I thought people in the US drove like insane idiots long before the pandemic. Weaving in and out of lanes, excessive speeding, road rage over the slightest inconvenience and, the dumbest one to me because it is virtually effortless, failure to use turn signals. It's very easy to drive safely but a good chunk of divers seem to outright refuse.
Having said that, the data backs you up. 7% increase in per capita road fatalities in 2020. Then a 10.5% increase on top of that in 2021!
Why signal your intentions to your opponent like a chump? They'll just use that information against you to block you from changing lanes, or to duck into a parking lot row ahead of you in a crowded parking lot and steal that empty spot. /s
I've found that drivers vary tremendously in the US. The best average drivers I've been around were in the California Bay Area. Oregon drivers are generally out of it (left lane freeway camping always started the moment I crossed from CA into OR), and only moderately angry. Arizona had wildly incompetent "snow birds" in the winter and insanely aggressive road raging locals in the summer. I've heard that Boston and New Jersey are like Mad Max with potholes.
Driving like idiots compounded by lack of traffic enforcement as police budgets and staffing decline. I just moved away from a pretty decently sized city, and the police there didn't do any traffic enforcement at all. Not enough manpower to cover traffic and crime.
it's not that they don't have the resources, it's that police would rather racially profile people and only perform a traffic stop if they think they can illegally force a search to find or plant drugs.
Having said that, the data backs you up. 7% increase in per capita road fatalities in 2020. Then a 10.5% increase on top of that in 2021!