Feb 26, 2022 3 min read

Hardly a week goes by when you don’t see disturbing video on a television newscast of a passenger having a meltdown on a commercial airliner, ranting and frothing and needing to be restrained, usually because they are required to wear a mask or endure some other ridiculously mild inconvenience.

Some observers have pointed to these unruly and boorish individuals as evidence that we’ve all kind of gone a little crazy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – isolation has made us set our best manners aside, and the anxiety and fear of the last couple of years have eaten away at our psyches and shortened our tempers.

For additional evidence, unfortunately, we can look to our streets and highways.

After years of significant declines, the number of traffic deaths in the United States has increased substantially over the last couple of years. Pennsylvania experienced a 9.7% uptick in fatalities in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the year before. Nationally, it shot up 12%, the largest increase in the four decades the U.S. Department of Transportation has been keeping track of data on fatal crashes. Vehicles and roads with better designs and enforcement of drunk driving laws had been lowering fatalities, and COVID-19 has been blamed for the increase.

Why? Over the last two years, drivers have apparently been getting increasingly aggressive.

Some of it can be put down to frustration, and some of it can apparently be the result of people believing, whether consciously or not, that the standard rules of everyday social interaction have been suspended amid the pandemic. More drivers have tested positive for drugs since 2020, and law enforcement in some locations reportedly became more lax in enforcement as case numbers surged, wanting to limit contact with strangers as much as possible. Other research has also shown higher levels of speeding and lower levels of seat belt use.

Mark Hallenbeck, who directs the Washington State Transportation Center at the University of Washington, told The New York Times, “There’s a portion of the population that is incredibly frustrated, enraged, and some of that behavior shows up in their driving. We in our vehicles are given anonymity in this giant metal box around us, and we act out in ways that we wouldn’t face to face.”

Amid the increase in overall traffic mayhem, there’s been a spike in pedestrian deaths. According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, the number of pedestrians killed by vehicles has climbed by 46% over the last 10 years.

The infrastructure bill signed by President Biden last year includes money that can be sent to states to help them redesign roads, lower speed limits, improve lighting and crosswalks. These would all undoubtedly help, but we also need to take a good, hard look at our own behavior behind the wheel. Do we sometimes follow a little too closely when we think the driver ahead of us is going too slowly? Are we too distracted by phones and other devices? Do we think, in our heart of hearts, that speed limits are meant for other drivers but not for us?

If we want to make our society less coarse and more civil, controlling how we behave behind the wheel would be a good place to start.