So Cal people = rude & inconsiderate (Pasadena, Orange: live, law, dangerous)

[californialove24]

Originally Posted by sheri257

These posts are so ridiculous ...

SoCal drivers are more rude, etc. Like this is stuff is limited to just one geographic area.

Just as an example ... go over to the Austin, Texas forum ... you'll read the exact same thing there. According to them, apparently nobody in Austin can drive at all.

And most of the people who are complaining about Austin drivers are SoCal transplants so ... go figure. Over there ... they make SoCal sound like a driver's utopia.

In fact, if you read the posts in other states .... just about every city in the country sucks for one reason or another.

So take your pick ... there are people who will complain about everything no matter where they live.

No Kidding

[murlough23]

I was born and raised in SoCal, and I frequently complain about the idiot drivers here (sometimes I probably am one too), but I haven't really experienced "big city life" anywhere else, so it's hard to compare notes regarding places like NYC and DC and so forth. When I travel to other parts of the country, I do it with the intention of getting out of the big city, so most of driving experience elsewhere is in mid-size towns and rural areas. The only other metropolitan area of comparable size I've ever driven in would be San Francisco, which was far more maddening than any experience I've ever had in L.A. (though more because of the layout of the streets than because of other drivers or pedestrians). Seriously, a non-SF native should never attempt to drive there. Chalk that up as a lesson learned the hard way!

Factors that I think contribute to driving in L.A. being a pain in the butt:

1) As pointed out by many others in this thread, there are too freakin' many people here, and not enough space. This contributes to gridlock, which makes people impatient, which makes them more prone to be inconsiderate towards others.
2) Our freeway system appears to have been planned willy-nilly. I don't think we've cornered the market on Interstates which have an even more vaguely-defined exit strategy than the Iraq War, but we have more people than most metro areas in a much more spread-out space, so there's more room for more hackneyed road development. People who visit here - even some who live here - have an extremely difficult time getting to where they intend to go, even if they're very proficient with reading maps.
3) We're not far enough north to have to deal with inclement weather on a regular basis. It's not cold enough to snow here, so nobody really learns how the whole "winter driving" thing works. We panic when the first few drops of rain hit the pavement. This slows freeways to a crawl, I kid you not. People don't drive defensively in even slightly wet weather because they don't understand the physics, which leads to accidents, which leads to complaint #4.
4) Rubberneckers. I'm sure this happens everywhere, but we have developed a fascination with car wrecks and low-speed chases and the like due to how the news treats such things. So we can't help but slow down and have a look see when any of the above issues causes a wreck or a police roadblock, etc. This creates weird little "bottlenecks" where traffic slows down on one side of the freeway despite any visual evidence of a lane actually being obstructed. The cause was likely an incident on the other side of the road a few miles up that has since been removed.

Those are factors specific to Los Angeles (and probably most densely populated areas in California) that I would imagine differentiate it from many other metro areas in the U.S. Really, I don't think this means that people on average are ruder in California than other places; it just makes us more vulnerable when it comes to driving, and I think it's easier to label a driver an A-hole based on the apparent behavior displayed by their vehicle, than a person outside of a car, whose facial expression and apparent intent toward you, you can actually see.

Really, I think drivers here are more clueless than they are intentionally rude. Maybe the line between the two is blurry at best, but while I might shout "Idiot!" as a sudden, surprised response to a guy who changes lanes and jumps in front of me without warning, it's more likely that he just didn't see me than that he did and just assumed I would slow down for him. (Now, the guy who dives into the next lane while simultaneously turning on his signal, that's a guy who clearly expects me to notice and doesn't care that he's given me no time to react, and is therefore being an idiot, versus the guy who just forgot or figured there'd be no one to see the signal.)

Or take my personal favorite complaint, the guy who dawdles when making a left turn at an intersection that doesn't have a turn lane, causing everyone behind him who wants to go straight through the intersection to miss the light. If you live in a densely populated area for long enough, you just learn where to not attempt these sorts of left turns, out of courtesy for others who you might be holding up. I try to drive with that in mind - who might I be holding up? Can I get where I need to go without needlessly slowing someone else down? Missing a light and having to wait 30 or 60 seconds might not seem like a big deal... but it is a big deal when it backs traffic up to the point where people at the green light a block back can't even go. I'm not asking people to risk their own lives just to get the hell out of my way... I'm just asking them to pay attention and realize I'm there, so that they'll be less likely to hit me and less likely to disrupt the flow of traffic needlessly. I'm not one of those perfect gentlemen from the South or anything, but I can at least conceive of the common courtesy it takes to notice the other vehicles and pedestrians around me.

[JakeInSoCal]

SoCal People = rude & inconsiderate = stereotype

[scubashawn68]

I don't even live in So Cal anymore and I am offended by your comment.

After living in several other states.....I have to say that So Cal is still one of the best places to live and drive.

[murlough23]

Originally Posted by scubashawn68

I don't even live in So Cal anymore and I am offended by your comment.

I think if you read it as follows, it's not nearly as offensive:

(SoCal People = rude & inconsiderate) = stereotype

Meaning the belief that SoCal people are rude and inconsiderate is a stereotype.

But I'm not sure whether that was the comment that you were referring to.

[ugly mofo]

I don't like it when people don't let you go in front of them even when there is a signal already. Like I want to know why? Is it going to slow you down if I get in front of you just because I have an older car than yours? it's not like we are going to the same place and it's not a race either!

[ugly mofo]

Originally Posted by californialove24

Yeah blame all of So Cal on how you got treated you A**hole . Right a few people act rude then all of a sudden you think the whole Socal region is Rude.The Hell I hope you do get the hell out of here Fagget.

you have a point, people shouldn't stereotype, but if you think about it. This is the real world. This is real life and ANY one of the mistakes people make when driving ARE actually life threatening so before you defend your "innocent" southern california driver, think about how one accident could total YOU and ruin your life (as well as theirs).

I just wonder why people in OC, with their nice cars and pretty surroundings aren't more nice and appreciative at times, but whatever, that's their life. Like someone said before, that's a pretty sad life to live.

[breeze823]

Originally Posted by Westward

I thought the same thing about GA when we moved from "polite" S.CA years ago. I routinely get run over trying to back up in parking lots out here. And men will walk through the door a woman is holding 5 at a time before they'll actually stop to hold it for themselves. Can you say "learning to let go"?

Here's one I'm sure you don't have: People in GA stop in the middle of the road to allow someone - who doesn't have the right of way - to come out of a driveway, just to be nice, while you're missing your green light. Isnt' that special??? Oh yeah, and they cross over from right to left and vice versa, at the red light, to go in the direction they meant to go, but didn't. And if they're not in the right lane to get where they're going, why it's perfectly natural to just stop dead in your tracks and wait til the traffic lets you in. Why waste your time moving out of the way or turning around when everyone's being so nice to you, lol?

OH I have to agree about the parking lots! I think that only Californians know how to properly drive through a parking lot. In the 3 states we've lived in since leaving, you can barely back out of a parking space because you've got wannabe Nascar drivers barreling through not even paying attention....grrrrr...other than that I'm happy as a clam,lol

[steel7]

Their are rude people all over the world. ca though does have its share.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I just wish that the people moving here from other parts of the nation would learn how we drive in the LA area. Do that and life will be happy. I don't know how they drive in Nashville, Atlanta, New York City, Dallas, Denver, or Seattle. From what I hear all those places have their own style of driving. Chances are I would look like a fool entering the roadway as I don't know how they do it there, only how it is done here.