Flaunting the city’s traffic laws

It’s easy to see why Glendale is ranked the third worst driving city in the U.S. This afternoon in the space of about a mile, I witnessed the following:

A battered pick-up truck in the center lane on Glenoaks Boulevard going about 20 mph as cars whizzed by at three times his speed. As I approached and passed, I saw a middle-aged man with a small dog perched on near his neck and a cell phone in his right hand that he was either dialing or texting.

His left arm was flicking cigarette ash out the window, so I guess he was driving with his knees.

As I left the red light going east at Highland Avenue, a woman in a minivan came screaming up behind me flashing her lights. Before I had a chance to react, she was passing me on the right and was well ahead of me.

The best part was when I pulled up next to her at the next red light at Pacific. She rolled down her window and began yelling at me, telling me that I drive too slow. I told her that I was stuck at the same red light that she was. Then she told me to be fruitful and multiply.

As soon as the light turned green she was off like a jet pilot. I saw her again at the red light on Central. She wasn’t any happier.

But here’s the one that takes the cake: As I waited at the red light at Brand, I watched two cars in the left-turn pocket clearly make their left turns after the light had turned red. The second car was a Glendale police parking enforcement Jeep.

How can we expect our citizens to obey traffic laws when our public servants openly flaunt them?

William Collins

Glendale