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Originally Posted by ranbar2
Another pet peeve is when i put on my signal to change lanes, some a-hole speeds up to close the gap so i can't get in.
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I thought for sure you would be from LA and then I looked up and saw Florida! Must be the same everywhere.
Out here, you cannot use your signal to "ask permission" to change lanes. You have to pick your safe spot, "serve notice" with a blink or two, and go. If you hesitate -- i.e., wait three whole blinks -- whoever is a few car lengths behind will accelerate to keep you from changing lanes. Like programmed robots -- see blinker, stomp gas.
This seems to be especially true if you are in the next-to-the-right-hand lane and are trying to exit the freeway. If you blink three times and haven't changed lanes, you can kiss your exit goodbye.
It's peculiar in Southern California. I really think we have (on average) some of the best drivers anywhere -- almost like you have to be, or else. (Best in the sense of being able to maneuver the vehicle, not in the sense of understanding cooperation and traffic flow.)
Best drivers, EXCEPT when it rains. After months of no moisture, the oil seeps out of the road surface when it rains a little, and these knuckleheads do not change their driving habits to adjust.
The few days that it rains each year, the commute from Orange County to LA goes from an hour and a half to four hours. Not because people slow down for the wet conditions, but because they don't and the freeway is littered with crashed cars.
Once about ten years ago, on a cold wet winter day, it sort of snowed/sleeted for half an hour. It was demolition derby.