Utopia.
Southern California has, let us be frank, seen better days. The onetime most desirable place to live in the entire United States of America is now an overcrowded, expensive, boggy mess with headaches more popular than the iconic orange poppy. Trouble percolating. Rage and dissatisfaction growing. Residents fleeing the Golden State for Austin, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee in droves.
The issues seem, on the surface, myriad and insurmountable but a light went on in my head this morning, sitting across from David Lee Scales, as he played a recorded call as part of our weekly podcasted chat.
The gentleman on the other end was commenting that disembodied spirits do not much haunt these parts because hell has become preferable to Southern California and he may well be right but the solution presented itself in a flash.
If only people respected the left lane, on the many highways and freeways criss-crossing Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego counties, then this southland would once again transform into a utopia.
The left lane, you see, is supposed to be a passing lane and/or the “fast” one wherein trucks, cars, SUVs with places to be zip unencumbered. These days, though, slow moving vehicles of all makes and models choke the left lane, insisting on keeping speeds sub-70, refusing to move when sped toward, flashed, honked, otherwise shamed. Are the drivers unaware? Self-absorbed? passive-aggressive? Insistent on forcing a personal understanding of “safety” on the general public?
Yes.
And imagine that all those aforementioned traits were suddenly vanished overnight.
Utopia.
David Lee and I, anyhow, discussed and also discussed fairness in sport. An enlightened conversation. Enjoy here.
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If you have XY chromosomes, you have the lungs, the circulatory system, the musculature of a man and AN EXTRA RIB. It’s because you are genetically male. Listen: there’s a human lizard in England. He lives outside. He has every inch of his body tattooed green with scales. He had his ears eyes and tongue modified. He split his tongue in half. He sharpened his claws and he acts like a lizard. He looks like a lizard, but he’s a biological male human. I don’t mind supporting transsexual people and I’ll call a male a woman’s name and support their marriage to anybody of age. But my support ends when a biological male deprives a biological woman’s ability to be a champion. Being welcomed into a woman’s world is gracious, but being accepted as a woman and then dominating them after they’ve accepted you is actually uncouth- if your female mind is encapsulated in a male’s body….
Rustie Rothstein
Very disturbing.
8 lanes just isn’t enough.
It’s also interesting that going 5-10mph over the limit has become mandatory everywhere. Why do they even bother with the limit signs anymore?
THIS!!! I kid you not, I say this ALL. THE. TIME. It’s called a PASSING lane or FAST lane for a reason. It’s not called the, “speed limit lane.” And it’s bad enough people are distracted while driving (eating, texting, etc.), but you REALLY have no business being in THAT lane while you do so. People don’t get, or don’t care, that they are actually impeding traffic in the left lane. You increase road rage and actually increase the odds of an accident, because people have to then try to figure out how to go around you. And, by the way, we are meant to pass on the left – not the right. So, again, YOU are the road hazard! I’ve also noticed that people tend to assume others are speeding, because they are too self-involved to notice that they are actually not going the speed limit. Grrrr… Rant over.
I don’t think respecting the left lane is going to clean the bum shit and piss off the sidewalks and walls of downtown San Diego. But I have to admit it would be a good start.
Technically the law in California, and frankly most states, is to drive in the far right lane and only move left to pass, and then move one lane left, pass, then move right again. When it gets more congested then you drive as far right as you can for the speed you are going. So if the far right lane is a bit slow for you, you drive in the next lane over…and even then move right when you can. The left-most lanes are for passing when the right lanes become congested. But no one, literally NO ONE, follows these laws. 70-80% of all drivers immediately go as far left as they can and just drive there, oblivious to what is happening around them. The other 30-ish% pick a random lane and drive whatever speed they want, often right at about the same speed as the lanes around them. Most of the time, using the “keep right except to pass” rule we could eliminate easily 50% of the congestion. But no one will ever follow these rules. You know why? Because we allow children to 1) drive far too young and with 2) far too little training or inadequate training. Driver’s Ed teaches the most basic info with no real check on learning. Most kids learn to drive from their parents, and most parents either don’t know these rules themselves, or don’t follow them, and so the kids learn bad habits from the very beginning. Until we follow other countries who get it right and raise the driving age beyond the riotous hormonal years, and require actual driving training with state certified trainers, it will only get worse.
Want to see another aggravating rule no one knows? Watch people at a 4-way stop. No one knows who is supposed to go, they just go. The only time they get it close to right is when it is very busy and no one is turning. Then it’s easy to suss out that they go, now we go, etc. But add a left-turn lane, and have some people arrive just before or just after others and it becomes pure chaos. No one knows what to do if 3 people stop at basically the same time and many don’t know that the car on the right goes first if 2 cars stop at the same time coming from opposite directions.
Until we require better driver training and raise the legal driving age we’ll continue getting all the same sh!t we see on the roads every day and far too many young people being killed because they are not old enough to understand the seriousness of operating a rolling weapon.
If only people would start getting ticketed for this…
70 and above for the left (fast) lane.
All other lanes drivers need to “fill”.
No lagging back – fill your lane.
Laggers encourage lane jumpers which cause continuous sharp braking.
Another problem are the tractor-trailers driving in the wrong lanes. They are by law required to drive in the 2 right hand lanes only. Unless the fwy only has 3 lanes then they are only allowed to drive in the right lane (also known as the #3 lane) and the HOV is not counted as a lane.
Just make sure you damn liberals leaving shithole CA for the red states because you voted for the imbeciles that ruined the state that you are running from , NOT vote the same way to the state that happens to be better. YOU are the problem!
Whenever I see a CA plate in my red state, I give them some black diesel smoke from my truck when passing them.
Moreso, US politics, from local to national level, were bought out by fossil fuel and auto corporate interests–we can’t even engineer cities that are car-free, yet we easily could:
https://www.whokilledtheele…
Its California. Of course they’re gonna drive on the left.
Hydrogen peroxide destroys good cells as well as bacteria etc.
It’s a powerful oxidizing agent and should be treated with caution.
Good God wake up everyone! It’s not the left lane rules of the road that’s being ignored. It’s the whole damned state making the 99% of Californian’s bend to the will of the less than 1%. These so called Liberals are anything but. Thier “Woke” Socialists doing anything possible to make you hate America like they do. America 1st went to America LAST the moment you put your name next to Joe Biden. His Anti America offenses are long. But almost every bad idea being pushed by this Clown, came from California. The border is WIDE OPEN, Our schools are being held hostage and he’s weaponized politics. I mean now we’re all white supremists all of a sudden. Good Lord, you anyone but Trumpers, I hope your happy, because you’re not gonna recognize this country when he’s done. You’ll be under CCP rule and rightly deserve it!
Otto, this your new burner account?
Hooray for treason and torching the planet and billionaire’s and racism and mindlessness and Trumpunk’s and fatuous Randist’s and apocalypse now!!!
The CCP is WIDE OPEN!!!
Learn a book, Beavis.
Some great stills and MJ grows in them neck of the woods as well!
I drive really slow, in the ultra fast lane…while people around me are going insane…I’m an asshole yadda ya yadda ya
This is the only situation when this is ok the problem is that half the time the people going slow in the left lane is what creates a parking lot. Your not an entitled prick when your stuck behind someone that would be perfectly able to move over a lane to let someone pass but chose not to beacuse that’s too much work. How hard is it to move over one lane to the right to let someone pass you are perfectly welcome to get back over after if there’s some one you would like to pass after that. Look at your laws. Hell go back to driving school the left lane is for passing. If I’m the fastest person on an open freeway I’ll still only get in the left lane to pass never to drive in!
Exactly. And it’s those of us, who try to follow this law, who they consider ‘entitled,’ when they think they have the right to take up the lane.
Why does everyone leaving California feel inclined to either tell you about it or write about it? Liberals this, liberals that, taxes, too crowded. Just fuck off and leave. Nobody gives a shit you are leaving or cares why.
True enough. I left California because my wife and I got a good jobs somewhere else in fields where it’s hard to get good jobs. Said jobs in a pretty decent place to live.
End of story, no backhanded bitter nonsense about what chased me out.
And if you move to California from NYC no one gives a fuck that you’re from New York either, so stop fucking telling everybody like it means something. No one’s going to fall to their knees and toss your salad because you grew up on the subway in Manhattan.
Remember when the entire TV industry moved en masse from NY to LA? Early 80’s? I love NY bullshit everywhere.
Just leave. Nothing would make us all happier.
And I find that there is way more frustration and danger with azzhats driving like mad banshee’s in the merging, slow lane. Big trucks too, everyone trying to bully anybody else.
It doesn’t matter. Any break worth checking is so chock full of morons that the experience has been crucified.
Have a nice day.
Those rose tinted glasses fitting snug today?
Word. Sounds like you made a great move for your family. Good on ya.
I always wanted a midtown girl to toss my salad…
I live and surf in Lennox head and often go to Byron bay .
Just compelled to say
Very good.
Bunch of unaware selfish fuckheads who cant be bothered to make a decision until they are a foot off the bumper. Have no idea that its the brake lights that cause the jams. This will not change as long as there are testicles and range rovers on the road