Not So Good at Being Bad
What is the world coming to? The folks at State Farm Insurance do a national study of the most dangerous intersections in the entire United States. The most lethal crossings. And Southern California, long the American bellwether for anything automotive, doesn’t even make the top 10!
This is no small issue as millions of vacationing Americans begin summer safaris when parental fatigue and juvenile impatience intersect in countless minivans. All of the awful intersections in this entire region and none are good enough to be bad. Looking at the cultures, ethnic neighborhoods and numerous languages that carpet this metro complex, one might argue that the entire Los Angeles area has become, in effect, one huge, amazing cultural intersection. Los Angeles takes Philadelphia 4 to 1 in the NBA Finals. And Philadelphia skunks us 2 to 0 in the most-dangerous-crossing list. Arizona got two, too. And Oklahoma--yes, Oklahoma--got two? That could be half the state’s intersections. Sacramento even got one in the top 10. We’d demand a recount, but first place went to a corner in Pembroke Pines, Fla. And everyone knows about Florida recounts.
Then along comes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which finds that Californians have become the national goody-goodies of seat belt use. Are you ready? We racked up an 89% usage rate, the best of any state. Better even than Delaware, which has only 89 drivers. Which means either we’ve suddenly become more obedient or those pictures from helicopters circling accidents are finally sinking in.
We’re counting on Los Angeles, however, to stage a comeback in badness and claw back down there in future top 10 lists: Most Carefully Chronicled Police Chases, Most BMW’ed Parking Lots, Worst Sun Blindness on Freeway (A.M. and P.M. Categories), Greatest Concentration of Open Convertibles Before Noon, Most Nearly Naked Billboards Per Block of Fading Storefronts, Most Seriously Reported Weather Forecasts That Never Change, Jolliest Morning TV Hosts Previewing the Next Hour’s Features When We’ll Be on the Road, and Rudest Freeway Mile. We’ll kill the City of Brotherly Love on that last one.
