Minor Rear-Ender Closes 2 Lanes on Wilshire–WTF?
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Asshole Meter
Something just didn’t seem right about this accident on Wilshire just west of Santa Monica Blvd. What looked like a minor fender-bender between a white sedan and a white SUV required the presence of 2 police cruiser SUVs and 2 police officers on bikes. Cones were laid out, shunting cars to the right as 2 of the 4 eastbound lanes of rush hour traffic on Wilshire were shut down. The accident happened in the lane that allows you to make a left or go straight. Here’s the problem…the green solid light comes on before the left turn green arrow. So cars in the #2 left-turn/through lane that want to go straight must wait behind any cars in front that want to make a left onto Santa Monica. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg regarding the problems with this intersection, which is the scene of many–many–auto collisions. What I don’t get is why all the brouhaha where there was no debris on the road, no damage to the rear of the sedan, no damage to the front of the SUV, and hardly any damage to the rear of the SUV. So why the hell were there so many officers present, and why weren’t the drivers directed over to the side of the road or onto a side street? The driver of the sedan was walking around just fine, chatting with one of the officers, and even started laughing with another commuter that was asking what had happened while stopped for a red light. Hmm, closing 2 lanes of rush hour traffic on a busy thoroughfare isn’t my idea of funny. Maybe I’m missing something here, like maybe there was a priest, a monk, and a rabbi trapped underneath both vehicles as they were run over while attempting to jaywalk together–I dunno. Of course, the accident wouldn’t have happened in the first place if the driver of the sedan was paying more attention behind the wheel. I saw at least 3 drivers chatting on their cell phones without a hands-free device and another 3 typing away on their Blackberries or iPhones in the few blocks leading up to this accident. We certainly could have used more of those cops standing around this accident to ticket those other offenders.
Filed under: cell phone, clueless, observation
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Are you sure they weren’t filming a movie or something? With all that “drama”, I would think that would be the case. Everything gets sensationalized here in SoCal.
Unless there was a woman giving birth in one of those yuppy vehicles, there is NO EXCUSE for closing that much of Wilshire Blvd.
I think the hands free law is idiotic, since I see it all day, every day. It’s only illegal if you get caught!
When I lived in BH I saw this overuse of police all the time.
I chalked it up to them not having much to do 90% of the time, & the fact BH officers are paid much, much more than other LA cities –so every little incident gets overblown.
Kendall, the irony is this: there are SO many bad drivers in L.A. If the police theoretically have nothing to do, post them at corners of every busy intersection and start citing these offenders. I mean, seriously…the driver’s in Beverly Hills are nearly as bad as those in K-town.