You sound like the opposite to a misanthrope; you believe in humanity and the fact that you see how people's behaviour is wrong shows you believe in standards of behaviour. As for being irritated - there will always be such people. Personally I choose to ignore them as far as possible. Gravitate towards better folk.

The fool who has to speed and tailgate. — Aleric

Tailgating is big one for me too. Traffic is a good window in to the human condition because it's so inclusive, and so anonymous.

I hear and share your pain. Can't offer much in the way of solutions, except we'll be outta here soon. :-)

Have you seen the movie 'God Bless America'? If you haven't, I think you might like it.
It offers a (somewhat unconventional) solution to the problem.

You do not sound at all like a misanthrope. 10% - 20% of people annoy you. Only 20%?

We are an inherently annoying species. Being annoyed by other people is not misanthropia; it is a sign of complete normality.

We the people are naturally, and of necessity, mostly wrapped up in our own busy internal worlds. Our brains are in a box and it often gets more sensory input than it can manage. It takes considerable patience, skill, effort and attention to look out into the world and track what other members of our species are doing, what they need (like adequate braking space between cars), what their limitations are (and how that relates to our own limitations--which are also difficult to keep track of), and so on and so forth.

In addition to all that, the world was surprisingly not created for our convenience. We are repeatedly appalled by how inconvenient life can be, and that's before other people get in our way.

And all this is on a good day.

Be glad you were born into a somewhat stable(?...) wealthy country where your grievances are minor. You're not typing from an arid internet cafe in Mauritania, are you? South Korea?

By our current expectations about conveniences, the past was a total shit show. A look at history should make us misanthropes, or reconcile to us how terrible we have been and will be in the future.

It seems to be a matter of common decency and respect for others. Something that neither the laws of the land nor ethics has much to say about.

It would seem that people just don't care or perhaps they just don't think. It is a problem of anonymity in a highly populated environment. I suspect in smaller communities where people knew each other this would be less of a problem.

Misanthropy may come in degrees. I mean outright hatred of one's own ilk, here humans, maybe the definition of misanthropy but I feel even a general dim view, a subdued attitude of disillusionment with humanity and the way people conduct themselves also qualifies as misanthropy.

With this broader definition, many may be misanthropes.

You are definitely a misanthrope or something else.

My guess would be...something else.

Being annoyed by other people is not misanthropia; it is a sign of complete normality. — Bitter Crank

I can't speak for the original poster, but my sense is that he is speaking to something which is particularly relevant to we philosopher-type folks. It certainly is to me.

We tend to want the world to be orderly and logical, because that's the kind of environment we feel naturally comfortable in. You know, what is a philosophy forum but an attempt to create a state of abstraction order? And so we are often disturbed when people do irrational disorderly things like tailgate.

Not everyone is so disturbed. In fact, most people just accept humanity as it is, because they don't have a built in bias for an experience of nerdy order. I envy them, but am not them, so like the original poster I dream of a home far from the crowd.

But ten acres isn't enough. The thing is, people move to the country so they can do whatever the F they want to do. I have a friend who gets up every other night, in the middle of the night, to shoot the varmits digging up his yard. His neighbors complain. He shrugs it off and keeps on shooting the varmits at 3am. That's the country for ya.

If ten acres was enough I'd already be there. But ten acres ain't enough. My current dream is to move to the Yukon, bigger than California, and only 35,000 people live there. Yep, as a life long Florida boy I'm a gonna just put on my flip flops and swimming trunks and hike right on up there. Wait, they said I might need a jacket, ok, that too, just in case.