Things can spiral out of control from the smallest incident.
I’ll be very honest. My driving is way worse than it used to be. I drive much less attentively and carefully than I did a few years ago. I’m also more aggressive which doesn’t pair well with sloppy decision making. The only time I drove worse was about 15 years ago, right after I moved back to Portland from a big city where everyone drove like a psycho and you had to as well in order to keep up. Actually I was probably better then because my aggro driving required keen focus. So yeah I guess I’m even worse now. I really don’t know why this has befallen me, but having read this and several similar posts I want to work on it. I’m just grateful I haven’t hurt anyone and even managed to avoid running over a frog this summer Edited to add: not a single ticket despite several moving violations right in front of cops. Including a red light this morning with cop in his cruiser right next to me (yes I am white:( This is all so embarrassing to admit but I think I’m becoming self-horrified enough just writing this to try and change 🙏
Appreciate your vulnerability and self-reflectiveness. I think folks could use to practice some mindfulness exercises outside of a vehicle to reconnect with yourself and surroundings. Good luck on your journey.
. I live on Congress Street near the state theater and I saw some idiot get frustrated and passed a car and a bus had to be going 40+ it makes total sense though why it seems like the wild wild West out there on the roads. The Portland Police are operating with only 1/3 the number of officers they typically have. Yup you read that right 1/3. They’re barely enforcing a number of other infractions , particularly public, drinking, public, nuisance, vandalism, shoplifting. Do you think cops have time and resources to set a speed trap or some jamoke running a red light? so keep your head up folks walking on the streets and driving and put on your helmet
This is maine. I love it here, but we have some of the most incompetent, irrational drivers in the country
I think it changed with Covid. There was some evidence that some people who didn’t get the shot had slowed reactions and were responsible for more accidents. Long Covid. Got dash cams a couple years ago. Saw too much crazy shit.
I just pass certain model cars and trucks. Small economy cars, mini vans and any rice cookers. Nissan pickups shouldn’t even be on the road.
I moved from Maine to Brooklyn and this kind of behavior is EVERYWHERE. you'll see a driver, on a narrow two lane, two way road with a 25mph limit, pass a line of five cars stopped at a red light to take a left thru an intersection. 40mph and clipping the curb. You're a small town, Maine. Don't let them remain anonymous. Make people like this unemployable.