L.A. Can't Drive

Hydrant Obstructing, Bumper Tapping Sentra

I-95, U-405 — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:12:43 +0000

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So here’s an interesting twist to our favorite hydrant at Eleanor Circle and Jakes Way in Santa Clarita. Get a load of this submission:

“I come home from work at 5am and find this piece of sh*t Sentra parked against a neighbor’s Mustang. To make it worse, this same car last week was parked in front of a garage across from ours making it very difficult for us to get our cars out of our garage. We called the manager which then told us to call the security people which then did nothing, so this person continued to park there. Well I guess someone told them they can’t do that so they instead decide to park in front of the infamous hydrant and use the Mustang as a stop. The fenders are literally touching.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Santa Clarita pretty spacious? Would it kill people to park a tad farther away and take a minute longer to walk home? Or do we just pride ourselves as being a town full of yogis and health nuts because it sounds good, though we don’t practice what we preach? I find it ironic how so many people disrespect the vehicles of other drivers in a car culture town. Bad Karma points for this douche bag.

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.

Blatant Red Light Runner from a Dead Stop

I-95, U-405 — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:46:00 +0000

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It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a red light runner this egregious, but after driving alongside this guy in his late 50′s in an older model Ford Explorer for several miles while going south on Sepulveda from the Valley, I figured he was more idiot than asshole. Allow me to elaborate: We were stopped at a red light on Sepulveda, much like what’s shown in this photo. This native (license plate 3UZ, red and beige Explorer with faded flames…yes, flames…painted on the side) was first at the light. We were stopped for several seconds when all of a sudden this mustached douche bag decided to run the red light. He didn’t gun it, he just started to accelerate as if the light changed to green. But alas, it was still red, and you can see the heads of all the other drivers stopped at the light turn and follow this guy, wondering what he was doing. He slowed for a fraction of a second as his rear bumper passed through the center of the intersection, at which point I’m guessing he realized that he just “crept” through a red light but decided to keep going since he’d already gone too far. I haven’t talked about creeping in awhile, but it’s a common habit of a lot of drivers here (in NYC, I really only saw cabbies doing it). Creeping is when you see a car start rolling into the intersection when the light is still red, as if the driver is anticipating when the light will turn green. Creeping makes absolutely no sense to me, since it’s not like you’re giving your car a head start. Is it some strange pet peeve of L.A. drivers that they MUST have their car in motion when the light turns green? I’ve seen creepers go pretty far into an intersection before the light actually changes, but I’ve only seen a handful of creepers actually full-blown run a red light like this tool. A cop would’ve had a field day with this one.

More Leapfrogging at the 101/405 Interchange

I-95, U-405 — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:00:50 +0000

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I was late to the dentist this morning, though it’s sad to say that going 20 miles in an hour is still considered “not bad” by L.A. standards. Naturally, matters for everyone on the road aren’t improved by leapfroggers like the guy driving this older model Mercedes (likely native, 4UKZ license plate). Most of you can recognize this as the interchange from the 101 N (left 4 lanes) to the 405 Fwy N/S. I snapped this picture while stopped in traffic in the lane that takes you to the 405 S. Make no mistake that the majority of drivers who do this know better, but they still insist on holding up traffic in the #4 through lane on the 101 by passing as many cars in the interchange lanes as possible before cutting over. Considering this was late morning rush hour, traffic was often at a standstill in the 2 interchange lanes, which resulted in selfish, impatient jackasses literally parked in the #4 lane on the 101. Although this particular driver didn’t do this, I saw another moron this morning cut right in front of a semi from the #3 lane into the #4 lane and hit his/her brakes in order to merge to one of the 405 Fwy lanes. Genius, right?

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.

San Francisco vs. Los Angeles – Redux

I-95, U-405 — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:33:50 +0000

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So we’re back from San Francisco, and it has been almost 2 years exactly since I last did a comparison between SF and LA. We flew up there this time around and didn’t rent a car, so I was seeing everything from a pedestrian’s point-of-view. Perhaps I was a bit kind in my August 30, 2007, assessment of the driving ability in this town, or perhaps I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I actually witnessed one really bad collision (involving a sedan, a minivan taxi, and lots of airbags) and two very near misses that could’ve gone quite badly. The taxi drivers are as bad as the drivers in NY, though they are actually more dangerous since they can go much faster in less traffic congestion. They also signal way less than the taxi drivers in NY. In fact, the frequency of signaling for everyone I saw driving in SF went down on the whole from 2 years ago. Furthermore, there were more instances of leapfrogging at traffic signal regulated intersections. I don’t recall seeing any instances of leapfrogging from drivers other than taxi drivers 2 years ago. This has apparently changed. I’ve also noticed more drivers rolling through stop signs. In fact, one of the near misses involved one guy blowing through a stop sign and nearly getting T-boned by a service van. Now how about the positives? People were definitely doing more driving and less anything else while behind the wheel. If you told me that you saw something trying to fry an omelet in the passenger seat in LA, I wouldn’t be phased. In that respect, SF drivers are more like NYC drivers with a focused aggression behind the wheel. For the most part, the drivers up north are still very attentive to cyclists and pedestrians. Additionally, I only saw 2 drivers driving around at night without headlights on (one on each night I was there), and as we know that percentage is considerably better than anything you will see in LA. So there you have it…taxi drivers are insane, more aggression, less signaling, and on the other side you have more awareness of cyclists and pedestrians, proper usage of vehicle lamps, and less distractions while driving. Oh, I also saw less drivers holding cell phones are texting while driving, so that’s a big plus in my book.

I didn’t get any photos (I couldn’t whip out my phone fast enough), so I dug through the archives and found one of this BMW 328i on La Brea in Los Angeles. This impatient jackass was driving behind me in medium traffic and somehow felt the need to pull up beside me at Wilshire Blvd. at a red light. When the light turned green, naturally he gunned it and cut in front (no signaling) while missing parked cars in the curb lane by several feet. This type of mini-drag racing really boggles my mind since there is such a clear disparity between risk and reward. Then I suppose if you incorrectly treat driving like a game, concepts of safety and responsible driving become moot.

On a side note, I’ve done some freelance writing for Brand X, a publication affiliated with the L.A. Times. You can read my articles on the Bus Riders Union, digital road rage, and the new ignition interlock law here.

Off for a Few Days

I-95, U-405 — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:22:16 +0000

Hey all, I’m heading off to San Francisco for a few days. Will be back on Thursday. I’ll try to come back with any latest comparisons between L.A. and S.F. with regards to driving.