Bad Habits Die Hard for the County’s Offending Drivers
Now we get it: When you touch a nerve, act like a dentist.
Last week, Street Smart asked readers to join a reasoned discussion of bad drivers (translation: help us pummel thoughtless jerks).
We should have launched the column murmuring, “OK, this might cause a little discomfort. . . .”
Because the response we got sounds like a four-octave shriek from the victim of a Novocain-less root canal performed with a 4-pound sledge and a rusty lobster fork:
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Dear Street Smart:
I am a speed demon, a lane changer and, on rare occasions, a tailgater. I am incensed that you and so many of your readers put all of the blame for creating hazardous driving conditions on drivers like me.
Have any of your readers heard of the slow lane? Do any of you pay attention to the signs that say, “SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT”?
If all drivers would follow one simple rule, our freeways would be much safer: Keep to the right. If you come up on a slower car, move one lane to the left, pass the slower car and then get back over into the lane on your right.
This is simple, common courtesy, folks! If drivers would follow this simple guideline, there would be less hazardous lane-changing and tailgating. If you frequently get passed by cars that go around you on your right, you are contributing to a hazardous situation. Stop blaming others and move over!
Robert Wachter, Thousand Oaks
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Whoaaa, Reader:
Street Smart clings naively to the belief that no one can force anyone to drive like a Mach 3, bumper-sucking scofflaw who changes lanes like a politician in October. But far be it from us to chastise you.
We’ll leave that up to the stern, mirror-shaded chap in the Smokey Bear hat shining all the pretty red and blue lights into your speed-crazed eyes.
You do make some very good points, though.
Hanging out in the fast lane below the speed limit--even if the car zooming up behind you is breaking the limit and the sound barrier--carries a $103 fine and a point against your record for “failure to yield for passing.”
And get this: A new law effective Jan. 1 says you must pull to the right for anyone behind you who flashes their high beams to overtake you.
So, that gleaming black-on-black BMW sedan flipping his retina-cooking halogens in your mirror is not some raving yuppie cretin--he’s just another law-abiding motorist. As we used to say in Philly, “Giddovadeah.”
On the other hand, when rush-hour traffic is bombing along thicker than mom’s fudge and Street Smart can neither pull forward nor move out of the fast lane, the last thing he and everyone else in the pack needs is (and we’re shouting here): SOME NIMROD TRYING TO READ THE FINE PRINT ON OUR LICENSE PLATE STICKERS.
OK, so maybe you don’t care that tailgating costs $103 and a point off your license. But does the phrase flaming, 37-car chain-reaction pileup mean anything to you? How about dinners through a straw? Think. Please.
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Dear Street Smart:
I was delighted to find Street Smart switching its attention to the “truly bad drivers.”
I am part of the minority--a driver who refuses to travel faster than the speed limit. Not long ago, I asked a highly respected psychiatrist why so many drivers travel 5 to 15 mph (or infinitely) faster than the speed limit.
He said one primary reason was stress. Many drivers believe that “opening up” on the freeway is a means of relieving it, yet quite the opposite takes hold, taxing one’s brain through an entire trip as drivers constantly anguish over how to pass this car or that car ahead.
He summed it up best by stating that many drivers just want to get ahead of the traffic but lack the intelligence to realize that there will always be more cars ahead.
Peter Rosam, Agoura
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Dear Reader:
Ten points for the shrink. He speaks of a Zen calm that millions of devoted Buddhists spend billions of lifetimes trying to master.
Achieving oneness is kinda awkward at the wheel. Especially when the only thing keeping you from breaking out of a dangerously tight 59-mph convoy and getting to “Mars Attacks” on time is that rust-eaten, avocado LeBaron with the “I BRAKE FOR GARAGE SALES” sticker that has been lodged firmly ahead of you for the past 13 miles with its left-turn signal on.
But dig this, armchair statisticians: Every mile per hour over the freeway speed limit only saves you about 60 seconds per hour. Speeding tickets cost $103 for up to 15 mph over the limit, $162 for 16 to 25 mph over and $270 for anything faster. Do the math.
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Dear Street Smart:
I drive a Volkswagen Beetle, but it will still go up a hill at 70 mph. The problem is I’m going as fast as anybody and, every once in a while, somebody will decide to just take my lane away from me and cut over, and I’m supposed to fall back and let them in.
They think, “Well, it’s only a Beetle, I can take the road away from him.” One time, a pickup truck shoved me off, and I wound up on the median going 70 alongside of him until I could pull ahead and get back in the lane. This infuriates me.
The other gripe I have is when there’s about 20 lengths of open space ahead of you and there’s idiots who figure, “Oh my God, why don’t you close up, why don’t you tailgate,” and you see these people come zigzagging through. I think it’s ridiculous, but there’s nothing to be done about it.
Gilbert Bahn, Moorpark
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Dear Reader:
We could go on listing fines here for unsafe lane changes, following too close and illegal passing, but some folks don’t give a rat’s backside about risking injury, lawsuit, traffic fines and death.
Yup. You’re in a low-profile car surrounded by maniacs. Nothing to do but cringe, hold your position and hope that the zoomhounds don’t nail you.
These are the idiots who whip past you and, moments later--chasing a supposed opening in the slow lanes--screech to a near-halt because they have trapped themselves in a pocket of slow-moving semis. Ahhh, poetic justice.
If we’re lucky, the CHP will catch them and make them pay before they send someone to the E.R. or the morgue. If any of you risk-takers are reading this, please repeat after us: ommmmmmmmm. . . .
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NEXT: One last round of driving-school dropouts. We’ll revisit this topic later, but we want to answer more specific road questions and consider something less stressful: Please tell us about your favorite Ventura County shortcuts. How do you beat the rush when the big road’s clogged? What new shortcuts can we help you find?
