L.A. Can't Drive » tailgating

Clueless Aggressive Moron in Mercedes SUV

I-95, U-405 — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 05:04:57 +0000

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Given the plethora and variety of awful drivers in this town, the driver of this Mercedes ML350 SUV (license plate 6FOZ) could have been either a clueless, inattentive moron or an apathetic, aggressive jackass. I was traveling south on Beverly Glen from the Valley and was approaching Sunset. At this juncture, if you want to continue south on Beverly Glen, you have to do a brief detour onto Sunset by making a right turn, traveling a few hundred feet, and then entering the left turn only lane (at an intersection monitored by a traffic signal) that takes you back onto Beverly Glen. I was in this left turn only lane behind a row of cars waiting to make a left turn. When the light turned green and traffic proceeded to move forward, I suddenly heard honking to my right. I turned and saw the driver of this SUV in the westbound through lane on Sunset suddenly brake for no apparent reason and–without signaling–veer to the left and attempt to squeeze into a line of left-turning vehicles into the single southbound lane on Beverly Glen. Either this person lost track of where he or she was going or, even worse, didn’t want to wait behind a row of cars in the left turn only lane. Regardless, the driver nearly got rear-ended and was now threatening a sideswipe collision with another driver. I braked to allow this clueless sphincter in to avoid a collision. I then saw this SUV driver proceed to tailgate the car that was in front of him/her the entire way down Beverly Glen. I last saw the SUV make a left onto Wilshire (again, without signaling). Drivers like this offend me on so many levels, I can’t even begin to describe it. And it’s not so much the driving as much as it’s the mentality behind such driving. You have to deal with fu*kheads like this at the grocery store, online at the bank, at the deli (oh, I’m sorry, I mean diner…there are no delis in L.A. Canter’s is no Katz’s). Unfortunately, this town is stereotypically known for having a populace with our heads stuck up our asses, and none of us are naive enough to believe that’s going to change anytime soon.

Dangerous Towing on the Freeway

I-95, U-405 — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:34:09 +0000

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It’s been awhile since we’ve talked about towing and cargo storage issues on this site. I got this submission a few days ago that highlights another common problem with L.A. drivers:

“On the 210 Fwy eastbound near Sylmar, I came upon this purple Caravan with a Toyota truck awfully close behind. When I got closer, I saw that the Toyota was in tow as it was weaving from side to side. So me, being the curious guy I am, looked at how the truck was being towed…A CHAIN!! Yes, you can see it hanging in the picture! This Dodge is towing a car on the freeway at freeway speeds with nothing else but a single chain wrapped around the bumper!!! This ranks as one of the stupidest and dangerous things I’ve EVER seen!!!”

Not too bright, guys. I certainly wouldn’t use their services given the way they handled this particular situation. I wonder if they were constantly getting rear-ended by the Toyota whenever they slowed down.

Arrogant Prick in MINI Has a Death Wish

I-95, U-405 — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 05:28:04 +0000

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Someone thinks he’s a stunt driver for The Italian Job. Reality check, moron, you’re on the 5 Fwy North near Commerce Casino. If you’re running away from anyone fast, it’s the pissed off Asian gambler you just slow-played at the Texas Hold’em table. The photo is poor, but I circled a silver MINI Cooper, license plate 5XJD. My wife and I were coming back from Disneyland in very light traffic. We were in the #2 lane when this zipping silver dung beetle started riding our ass so hard that I could’ve sworn it was some obese frackhead loser who caught a whiff of a churro I bought at the park and wanted a bite. Needless to say, we were moving faster than the #1 lane (around 75 MPH), and I wasn’t about to swerve to my right and tailgate a semi to allow this guy to pass. Suddenly, I saw this impatient moron jerk his wheel to the right, zoom up beside us, nearly rearend the semi, cut in front of us narrowly missing our bumper, and speed away–my guess is he was pushing close to 85/90. The last we saw of this jackass was his weaving antics within 3 lanes on the freeway while tailgating and cutting off other drivers without signaling. Given his reckless driving behavior in a very small massed vehicle, someone should tell him that if he were ever to get into an accident, he’d probably be the one to fly off the road like a silver hockey puck; the last thing he would see is a concrete highway median.

Racism and Road Blindness in L.A.

I-95, U-405 — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:38:58 +0000

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Before I go into today’s post, I wanted to share a story with you all. My wife and I were taking an evening walk with our son around Toluca Lake this evening and were walking on the sidewalk. We always slow down and make sure that it’s safe to cross in front of any blind driveways or alleys. Why is that? Well, aside for it being the smart thing to do, there is a plethora of horrible drivers in this town who don’t pay attention to anything that weighs less than 500 pounds. With a show of hands, how many of you have nearly gotten run over while crossing the street in a clearly marked pedestrian crosswalk by some oblivious or selfishly aggressive Angeleno driver? Anyway, as we approached this one particular alley, this hunched over, toolish looking dude with glasses (early 40′s) and his blonde wife/girlfriend in a white pickup comes zooming out into the sidewalk, stopping short of the main street. Hey buddy, people actually walk on sidewalks–what a concept! So you might want to pay attention to pedestrians as well rather than merely concerning yourself with T-boning another vehicle. Needless to say, he saw us after he stopped and realized that he did something pretty stupid and failed to yield to pedestrians. Nevertheless, instead of being the bigger person and apologize, he glances in our direction, sees that I’m Asian, and then mutters loudly, “Arigato.” I’m like, are you fuckin’ kidding me? Never mind the fact that my wife isn’t even Asian. If there’s anything I give California credit for it’s that it’s more multicultural than most other states in the nation. Even while growing up in NY, I hardly ever saw anyone who was more than a 2nd generation Asian American (which I happen to be). Forget about the fact that I’m ethnically Chinese and not Japanese….this ignorant, racist, unapologetic fu*kwad actually thought that he gave the appropriate response for cutting in front of a young family walking on the sidewalk. I’ve had to deal with differing levels of racism my entire life, but this is the first time someone pulled this sh*t in front of my son (who happened to be sleeping in his stroller). So I’m sharing this story with you all and will let Karma do the rest.

Now, about the above photo….we were heading to a party Saturday night in the Palisades and were traveling on the 101 West at around 8PM. We arrived at our location at around 8:45, and I can’t even begin to tell you the number of cars we saw on the road without any headlights on (not even driving lights). In this photo alone you can see 3–count ‘em, 3–cars driving around without any low beam headlights on. Hell, car 1 is even tailgating car 2 while going around 70 MPH. I just don’t get how people in this town can be so bloody stupid to drive on the freeway at night without their head/taillights on. And I don’t want to hear any crap about the sun setting and people forgetting to turn their lights on while they’re already driving. Boohoo, some part of the law you actually have to pay attention to while you’re driving when the sky starts to get dark–how sad for you! Get your heads out of your asses and turn on your friggen headlights when it gets late….not a difficult concept, Los Angeles.

Pathetic Valley Punk in Corolla

I-95, U-405 — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 03:51:41 +0000

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Aiite there, punk…you go on with yo’ bad self in yo’ Toyota Corolla. Apparently, he likes the feel of the wind bristling his armpit hair, since he opted to dangle his arm out the window instead of signaling while his car was moving. I was driving along Magnolia in Sherman Oaks when I noticed this tailgating, weaving, non-signaling toolish-looking punk posing behind his wheel. On several occasions, I noticed that he took greater to posture himself more whenever he was stopped at a red light next to a female in another car. Mind you, it didn’t even matter what the woman looked like (or how old she was), either….talk about sexually frustrated and desperate. What really got to me was his erratic, aggressive driving. The streets weren’t busy, so there especially wasn’t any need for him to drive like such a prick, making attempts to abruptly cut in front of drivers at every possible opportunity. Furthermore, the lights are timed in such a way that he never really made much headway (I was watching him drive this way for about a mile before deciding to snap this photo). In the end, I don’t know if this guy is more assholish or just plain pathetic–maybe both.

Honking, Tailgating, Impatient Gravel Hauler

I-95, U-405 — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:04:59 +0000

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This one really got my goat. OK, no I don’t own any farm animals, but I’ve always wanted to use that expression in something I’ve written. So there we are. This was taken sometime last week on the 101 Fwy South. We were cruising along in traffic that was moving quite nicely when we suddenly heard the honking horn of this impatient, road raging gravel-hauler. It was traveling in the second to slowest lane on the freeway behind some clueless jackass in a minivan that was traveling around 55 to 60 MPH and driving considerably slower than everyone else around him. So, yes, a big thumbs down for the oblivious driver in the minivan. If he were going to drive that slow, he should’ve at least been in the slowest lane of traffic. And if the minivan driver feels that cars on the freeway are moving too fast for him to keep up, then maybe he shouldn’t be on the freeway in the first place. Regardless, that doesn’t give the driver of this multi-ton vehicle the right to honk and viciously tailgate another vehicle on the road. I didn’t get a good look at the license plate or the name of the company associated with the vehicle, or else I most certainly would have reported him to his employers. Needless to say, this was taken on Monday, August 2, at around 2:30 PM, in case some random owner of a construction company happens to read this post and knows that one of the company’s employees was on the 101 Fwy S (between the 405 and the 134) around this time. It’s a long shot, I know, but it’s worth a try, especially since this driver clearly has some anger management issues and needs a serious reality check on road responsibility. We snapped this photo after the truck managed to pass the “offending” vehicle.

Clueless Aggressive Troll in Mercedes

I-95, U-405 — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:05:11 +0000

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Yes, I know you can hardly see the car circled in the picture. Regardless, if you happen to come across a punk in his late 20s/early 30s with dark gelled hair who drives a white Mercedes (license plate starts with a 6) like a hunched over senior citizen grabbing the wheel at 11 and 1, then you’d better watch out. I kid you not, this idiotic worthless piece of crap comes zooming up behind me in the slowest lane of the 405 Fwy N and nearly rear-ends my vehicle. Let’s for the time being forget about the fact that I just had my bumper fixed from another freeway rear-ender a couple of months ago. Then, this mouth-gaping impatient jackass starts riding the ass of my vehicle so hard that I could’ve sworn I was towing him. Mind you, we’re all traveling at 65 MPH. He then yanks his wheel to the left, cuts off another driver, jams on his accelerator, passes about 3 cars (including my own), and then cuts right back in front only to exit as you see here at Skirball Center Dr./Mulholland. Are you friggen kidding me? L.A. is chock full of aggressive, impatient, dumb as sh*t assholes like this jacknut. Seriously, did he have to reach that red light that’s waiting for him at the end of the off-ramp a few seconds sooner to the point that he needed to drive like a chicken with its head cut off? There’s no rhyme or reason governing how some people behave, and there’s no avoiding them even when you’re driving in the slowest lane of traffic.