LA Freeways are NOT Free

LA's freeways are some of the most dangerous in the country. Each time you get behind the wheel of your car, you take a severe risk due to thousands of uninsured and unlicensed drivers, drunk and drugged out drivers, fools on cell phones, the list goes on and on. Honestly, the total disrespect they have for other driver's safety is alarming. You had better be alert behind the wheel on any major freeway in Southern California. One of the worst is the 405 - it is, quite literally at times, a parking lot.

I mean, really, there's a lot of clowns out there! People driving in gridlock, which is scary enough, talking incessantly on their cell phones. What's so important you have to be on a cell phone when it's pouring rain or traffic is bumper-to-bumper? I've seen people reading a newspaper or map (honest!) while driving on the freeway. Why? If you needed to find out how to get to your destination, why the hell didn't you find out BEFORE you left home, or wherever you came from? Why put all those around you in danger because of your stupidity?

People zip up and down the freeways in big SUVs (Hummers, Expeditions, Tahoes, etc.),oblivious to the fact that other cars have the right to share the road. You know the old saying: "An oversized vehicle means an undersized something else". I agree. lol It seems if these guys drive a bigger vehicle, it makes them feel better about themselves. I've heard them say they enjoy sitting up high and looking down on other cars. Oh, okay. Little things please little minds.

Some of the very worst are illegal immigrants behind the wheel in raggedy cars. If they hit you (and they frequently do), they leave the scene of the accident, esp. if someone's been injured, and flee across the border where they blend into the local populace. This costs honest insured drivers millions of dollars a year! If they do happen to stop, they claim not to know how to speak English and then you know for sure they're uninsured. WHY is it I have to have a valid license, registration and insurance and all these people do not? It's truly pathetic. The bad part is, it's only going to get worse.

Let's not forget those in so-called luxury vehicles, i.e., Mercedes, Audis, Jaguars and Porsches. They dip in and out of traffic because they can. Just because you have a fast car doesn't give you the right to cut in front of someone without signaling, regardless of how fast you can do it! Add to the mix all the young drivers under 25 and it's truly scary. I live in a small city that has several colleges. The number of college students behind the wheel is frightening. I try not to go near those colleges but can't keep those drivers away from my street. (Shudder)!

After driving on these freeways for over thirty years, I can understand how road rage could happen if you are not a stable, rational person. I swear, these fools make you want to start carrying a gun!