Are people getting worse at driving?
I think as there are more cars on the roads, there will be proportionally more muppets who can't drive properly.
However, it doesnt explain it all. I live near south Manchester and traffic is pretty bad. We have had a series of new roads/roadworks/SMART (I know 
) motorway development ongoing for years now but people just seem unable to drive
I find "smart" motorways annoying but I stick rigidly to the speed limit whereas others seem to ignore it. I've encountered a few people online who took the overhead gantries with the speed limit in a red circle as "advisory" speed limits and then were upset when caught speeding. I think as there are changes happening, people need to be educated. A few months ago, I heard adverts on the radio advising drivers that if a motorway lane is closed, you must not drive in it. Took me as a surprise that people needed to be told.
They cant drive at the speed limit.
My longstanding bugbear is people who don't know what the NSL sign is for. On one route I used to travel along, there's a 40mph sign, then NSL for a few miles, then a 30mph sign. If you were unlucky, you were stuck behind a muppet doing 40mph throughout that whole route (yes even the 30mph bit) but they would flash you if you overtook because they were doing 40 and the limit on the single carriageway was 60mph.
People changing lanes.
My main pet peeve here is people not checking their blindspots, or not even considering other traffic. A few years back, I remember a van pulling out suddenly from the lefthand lane of a motorway because of a lorry ahead. They pulled out in front of a car who instinctively pulled out in front of me, rather than slow down and hit the brakes.
Matching speeds - pull onto the motorway at 60-70 mph, its much easier and safer than crawling on at 30-40 and forcing all traffic on the motorway to switch lanes or stand on the brakes. Also in this little section can I include the drivers who feel they have right of way joining the motorway? they dont. 
Agreed especially about drivers who do not realise a slip lane has a give way marking at the end - if there's no space to join, you stop and wait until it's safe to do so, rather than trying to force their way in.
Mobile phones - had to be mentioned, we all know the busy lights that only lets 5 cars through except someone was on their phone so no cars got through that time. Not as bad as it was due to the recent police efforts but still and issue
I'm always impressed people can spend £££ on the latest smartphone but can't fit a bluetooth unit for their flash car.
Also, roads in general. Subcontractors have ripped them up so many times some fall to pieces merely weeks after they are repaired. I see that budget increases are way behindf needs and so can only expect further deterioration and damage to my vehicle just on my commute to work.
I think if a company/subcontractors have ripped up a road and repaired it, and that repair is in need of repair within 24 months, it should be done free of charge by whoever ripped it up in the first place. Might concentrate minds if repairs cost twice as much.
I think part of the problem might be all of the road safety campaigns. Constantly banging on about how speed kills and not focusing on the standard of driving.
If you look at the DoT stats (for 2016), the greatest factor in accidents was
Driver error or reaction at
71%. This is stuff like failing to signal, poor manoeuvre, sudden braking or swerving, or not looking properly.
Exceeding the speed limit contributed to
5% of accidents.
>source<Problems 1 - 3 generates what I like to call the rat syndrome. People in vast numbers fighting for the same road space behave like rats. Hostility, resentment, trampling over each other and everyone's journey is more important than yours.
The infrastructure needs a massive overhaul but no one's spending any money on it.
Bad eye sight, particularly in the middle aged and older brackets, is left up to them to sort, but the DVLA should really be enforcing mandatory eye tests every 10 years, or hang your keys up quite frankly.
10 years is too far apart. Every 1-2 years would be better as eyesight can go from borderline good to borderline bad within twelve months.
5) Jesus, where do we even begin. Shoddy lane discipline, selfish lane hogging, selfish speed limit enforcing, creating their own gaps in traffic under the misguided belief that indicating = right of way, just stopping in the road for no reason, no indication, ridiculous tailgating, mobile phone use etc etc.
I have no idea where all this is coming from.
"Defensive" driving probably isn't taught well if at all. The other skills - as my driving instructor put it - once you've passed the test, you can drive however you want (he was talking about how there are no checks or assessments after passing your test to ensure standards are maintained).
Rarely nowadays do the Police have time to pull up people for crap driving, that and the fact that you hardly see them is another reason for falling standards.
I used to think people became rubbish drivers over time, that their skills slackened. Until I realised that if there's a police car around, everyone seems to drive properly. So they can drive properly but just can't be bothered.
Also many people people think they can do what they want.
I think that covers many aspects of life, not just driving!
Had to go into work this morning, the route takes you thru country roads no lighting. Nearly everybody going the other way had foglights on and full beam. None of them had to courtesy to dip until I passed. And whats the deal with foglights. Is it still illegal? I know you can code in the fogs as DRL etc but surely for most its an actual movement to switch them on. WHY????? Damn I'm getting old. 
My bugbear with this is people using fullbeams and/or foglights in the lightest of mist on the road. No proper fog where visibility is so poor you have to slow to a crawl. Just a light mist, no worse than a rainfall in terms of visibility. Then they forget to turn off the fogs (or maybe they just don't bother).
