As a recent post mentioned, I was traveling to visit family in San Diego, and having foolishly chosen to drive, I had to twice navigate the LA Basin.
Always entertaining, and somewhat frightening, the drivers in LA are somewhat insane.
- Modern Jaguar – As I was entering into the valley on I15, this jackass was in a huge hurry. He came up on me at about 100 mph, and quickly changed lanes to get ahead almost clipping a semi next to me. Then this asshole did the traffic weaving thing so aggressively that an ambulance he cut in front of almost had to drive off road to not hit him. I was glad to see him disappear into the haze.
- Giant diesel pickup truck – This gets my asshole of the day award. First we were in a construction zone on 210. So the limit was 55, probably the most ignored limit in the country. This asshole did a few really bad things. First, he decided that he really wanted around this truck carrying giant I-beams for some construction project, so he dove into the exit lane that was ending to get around. Of course he was “rolling coal” around this spewing enough soot to darken the sky for miles. Once he got in front of this big truck, he was disappointed that there was another truck in front of him, so he just jumped over two lanes, almost taking out a Mini, and a beat up, wheezing Camry. Then he was off to the races, spewing the plumes of soot laden diesel exhaust
- Virtually all trailer drivers and cars/trucks towing – In California, trucks (yes, even big diesel semi’s) and small vehicles towing trailers are limited to 55mph. It was truly astounding how fast these people drive towing rickety, crappy trailers, often bouncing all over the lane. Where is the Highway Patrol when you need it? I swear if they just stopped those breaking just this law, they could easily wipe out any budget deficit.
- Tomato trucks – In the central valley, you have these big trucks that are open hoppers filled with various produce. Onions and tomatoes are common. Occasionally one of them will tip over making an unholy mess. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case this week. One thing that is certain though is that these trailers are rickety and in poor repair. Yesterday, I was not disappointed. One of them was on the side of the road, a tire had completely disintegrated on it, leaving a debris field about a half mile behind where the driver got it off the road. Yep, that is some spaghetti sauce that will be late to be made.
Fortunately, I made it home in one piece. Eight and a half hours of driving, 460 miles. Stewie got about 30 miles per gallon, not too bad!
