L.A. has such horrible and rude drivers, people, etc (San Diego: closing, live)

[Fontucky]

So I can assume you won't be gracing the area with your presence again? Ever? Hopefully?

But I know you'll be back to the forum to complain... your type just can't stay away.

[JohnG72]

I don't really have much of an issue with people speeding up and keeping me from merging anymore. With my compact, I basically slow down until there is an opening. I always signal and am not afraid to throw myself in front of another car if traffic is moving 30 mph or less. In my sports coupe, if someone won't let me in, I just speed up and fly past them. I will admit I take pleasure in the occasions where I am able to get just past the person, all while they are flooring it, and cut them off. I don't slam on my brakes, but I do slow to a crawl and then speed away when they try to LOL catch up to me.

[Cubancoffee]

I've lived for extended periods in some big cities (Phoenix, Atlanta, Miami, Houston) and L.A. drivers are by far the best ... though, honestly, nobody anywhere drives as well as I do.

[FLIGHTSIMMER]

Aggressive driving is the LA way get used to it, it is survival of the fittest out there.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by jksouthbay88

Here's one thing you should get used to if you don't live or drive in LA a lot:the lack of Left Turn Arrows.
How to Make a Left Turn in Los Angeles | eHow.com

Cool, their are directions for how to drive in LA? I never knew it was an issue. I just want to know what happens when we drive in some other area? Can we make a left turn in other cities like we do in LA?

[415_s2k]

I learned to drive in Boston, and two years later, I moved to LA.

I saw more literal road rage (i.e., coming to blows, etc) in Boston, but encountered more aggression in LA, definitely. Three days after I moved there, a guy came up behind me in an Expedition, put his high beams on, and rode my bumper up La Cienega near all the wells. He pulled up alongside me at the light and started screaming, "I'M GONNA SEND YOU BACK TO BOSTON IN A BODY BAG!" (I still had Mass plates on since it was my third day there). My ex in the passenger's seat shouted, "what's your problem?" and he responded by saying, "YOU BETTER SHUT YOUR ***** GIRLFRIEND UP BEFORE I SHUT HER UP FOR YOU! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" I looked at him, shrugged, and observed: "A small, middle-aged white dude in a big truck, wearing polar fleece?" Then I laughed at him and rolled up my window, which caused him to start shrieking. Then, he tried to run me off the road...

I had people constantly coming up on the right at ridiculious speeds to cut me off in intersections, and got hit three times because of this. I had a dude follow me down Lincoln from around LMU, all the way to the 10e onramp, screaming at me that he was going to kill me because he did the whole cut-you-off-from-the-right thing and I honked at him because he made me jam on my brakes. I finally yelled back, told him he looked like Moby, and that if he wanted to try to kill me I'd be happy to pull over and watch him try (he turned around immedeately after this).

I was driving one morning by Dockweiler and someone inexplicably pulled alongside me, revved their engine, brake checked me, and flipped me the bird. They then brake checked me again, and I hit their bumper. When we pulled over, she was in her car crying and on the phone with the police, saying that I threatened to kill her. The cops (thankfully) didn't believe her, but she never answered why she felt the need to flip me off and brake check me.

I never had such unnecessary, out-of-nowhere acts of driving aggression....

[readymade]

I've lived in LA, Boston & Austin and yeah... I'd rather drive in LA than anywhere else.

That thing where if you put on your blinker... that signals the person in the next lane to speed up so you can't get over? That's totally Boston. I lived in the LA area for almost 10 years, and I don't really remember that happening that much. Happens ALL the time in Boston. I don't even bother putting on my blinker until the last second any more because of it.

What DID happen in LA a few times was where I'd be driving along in my lane on the freeway and the person directly next to me just.... decides to "be" in my lane. No blinker. Doesn't even look. Just goes into my lane. This has happened several times and it was just lucky that there was no one in the lane on the other side of me or there would have been a major accident as I've had to swerve to avoid the first car.

I found that almost everyone I knew in Austin smoked pot and practically everyone there drives like they're high. I once sat behind someone as the light turned green, then red, then green, then red, then green before they finally went. Maddening. I saw so many accidents happen there. It was a truly terrifying place to drive.

Meanwhile, Boston (where I grew up) is the most aggressive place I've ever driven (except maybe NYC).

Driving in LA is heaven compared to the other two.

[ledabout]

Originally Posted by TheRickShawMan

I just wanted to say that L.A. drivers tend to be rude, mean and discourteous. I don't know who to describe it. But when you turn on your blinkers, they cut you off deliberately. People also love to flip the bird here.

My mom, brother and I were driving and filming the beaches near Redondo Beach, and a car pulls up alongside us and starts to flick their middle fingers at the camera.

I don't know. People are just shady and unprofessional here.

I keep hearing this, yet equivalent amounts of time spent in places like Miami and New England indicated to me that this is not the case. To me LA was much more polite than either of the other areas.

[Escort Rider]

Despite all the divisiveness we experience as a nation, I'm so glad there is one thing we can all agree on: Whatever people's gender, race, age, socio-economic status, religion, or educational level, they are all convinced that they are above average drivers.

[readymade]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

Despite all the divisiveness we experience as a nation, I'm so glad there is one thing we can all agree on: Whatever people's gender, race, age, socio-economic status, religion, or educational level, they are all convinced that they are above average drivers.

Hee hee... good point. Or rather, we can all agree that everyone ELSE is a horrible driver.

Honestly, wherever I happen to be living is the "worst place I've ever driven."