In Australia it's socially acceptable to barge into people doing this, same with people two abreast on the escalator. Not everyone has the build to do it, but there are enough to largely keep those people in check. The music thing doesn't seem to happen much, but sometimes the TV thing does with kids. There is a plague of people constantly having conversations on their phones though, I don't feel bad about any music leaking from my headphones because it's needed to drown out their conversations.
> I hate when drivers "play chicken" with me at intersections. I've had drivers wave me forward to cross in front of them while they were still rolling. No thank you. You stop and I'll go, or you go and I'll wait (and to hell with right-of-way.)
I see this more on my push bike, I'm not waiting for them to stop, just to slow down a bit as an indication that they've seen me (a lesson learned the hard way). They're failure to do this slows both of us down.
Phones are a large part of it, and they are affecting all kinds of things: At bus stops people now try to get on the bus without waiting for the people getting off to exit first. It doesn't make any sense but they do it. And on every single bus there's at least one person watching TV or listening to (invariable bad) music without headphones.
So it's not just cars but car traffic is bad too.
A huge factor is the Lyft/Uber drivers. You see a lot of weird maneuvers and crazy shit these days, and it's almost always one of them. Some one is driving slow and turning their turn signals on and off? It's an uber driver looking for their pickup. Car camped in a crosswalk with no signals or blinkers? Uber driver. Etc...
I believe there's a bleed-over effect where people see others doing stupid shit and then they start to think that's the way things are and do stupid shit themselves. It becomes the new norm. I was bummed out to see the other day a police officer roll through a stop sign looking at his phone. He glanced up as he entered the intersection, at least. ;-(
People don't want to drive well.
I hate when drivers "play chicken" with me at intersections. I've had drivers wave me forward to cross in front of them while they were still rolling. No thank you. You stop and I'll go, or you go and I'll wait (and to hell with right-of-way.)
More topically, anyone who crosses the street without paying attention has a bit of a death wish or something. I doubt a fine is going to help much.