The Chicago downtown driving experience, while not terrible like NYC, can be annoying because there are so many bad drivers about (Illinois licensing is very lax). There are drivers parked on bike lanes, drivers suddenly stopping and double parking, drivers not signalling or leaving their turn signals on without any intention of changing lanes. Couple that with out-of-town drivers from Wisconsin and Indiana who are unfamiliar with traffic patterns, anyone who spends a lot of time driving downtown is liable to build up a lot of resentment.
A few months ago I was on the highway and saw a Porsche cayenne driving safe and actually using turn signals. Honestly that is like spotting a unicorn.
In my first (and only) driving test in Chicago, the very first thing I did was roll the stop sign at the exit for the testing facility. Got a mild reprimand from the examiner, but passed the test.
If I had to do a road test I would have failed hard because of the number of fbombs I dropped at other drivers. Or I might have passed because of it. Hard to tell.
Also, don't get me started on the bikers they're, for the most part, are a menace to walkers and drivers.
Problem is most bikers don't wait 120 secs. So these things happen. [2]
[1] https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/publications/pdf_publicat...
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/6oh7qw/that_accide...
1. Jaywalking is rare % wise. Most of the time I see people who jaywalk, do so very carefully. The worst of pedestrians that I see are the ones who ignore pedestrian lights without reguard for traffic or the ones who stand in bike lines.
2. Most cyclists either weakly obey rules, or flat out disregard them. (weakly, as in they'll wait in the crosswalk or fail to yield to pedestrians) The majority of the time that I see a biker on the sidewalk (above 18, by law it's 12+ you're not allowed to bike on the sidewalk) I'll point out where the road is to them and the response is "fuck you".
But what does piss me off is nearly getting clipped by a biker on the sidewalk. I've never seen a person under 25 riding on the sidewalk. And for some reason it seems to be a guy with a beard and fixed gear bike.
I frequently see people from about 20-40s riding on the sidewalk. It's rare to see an under 12 or a senior citizen riding on the sidewalk. Although I did get told "fuck you" by a middle age guy when I pointed to where the road was. (He and his wife were riding on the sidewalk).
From my experience, it's rare to see a cyclist obey traffic laws. I'm just shocked to see them even use hand signals. (The better explanation for that is that I'm hallucinating it's that rare)
Typically taxi drivers are the worst with that behavior. I can understand giving a tap when someone isn't paying attention to a green light. But laying on the horn when no one is moving because traffic is backed up for three stop lights, fuck those people.