Hit-and-Run Comeuppance and More
Idiocy Meter
Asshole Meter
Before I talk about this post, I’d like to say that today my car was involved in a very minor hit-and-run in Beverly Hills. I was parked along the side of the street on Charleville when a lady in a blue Audi backed up into my car, got out to see a cracked license plate cover, and then got back in her car and drove away. My coworker happened to be walking to lunch when he saw this whole affair happen and took down her car’s info. Now folks, no matter how minor the damage, you don’t just drive away when you hit someone’s car. You just don’t, period. Now although there didn’t appear to be any damage other than a cracked frame, who knows what else this lady’s done behind the wheel that’s much worse than what she did today. And you can bet that the next time she gets pulled over (and I’ll put money on that she will sometime soon), this hit-and-run will appear on her record. The pathetic thing is if she had just sucked it up and left an apologetic note on my windshield with her info, I would have let the whole thing go. I mean seriously, how much is a license plate frame, anyway? 5 bucks? Before I continue, I will have to say that covered license plate covers are illegal, even though they sell them in practically every store that has auto supplies; I didn’t know this, and this was pointed out to me by the two BH cops that showed up to take make a report on this hit-and-run. Though they were slightly peeved for coming out for something so minor, they understood, as did I, that despite the inconsequential collision to my vehicle, the impact was hard enough for the woman to realize that she hit my car, and yet she still chose to drive away without leaving any contact information on my windshield. In the end, Karma awarded the time the cops spent to write up the report because right when they left the scene, they ended up pulling over a metallic slate blue Mustang that ran in front of a pedestrian in a pedestrian crosswalk half a block later. If there are any cops reading this post, definitely patrol this area around where Santa Monica and Wilshire intersect….I can’t tell you how many people crossing that crosswalk to the Starbucks on the corner almost get mowed down by oblivious commuters.
Now this specific post concerns an ornery old woman who looked 5 years shy of collecting her first social security check. For statistic’s sake, I’ll classify her as a blue hair (though it was dyed brown). Anyway, she was riding my ass like a sexually frustrated old crone in her white Mercedes while we were traveling south on Laurel Canyon in Studio City. I actually noticed her zigzagging between lanes without signaling, so I wasn’t surprised when she jerked her car over to her left when the possibility of legally passing me dawned on her instead of trying to coerce me to tailgate the van in front of me. The best part about this is that she actually glared at me when I calmly rolled past her as my lane cruised forward while she got “stuck” in #1 lane. In all reality, if she just learned to calm down and take her heart medication, she would realize that she wasn’t making any headway whatsoever with her senile aggression, particularly during rush hour.
Filed under: aggressive, car lights, clueless, senior, tailgating
License plate covers are illegal? I didn’t know that either.
A police officer once recommended that I buy one for my car to prevent having the registration sticker scraped off (again) by thieves. But then this was in a particularly thievish part of town, not BH!
BTW, I have at least one solution to the mystery of why people drive without lights at night — because, mea culpa, I’ve had it happen a couple times myself recently. Both tmes, it was when I went to a brightly lit gas station at night and then, I guess because of the bright light, drove off without having my subconscious remind me, “Hey, it’s dark .Turn on the lights!” Both times when I realized the lights were off, I thought, gee, I have to write about this to the guy at L.A. Can’t Drive!
That got me to wondering how many people have seen their actual cars and/or recognized their own behavior from reading this blog…
I know the area well. One of my clients is the wife of CEO of Abercrombie. She too said she was almost struck while walking in that area. On a side note… Where are the police. I never see them anywhere!?
Given that Beverly Hills has their own police force, they would do well to navigate these streets more often than the 3 to 4 days I see them around the middle of each month, which leads me to believe that’s when the department chooses to make its ticket quota.
Regarding license plate covers, who knew? I bought mine at an auto store. I, too, got it since I thought it would keep the stickers from falling off and the plate clean. Apparently, it has to do something with possible glare and visibility and different angles.
As for headlights, hell, we’ve all forgotten to turn them on at one time or another. But when that’s happened to me and a car flashes its high beams at me, I’ve always gotten that clue and turned my lights on. I can’t tell you how many drivers in this town have no idea why so many people are flashing their high beams at them when they’re driving around at night without headlights. With that said, if it’s a given that all drivers forget to put on their headlights at one time or another, why is the percentage of drivers that lapse on this account so much higher in L.A.? The percentage of the whole…not the sheer number of vehicles you see.
Good morning, MIke!
I know how pissed off!!!! you are. From the gigantic sense of entitlement that the Beverly Hillbillies have you would think they live from Sherman Oaks!, Or, Woodland Hills! Or, Encino! Or, Studio City!
Two suggestions.
One, write a letter to the Chief of the Beverly Hills Police Department describing the issues you see. Citizen complaints are very powerful. Send a copy to the Mayor (or Mayor pro tem). If your co-workers are also peeved and especially if they have been victims of Bev Hills bad drivers (and there are certantly enough drunk & drugged drivers down there) have them write too.
Print your letter and the replies on this website for all to see.
Second, file with your insurance company for whatever damage occured. Let them track this gal down. They will!
Remember a while back when there was a big thing on the news about a new gang initiation thing was to drive around with your lights off and if someone flashes them they were to chase them down and shoot them? Maybe, just maybe, that’s in their minds still.
Lorri, a simple solution to the registration tag thieves is to take a razor blade and go across the sticker a few times, if they try to take it off, it’ll come off in pieces, they’re not gonna sit there and try to piece it together, takes too long.
I agree with the razor blade approach for the license stickers. An exacto blade works best. I’ve had to slice my tags after placing them on my plate. It only takes a minute, but can save you a lot of headache later. Someone actually tried to steal the ones off of my 1975 Nova just last year and they got a few small pieces of it and then gave up. I guess if they wanted to, they could steal the whole plate. No one is going to notice here in Santa Clarita. There are so many cars here with no ID. Hit and run capitol of the State.
No license, no insurance. That’s why they call it “hit and run”.