A ride to SFO is a chance to conduct very unscientific surveys. From a elevated position on the Marin Airporter, I can see how many drivers are using a smartphone, for example. (On a recent trip, half of drivers observed were either actively using a smartphone or had one where they could have been! That's up from 25% a few years ago)
But in what may have actually made the roads safer, a Waymo AV was seen easily and smoothly keeping up with the bus on one Friday evening rush hour. Drawing a conclusion from one observation is dangerous, I know.
Not to be persuaded on the inherent safety of AVs is an activist group that posted on TikTok how to disable AVs on the streets of San Francisco. They believe AVs are a menace, tools of big corporations… Their message, which has now gone viral, requests that you grab a traffic cone ("they're everywhere") and put it the hood of a AV. Like giving a bone to a pit bull, the AV changes from menacing to docile, puts its flashers on and just sits there.