Koyote

Just a cautionary note from someone who's been driving almost as long: this post seems dangerously close to the "Damn kids today" variety, in which we lament how much better things were in the 'good old days.'

I'm not sure that there's data on driving skills and courtesy, but there is data on motor vehicle crash death rates -- and those have come down significantly in the past 50 years. Now, that could be due somewhat (or mostly) to safer vehicles -- my family's '65 Mustang was pretty fun, but it was a deathtrap by modern standards. There's probably a study on that -- wait, here's one which shows a pretty significant impact. So perhaps accident death rates are going down despite poorer driving skills, merely because our vehicles are safer. Interesting.