How do you handle curves on LA freeways? (how much, limousine)

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by jackie100

I drive an 05 Mercedes Benz CLK. An E-class would probably be more solid but I like driving a smaller car because I'm small myself.

Sorry, I don't like Cadillacs, not my style.

I'm sure your car handles plenty well. I thought of this thread today as I was going from the 73N to the 405N where its posted at 50 but I (and everyone else) was going to closer 70 with no problem whatsoever and I have an SUV.

[LASam]

Originally Posted by jackie100

I drive an 05 Mercedes Benz CLK.

Independent rear suspension so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Your car is also rear wheel drive so it is actually MORE stable in turns when accelerating since you are distributing weight to the drive wheels. The worst thing you can do is apply the brakes mid-turn because you will shift the weight off the drive wheels and potentially slide... though that's a long shot since those cars come with electronic stability control. Bottom line is that the car is physically capable of handling A LOT more than you believe it capable of.

[jackie100]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

I'm sure your car handles plenty well. I thought of this thread today as I was going from the 73N to the 405N where its posted at 50 but I (and everyone else) was going to closer 70 with no problem whatsoever and I have an SUV.

I'm glad I wasn't driving in front of you. You would probably be waving your fist at me.

[jackie100]

Originally Posted by LASam

Independent rear suspension so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Your car is also rear wheel drive so it is actually MORE stable in turns when accelerating since you are distributing weight to the drive wheels. The worst thing you can do is apply the brakes mid-turn because you will shift the weight off the drive wheels and potentially slide... though that's a long shot since those cars come with electronic stability control. Bottom line is that the car is physically capable of handling A LOT more than you believe it capable of.

Thanks for the detailed info.

[CapnHawk]

Jackie, all California freeway lanes are 12 feet wide. The only exception in L.A. is the 110 Freeway, north of the downtown four-level interchange. The Arroyo Seco/Pasadena Freeway was opened in late 1940 and was originally Figueroa Street. The lanes are 10 feet wide and large trucks are prohibited. Otherwise, it is mind over matter.

[coo77]

Perhaps you have a phobia of driving. You should check out getting experience and help in driving schools because you are putting your life at risk and the lives of other people at risk is you really drive as slow and are as poor a driver as you seem to be saying you are.

How would you feel if a family of five was coming up behind you at 65 miles per hour and didn't realize until too late you were going 45 mph on a freeway, couldn't stop in time so pitched out to the right in panic and got hit by a truck causing injury or death??? It is a serious question because honestly having a automobile is like having a gun. If you don't know how to use it properly, it is very dangerous.

If it helps, consider moving to a area of Southern California were you could get by without really needing a car for basic things. Santa Monica is pretty much doable via just walking, the Big Blue Bus, and Metro. Hollywood, downtown, Pasadena, Silverlake, Los Feliz, Westwood, and Koreatown are some other areas where you could get by without having a car and could walk of back metro to most basic things.

[E_Superhero]

Oh, man, I hope I'm never stuck behind Jackie. Luckily for me, she claims to have never driven on the 10, which is one of the craziest things I've ever read on these boards. And that's saying a lot.

[jackie100]

Originally Posted by coo77

Perhaps you have a phobia of driving. You should check out getting experience and help in driving schools because you are putting your life at risk and the lives of other people at risk is you really drive as slow and are as poor a driver as you seem to be saying you are.

How would you feel if a family of five was coming up behind you at 65 miles per hour and didn't realize until too late you were going 45 mph on a freeway, couldn't stop in time so pitched out to the right in panic and got hit by a truck causing injury or death??? It is a serious question because honestly having a automobile is like having a gun. If you don't know how to use it properly, it is very dangerous.

If it helps, consider moving to a area of Southern California were you could get by without really needing a car for basic things. Santa Monica is pretty much doable via just walking, the Big Blue Bus, and Metro. Hollywood, downtown, Pasadena, Silverlake, Los Feliz, Westwood, and Koreatown are some other areas where you could get by without having a car and could walk of back metro to most basic things.

Like I already mentioned NUMEROUS times in this thread, I have NO PROBLEM driving where I live, in OC as I mainly only drive inside streets and to Costa Mesa to South Coast plaza. I work from home and don't have friends/social life so I don't need to drive anywhere much since I am pretty much a hermit. The only freeway I take here in OC is the 405S to Costa Mesa and I have NO anxiety driving that one. None whatsoever.

I ONLY have problems driving in LOS ANGELES because I am not used to the roads; I don't know how to road will wind in advance whereas I already am familiar with all the roads where I live. Get it? I have no problems driving in Orange County, only in LA because the streets there are different. The roads are narrower and people parallel park on the street. I am not used to that as in most places in OC the roads are wider and there aren't cars parked everywhere against the sidewalk.

[Robhu]

Most safe driving experts tell you it isn't the speed of the pack that is so dangerous, it is the difference of speed within the pack.
With your driving habits you are creating a difference of speed within the pack. (Interupting the common flow of traffic)
Some people just never aquire the natural talent to be good drivers. My wife is one of them. She can do surface streets just fine but will not drive on thruway or interstate highways. She can make the car go, stop, turn, etc but she has never learned how to really drive a car. Like some others, she just doesn't have that inborn natural instinct and ability.
I have driven about everything there is that has wheels in all kind of weather for 47 years. I still ride a motorcycle also. I have always just seemed to have a natural ability to do things with a vehicle that some people are intimated by. And I have never had a chargable accident. You need to know your own abilities and have trust in the vehicles abillity to perform also and the limits of both you and the vehicle.
You may be looking at the road surface just in front of you. Look farther ahead. Look around the curve for as far as you can see and to the point of where you want to be when you come out of the curve. It's called hand/eye coordination. Look where you want to go. Dont lock your sight on where you don't want to go. That is target fixation which means if you look at where you don't want to go you will probably end up there. Use target fixation for where you want to be, not where you don't want to be.
I will not make fun of you for the problem you have with driving. Some people are good golfers, bowlers, doctors, drivers, etc, just because they have a natural given ability that lets them do some things better than others and the skills come naturally to them.
I ain't much good at bowling. Terrible at golf. And I would never attempt to do a heart transplant.
But I am lucky that something I love to do such as driving seems to come natural to me. I ain't bragging about it. It is just one thing that seemed to come natural to me and I have confidence in my ability and my safety record speaks for itself.
People are generaly afraid of what they don't understand. I think you don't understand your potential driving abililty and you don't understand the capabilities or limits of your car. It will do what you tell it to by how you control it. You need to develope more confidence in yourself. Your car will respond accordingly. That can be either good or bad. You need to learn how to trust yourself and the car to make it good.
Don't consider yourself and the car as two separate things fighting each other. Learn how to feel as a team working together. Feel like you are a part of the machine and vice versa. Try not to be just a passenger in the drivers seat. Work together as a unit. You are the boss. The car will get the job done if you supervise it right.
You mentioned something about being a kind of nervous person by nature. You may need some medical advice and treatment. You sound like maybe when you are out of your own comfort zone or in unfamiliar surroundings you have a tendency to be intimidated.
That is correctable if you get help.
Sorry for the long post. I am just trying to help.
I wish you the best in conquering your fear. Fear may be your biggest problem instead of your perceived lack of actual driving ability.
You may become a good driver once you overcome the fear of not being one.

[jackie100]

Robhu,

I agreed with most of what you said, especially with the part that some people are just born with an innate ability to be better drivers, like a natural instinct if you will.

About the nervousness issue, I think it is only NATURAL for someone who lives in the SUBURBS to be overwhelmed by driving in the city because it is such a DRASTIC difference.

Driving in OC versus driving in LA is like night and day. It's like living in California vs living in Alaska. It's completely different and foreign.

Where I live I don't have to drive over hills, I don't have to parallel park and I can make easy u-turns. Why would it be strange that I would get nervous driving in LA? I have never driven in such a "tight" environment where everything is so "packed" together; only two lanes, you can't u-turn, and there are people walking everywhere. It is a completely different environment vs what I'm used to. Where I live I don't have to drive across winding roads. I am sure there are PLENTY of windy roads in OC, it's just that I never come across them when driving to the store or the mall.

I will keep in mind about what you said about focusing on where I want to go instead of where I don't want to go. That's a good tip I can use.