“Here’s one to start the holiday weekend for you, and sorry in advance that I do not have any pictures of the driver, but I have attached a diagram of the intersection and lanes in question for reference.

I work in West LA and, as such, am forced every day to endure the traffic around the 405 on Wilshire or Santa Monica. Fortunately, I figured out a shortcut through side streets and a few parking lots that puts me out on Beloit Ave. at the north side of the intersection with Santa Monica Blvd, with the entrance to the 405 South being on the south side of Santa Monica Blvd. as can be seen in the diagram. I was in the lane and direction indicated by the green arrow, and the idiot driver was in the lane and direction indicated by the red arrow. As can be seen, I was to proceed through the intersection into lane 2 since the lane to the west of me was to go through the intersection into lane 1. Anyway, my light turns green so I proceed to go through the intersection. Unfortunately, some moron decided to not stop and make the right hand turn on red without looking into lane 1. This caused the idiot in my case that was behind that guy to SWING AROUND HIM INTO LANE 2 WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING TO SEE IF THERE WAS ONCOMING TRAFFIC. I slammed on my brakes and beeped my horn for a good 5 seconds as she came within inches of t-boning me as I proceeded through the intersection onto the freeway entrance. She then had the audacity to cut me off instead of letting me through first, even though half my car was in front of hers after the incident! I was so furious that I screamed a few obscenities outside my window to her. Throughout the entire ordeal, including after I honked my horn she didn’t even look in my direction! Once we both proceeded to merge onto the freeway I gave her another honk and flipped her off, then went on my way.

Phew, that was long-winded but is SO TYPICAL of drivers in this city. The “me first” mentality goes too far sometimes, and people who make illegal moves like this are the reason there are so many accidents. This past May I had a similar incidient where a guy made a right on red and crossed over two lanes at once, instead of properly turning into the right lane, and side swiped my car as I was going through the intersection. He lied about what happened to his insurance company so I was forced to pay a $500 deductible out of pocket to get my car repaired. All I can hope is that these jackassess get what is coming to them eventually and that they are forced to face the consequences of their shitty driving.”

I used to work for an insurance adjuster and investigated auto accident claims on a daily basis. In the event of any accident, you MUST take photos of where the cars are before pulling over to the side of the road. Yes, you’re supposed to pull over as quickly as possible, but way too many people lie in this town that unless you have witness testimony from a fellow driver or a police officer, then the outcome of your case really depends on how thorough the adjuster is for your company. In the second incident, examining the dents and scrapes on the car would reveal that the driver was turning when he/she hit your car, as a result automatically placing that driver at fault.

As for the first near-accident, that lady probably knew she was in the wrong but was too arrogant to apologize for it. To make matters worse, she probably will continue to drive like in the future. You would think some people would learn from their mistakes when actual accidents occur, but quite the opposite happens. These accident-prone drivers are so delusional about their own driving abilities and sense of justice that they will always claim to be the victims in any scenario.

“Here is another video I took yesterday (5/9/10) afternoon around 5:30 p.m. I had walked to Whole Foods on Santa Monica & Fairfax and was walking back with 2 full cloth bags of groceries.  I waited at the southeast corner of Fairfax and Fountain for a fresh green light.  This woman driver making a right turn kept inching out, but the steady stream of traffic prevented her from making the right turn until the light changed.  She saw me, our eyes met, and she still accelerated out as I stepped off the curb.  I had my phone recording.  A dangerous game of chicken, but I am so fed up with the total lack of regard for pedestrians that I will fight at every intersection (not to mention that I had run 16 miles earlier in the day, dodging traffic most of the way and had to dodge motorists from side streets that drive all the way out into Fountain before stopping, and I was pissed off).  This happens all the time!

Every time you read about a traffic collision between a pedestrian or bicyclist and a motorist, it is just a “tragic accident” as long as there is no alcohol or drugs involved and the driver sticks around. The driver is not charged.  I contend that this makes peds and bikers fair game for motorists.  There is no [added] penalty for hitting them, and who’s to say if they were in the intersection legally (especially when they are dead).   The message is if the ped or bicyclist makes a mistake, jaywalks, swerves into traffic, it is the death penalty for them.

If there is to be any concept of “sharing the road,” then motorists have to be on the lookout for children in the street, people running to catch a bus, old people who can’t make it across the street before the light changes, bicyclists who have to swerve out to avoid debris on the shoulder, etc.   The law for motorists is supposed to be that you do everything in your power to avoid an accident.   But the police don’t seem to enforce this when it comes to pedestrians and bicyclists. There are a lot more peds and bikers on the road now than there used to be and we are seeing a lot more of these collisions.  I think we need ask ourselves just how brutal and barbaric do we want our society to be?”

Someone should refresh this driver on right-of-way laws regarding crosswalks and pedestrians.  It is true that we are getting more and more pedestrians on our streets, but Angelenos are still notorious for not paying attention to anything smaller than a Smart car.  So I feel it’s important to reemphasize that pedestrians should always strive to make eye contact with a driver before crossing in front of the driver’s vehicle.

Now the idiocy and asshole meters above refer to the following story submitted by a reader who had quite an encounter with a stereotypical, aggressive, selfish, oblivious L.A. driver.:

“I just came across your website a couple of weeks ago and am so glad I did. LA is notorious for its brainless, distracted, self centered, egotistical drivers. Now to share my story….

This morning I was traveling west in the left lane on Santa Monica approaching Highland (little to no traffic). The light turned yellow when I was at the intersection and me and a big white work truck, traveling side by side, proceeded through the intersection, but in his lane a bus was pulling away from the curb. Instead of slowing down to yield to the bus, he just came into my lane. I put on my brakes and pulled left, which forced me into oncoming traffic. He clipped my side mirror with the side of his truck. I laid on my horn and he just kept driving. I got behind him, as he was now in my lane, and I flashed my lights and honked my horn…thinking, “maybe he doesn’t know he hit me.”

He continued to drive away and switch lanes as we approached traffic, maybe in an attempt to lose me. When we were behind stopped traffic, I pulled up on his passenger side and he already had his window down waiting for me to talk to him. The first thing he said to me was why was I trying to push him into the bus. What?! Me? Push him into a bus? I told him that he hit my mirror. I told him that there is dent with my paint on it on the side of his truck. He asked if my mirror was damaged. I told him that I have not looked at it and that I needed to pull over first. I asked if he would pull over if I pulled over. He told me that he didn’t have time to pull over. Wow. Sorry to impede on the importance of your life buddy! After he told me that, he started to drive away and I said “don’t make me call the cops,” at which his reaction was to stop and start calling me names like “little bitch” and just talking trash.

He finally pulled into a strip mall at the corner of La Brea and Santa Monica on the NE corner. I pulled up next to him and got out to inspect the damage. The whole time I was looking at my mirror he was berating me and just acting like an asshole. My mirror was loose and wasn’t fastened to the door all the way, and he just told me that my car was a piece of shit. (Imagine that, it must be the car and not the fact that his work truck just sideswiped me.)

The guy was all up in my face, white guy with a medium build, about 6’1″ with a shaved head. I started to cuss back at him, hoping I would communicate effectively the events that just took place…”you hit my fucking car homie.” [Editor's note: I wouldn't recommend doing this at all, particularly to someone this clueless and aggressive.]  He told me that he would give me a “free one.” He said that he would let me hit him once in the face and then he would “beat the shit out of [me].” I walked back to my car and got a pen and paper and then he asked if I wanted his information. He told me that he would give me his “fucking information.” He said “my number is on the back of the truck if you want it.” He proceeded to get into his truck, telling me how much of a bitch I was and how I needed to become a man. (I wonder if he would teach me…) Just before he drove off, I got his license plate number (CA 5O5****) and around the license plate frame it said “Sid Electric” on top and a number on the bottom [phone number omitted].

I thought that he worked for Sid Electric and tried calling the number to report him but it just went to a voice mail for ***. That was the douchebag who was just the biggest asshole that I have encountered while living here in LA. I didn’t leave a message and just hung up. About a minute later *** called me back (caller ID) and asked “who’s this.” I explained that I thought this was a company number that I was trying to call and then he said to me, “oh is this the guy that just hit my truck? You know its going to cost me about 150 bucks to fix that dent in my truck and now that I have your number I will be calling you to send you a bill. So be looking for my call.” I thought that was very nice of him to call me back so I said “okay, you got it buddy.”

And that is my story. I didn’t call the cops. Nothing to report to insurance. Just a douchebag to report to the land of Karma.  I hope *** had a great rest of the day and I pray that he doesn’t mouth off to the wrong person who just might not be so nice and decide to put two in his chest. I just got off the phone with the company Sid Electric and the manager was gone for the day but the receptionist said that she would have him call me tomorrow. Lets see what happens next.

I wish I was grounded enough to take a picture of this jerk and his truck, but it was all so surreal at the time. I will be sending in pictures of idiotic drivers to you in the near future…as I am surrounded by them all the time.  Thanks for the soundboard.”

If the white truck was a company car, and the driver an employee, I sincerely hope that the owner of Sid Electric will have a serious discussion with his employees about how to behave on the roads, especially since they represent the company.  And I have a few words I want you all to remember: hit-and-run. By law, you must pull over if you are involved in any collision whatsoever.  It doesn’t matter if you don’t think it’s your fault or if you’re too busy and have better things to do.  Pull over to the side of the road.  If you ever encounter a driver like the driver of this truck, do not hesitate to call 911 or your local law enforcement in the area.  Aggressive, clueless drivers who have no concept or respect of the law have no business being on our roads.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: driving is a privilege not a right.  And it’s a privilege that can be taken away.

“I was introduced to your website a few weeks ago by a friend – and I can’t agree more with all of your articles about crappy drivers in this town.  It’s insane and getting worse. I saw this lady in a Camry driving down Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood last week.  I couldn’t believe what I saw:  she had a big GPS screen mounted to her dashboard and it was right in front of her face.  Driving west in the afternoon, she had her sun visor down too.  There’s barely any view through the windshield!  I managed to get the attached photo when we stopped at a light – it’s low resolution, but you can see what I’m talking about.  Another idiot on the streets of L.A.”

My last post had a photo of a lady who couldn’t care less that she was traveling 75 down a freeway while looking into her rearview mirror and applying makeup.  So in that respect, the driver of this Camry is a saint by comparison.  I don’t know if there are regulations regarding where you can place a detachable navigation system, like a Tom Tom or a Garmin, but I’m pretty sure you can’t have it in front of your face.  Maybe a regulation doesn’t exist because no one would think anyone would be that stupid.  Now I’m not completely obtuse…I get what this lady was trying to do; by having the navigation close to her face, she can check her directions without having to take her eyes too far off the road.  But surely, having the nav system directly in front of your face can’t be the answer.  (And before anyone argues this point, note that this photo is taken on an angle, and even then part of her face is obstructed.)  Anyway, I wonder how this lady deals with changing lanes, like checking her sideview mirrors and blind spots.  That involves a lot more head twisting and eyesight deviation than glancing at a nav that’s either built in or more appropriately installed in her vehicle.  If she ever gets into a bad accident, god forbid, I’m sure the ER doctors will have a field day trying to remove her Magellan from her forehead.