When Will L.A. Grasp the Concept of Right-of-Way?
Idiocy Meter
Asshole Meter
When will L.A. drivers understand the concept of yielding and right-of-way? This is one of my biggest pet peeves about driving in this town. For example, i was driving up Coldwater on my way back from work, and this tool in a Mercedes SUV pulls away from a stop sign on a cross street to make a left directly in front of me. I wasn’t speeding…in fact, traffic for my direction of travel was moving at the posted 25 mph. This guy couldn’t wait a few more seconds to make his left turn and felt that it was everyone else’s job to hit their brakes to allow him to pass. Since I nearly collided into this asshole, I honked my horn. Guess what he did? He honked back in arrogant defiance. This kind of self-entitlement just blows my mind.
Let me explain this nice and slowly for you people, if the other driver has to slam on his or her brakes to allow you to merge or make a left turn in front of said driver (for example), then you’re not yielding the right-of-way. Period. No discussion, OK? You lose. So shut up. Now this doesn’t mean that people should accelerate to prevent you from merging safely, nor does it mean that people should put the pedal to the metal at yellow lights either. On the whole, though, it almost seems like too large of a percentage of drivers here have depth perception issues; it’s as if they have a difficult time gaging how fast another car is moving from the opposite direction or the distance between the two vehicles. More likely, this issue is a matter of patience, not ocular deficiency.
Stop sign infractions are as common in L.A. as jaywalking is in NYC. At this crazy stop sign intersection in Beverly Hills, where Canon, Beverly, and Lomitas all intersect, you often see people playing chicken with other drivers, as right-of-way rules go out the window (probably due to the fact that the ability to ascertain one’s turn to cross the intersection requires too much brainpower for the average Angeleno). Yes, I’m an intellectual elitist, so kiss my erudite ass. Nonetheless, you almost never see drivers like this psycho woman, who disturbingly resembled the bastard child of a toad and a salamander. She literally flew through this stop sign intersection at 30 mph without touching her brakes, nearly colliding with a car making a left turn in front of her that was already in the intersection and had the legal right-of-way. This was someone I was ready to report to the cops, though conveniently enough she had no plates to speak of at the moment. Hmm, getting pulverized in a collision is probably not the best way to inaugurate your vehicle, lady.
Filed under: aggressive, clueless, observation
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Of course, this person in the Honda can do whatever the hell she pleases. That is why so many people with paper plates do the things they do and get away with it.
I remember back (yes, I’m old enough)…when the dealer gave you a “temporary” IDENTIFIABLE sequence of numbers to put in your back window until your metal plates arrived. Since then, things have fallen off and they put this microscopic white piece of paper in your front window and let you leave the dealer plates on as long as you can get away with. Actually these people can get their picture taken with the red light cameras and not be cited, because there is no way to identify the vehicle and the owner.
So many times I’ve seen paper plates on old, crappy, non-roadworthy road junk all over the Southland.
Do you think a guy driving a 1993 Toyota Corolla with “Pepe’s Auto Sales”, or “Si Se Puede Motors”, or “Autos de Guadalajara”, has insurance and would actually stop to give personal information if he or she sideswiped you? I think not.
I bought a new Saturn Astra in February and could have left those dealer plates on indefinitely, but I’ve got nothing to hide. Plus, I paid a forturne to have my personalized plates converted to the Whale Tail and I’m not gonna let those beauties go to waste.
I, too, have wondered whether paper plates on the whole increase a driver’s sense of “untouchableness” and fuels bad driving behavior. Then I started thinking that maybe I was being just a tad too cynical. I guess I’m not alone on that front.
You bet it contributes to the “you can’t touch me” behaviour! I have seen all to often, the erratic driving of these bozos. There is a common thread and NO, you are not alone on this. I’m sure most would agree with you. I have seen the pattern and those of us that are smart enough to observe, know why those plates are on there for so long.
There is a guy parked behind my work with paper plates with a name of some hispanic dealer and this Toyota Corolla is really old. I doubt he has any insurance…paid cash for the car, so that if he has an accident, he can just walk away like most irresponsible people do. There is no responsibility anymore. The DMV is lazy…Hallelujah for the AAA office at least!
It happened at the tow yard I used to work at all the time. They get the car impounded for 30 days, some pos, then they end up in another car, still no license, and the cycle repeats. They might get cited, then wait on a court date. I don’t think so, they’re off to the races again since they have no license!!