Road rage, LA Times style

A Ralph Vartabedian has written an interesting story for the LA Times about improving our driving, which is really important in LA, where the freeway system simply doesn't work. There aren't enough roads for the 20 million or so cars. Naturally, I disagree with a couple of points in the Top Ten list of things to avoid:

1. Harassing older drivers. I constantly observe motorists, typically middle-aged folks, flashing lights, honking horns and waving arms at older drivers. Yes, we all sometimes become impatient or annoyed at drivers who go too slowly, hesitate when changing lanes or violate the law in innocuous ways. In general, expressing road rage is a bad habit and a potentially dangerous one around L.A., given the number of assaults that occur. But getting on the case of older drivers is really lowbrow.

It's "lowbrow" to be unhappy about a wholly incompetent driver? Let's be honest about this. A lot of older drivers (a high proportion, I believe) should not be driving. They are infuriating menaces and no, we don't have to put up with it. Time is the most valuable commodity, seeing as we can't get more of it. Once somebody steals it from you, which is what a 70 year old driver going half the posted speed limit is doing, you'll never see it again. Ralph's point is about harassing older drivers. What about them harassing us? Why don't they have the courtesy to stay home, take mass transit, get a ride with somebody, or hire a taxi? Who is being harassed here?

5. Tinted windows. I wonder what's going on behind those windows that are so blackened it looks like a computer might be driving the car. Wild sex? Drug parties? Personal grooming? Dark tints on front side windows and windshields are illegal for good reason. They prevent drivers and pedestrians from making eye contact and ensuring that the other driver sees them. And they give police a real scare during traffic stops. The fines for this violation, which in L.A. County run about $100, should be sharply increased.

My only gripe with tinted windows is I can't see through the vehicle when I'm following. Good driving involves reacting to traffic in front of you, and if that's limited to just the car directly in front of you, reactions are poor at best. We do our best driving, especially in heavy traffic, when we know what's happening up ahead. Following somebody with a darkly tinted rear window negates this completely except at night. Ralph missed that. He's more concerned with the possibility of "wild sex" going on behind tinted windows, when it's none of his business.

6. Wandering trucks. Southern California has the worst traffic congestion in the nation, but it has an added problem in the number of big rigs that use the freeways. Every day I see trucks that wander out of their lanes or are so big they cannot stay inside their lanes on curves.

I disagree completely. In the last 30 years I've crisscrossed the nation on road trips. Truckers are far and away the best drivers on the road. I can't remember seeing one of them weave, although they undoubtedly do once in a while. People who drive big rigs never do the following: speeding, except by a few miles over the limit in light traffic; drive in the left lane unless overtaking (I doubt if Ralph knows about that rule); drive aggressively. They also have a great system of signaling one another for when it's safe to move out, or in, and a convenient thank-you signal. Car drivers can use these signals with truckers, too. Ralph has probably never heard of how any of this works. Ralph may be smoking street-grade rock cocaine, I'm not sure. In my considerable experience, truckers are the only vehicles on the road who aren't fucking everything up for everybody else.