.... why should the MAGA Meathead Goons ?

Blaming everyone else for your shortcomings is the new and accepted normal.

And more power and performance while looking like the have a more aggressive face. All of that has to contribute to road rage. Off a car has lots of power and looks mean, wouldn’t it lead people to be angry? We need cars with more friendly faces and round head lights. No more scowling cowls

Don't know how old you are, but I remember cars from the 70's that you could just about land a helicopter on the hood. With 400+ Ci engines. Sold as family cars.

But post gas crunch when things shrank to save fuel to now.

Those old lights were mostly round. Those car faces didn’t look like they wanted to eat your. Note, almost every car has narrow, rectangular headlights, on a slight angle, and with accents that look like eyebrows in a scowl. Look at the front of a Mustang, Camaro, or other modern sports car or truck. Then look at the front of a 60s version of the same car. Which looks mean and which looks like fun?

1960s sports cars were styled in the front like many modern cars. What drives the style today is the drag coefficient and the need for daytime running lights.

Just depends on how far you let your imagination take you, I guess. Are the modern VW's with the cute eyelashes OK??

…blasts by a line of traffic 8-10 vehicles down a double solid lane; I’ve seen him have to squeeze into that traffic twice in the last month or so to avoid oncoming traffic.

It isn’t just MAGA though; it’s a remarkable amount of aggressive drivers lately. 70 is the new 55 on our local highways; winter weather or not.

Not sure what the answer is.

Until then; I hope we get there in on time; in one piece…

aggressive driver that was screaming at her and beeping, moving his vehicle toward her and she was intimidated enough to swipe a parked car. Really tough on young drivers to adapt to "today". I never saw this shit for over 40 years. Last ten, I've seen it multiple times a week.

to see it back in the late 70’s where I am. It’s much worse today because some of these people shoot at people as well, not just run you off the road or hit or yell at you.

had a road rage incident last week and the person shot died. It happened in the late evening where there are no cameras I am pretty sure, so no arrest made as of now.

I was on a 2 lane highway a few years back. Speed limit 55.
I have cruise set at 55 (worst case, 54) and a guy is so close I can see his hairline in my rear view mirror.
Traffic going the other way finally clears, and he jets past me. Flipped me off, quite assertively.
I got flipped off for going the speed limit!
BTW: over the next 5 miles to the next light (where the road goes to 4 lane) none of the other cars caught up to me.
It was just the one maniac.

Ugh, it’s damn scary out there. I just try to follow the rules, not piss off to many people and absolutely hate driving on Fridays.

Right turn is legal, not straight ahead...

Not as bad as Boston (nor nearly the population). Speed limits are ignored, stop lights and signs are ignored, and I should do a count of the mini-liquor bottles I find on the streets and byways.

I learned how to drive in the 1960s in NYC. Different time, different place. No 12 ft high pickups, 7 ft high vans, (w/no windows) and no one ever thought of "joining" a funeral procession to get through a red light.

Rec

This is happening in many parts of the planet

Come January 20th, a certain subset of the population is going to see all laws as being "optional"

to be sticking their heads in with possibly contagious folks during Covid and their patrols have never gone back to traffic law enforcement at the same levels as pre-Covid. I keep griping locally they should do unmarked car traffic enforcement task forces for all the nonsense that is increasing. You have a task force with 8 or 10 officers in unmarked non-police looking vehicles and hop around an area and folks start getting snagged and you publicize it folks will start to be more compliant. When I lived in WA state, they used vehicles seized in drug busts and such as they were free and didn't stand out as cop cars. They just added undercover sirens and lights and the radio/computer set-up.

They can stand outside the car and talk through the open window from short distance away, like normal people do. I get that they often like to perform informal searches that don't require probable cause or a warrant by sticking their heads inside to look around, but it's not required for them to do so.

dangerous procedures LE performs, and probably more dangerous now than anytime in our history due to the prevalence of firearms and mental illness.

You can’t shoot a virus, so they’re not going to bother with any situation in which they might get exposed.

Now, the assholes are armed.

Be careful out there.

I'm surprised GM or Ford haven't come out with SUVs that have three-foot spikes welded to the frame, or retractable 20mm cannon in the quarter panels.

I remember the "redneck window decoration" of a rifle rack installed in the back window of a pickup truck. In the 70's.

The problem is more about pistols easily accessible to the driver in a moment of rage.

A rifle is, in most areas, as easy to get (for an adult) as a pistol. Pistols were readily available in the 70's. Perhaps it's not the guns that are the problem, maybe it's the people...

Perhaps the driver can hold the rifle in his waist band at the ready?

Rifles in gun racks are not an issue.

You must have missed that. However, in answer to your post, a rifle that is at the ready in a rifle rack, and can be quickly deployed if the driver stops and gets out, is quite dangerous, as most rifle rounds will readily defeat car bodies/glass. A short barrel rifle, with collapsible stock, COULD be held across their lap, at the ready.

I made the point that there are more guns in circulation today. But, you want to talk about rifles. Whatever.

I pointed out there are more cars on the road today also, but that doesn't seem to matter to the discussion.

One that can shoot a good portion of the frontal view, and if possible, also behind you. It doesn't have to be the best one on the market, those tend to be unnecessary for most folks. I think mine cost $80, but I've seen them for as little as $40. It should never just be your word against theirs if something does happen. Just an idea.

I'm sorry this happened to you.

I currently use a Rove. Depending on budget, one can spend a lot of money on a known brand (Garmin, Cobra, etc). Since I'm in Florida, and the cam is mounted to the windshield in the sun, I don't expect to get 5 years of use out of it, so I go with a good, well reviewed choice that's far less expensive.

One thing I did do as part of my "research" was to go to YouTube and find dashcam crash compilation videos from North America. The cam displays will often have a brand/model label on the bottom of the video feed that's been uploaded. Nothing like a real-world application example to review.

And GOP and NRA deliver.

But I know for a fact people with dashboard cameras to capture road rage incidents are at an all time high.

what will they do? Dash cam sounds like the way to go, so it's actually documented.

But driver stupidity. Impatient people making left turns at red lights, turning from the wrong lane, speeding even when there is heavy traffic etc.

I dread even going to the grocery store or the pharmacy.

Most people are fine, business as usual. But there is a contingent that seems to think being obnoxious, overbearing and inconsiderate is some kind of flex move.

every time I do, I get the anger and the finger, I don't get it?

I drive five under the speed limit. I stay to the right and pull off if I see lots of cars behind me and let them go.
One time I stopped at a rest area and a gentleman came up to my window and asked if I knew what the speed limit was. I said yes I do, do you know what the speed minimum is. I said I was driving 10 over that. After I got out of my car and he saw me, he took off in a hurry.
This week we have had snowy, iced roads and I've seen tons of accidents because no one wants to slow down. Some really bad injuries.

"You're #1 in my book!"
"You're #1 in my book, too!!!"

All the crazies avoid a lane with a bus, and she could turn up the radio and enjoy her ride to work.

Drunk drivers tend to "safely" drive in the slow lane, but they use the wrong ramp, and now they're going the wrong way, in the fast lane...

Not exactly a recent phenomenon...

road and many seem to be in the "get oughta my way" mode. Speed limits mean nothing to many. Common courtesy is largely gone and there is no slack for elderly, student drivers, and folks like me who typically abide by the posted limit. I just see it as another sign of an intolerant culture.

Most notably anyone in a Charger or Challenger 😅🚗

There's hundreds of police videos of them trying to lead cops on a chase only to meet a grisly end because they had way more horsepower than driving skills...

Folks really need to learn to save it for the racetrack 😏