Cloverfield at I10 3/30

This minivan has swerved right, way over the lane line to turn left. My father used to rave about this all the time. Then the driver came to a stop at the bottom of the freeway on-ramp, despite there being plenty of room to merge on to the freeway. My father used to rave about that all the time, too.

Cloverfield at Michigan AGAIN 3/30

What's the opposite of a maladroit? The silver sedan is turning left from the middle, non-turning, lane, into a line of traffic that has stopped, and there is no place to go. It was a wild and wooly time this morning at Cloverfield and Michigan. I stopped to get gas (which was a death-defying experience of its own, but I needed both hands to drive and couldn't take pictures) so I spent a fair amount of time at this crossing.

Cloverfield at Michigan again 3/30

These cars have a red light, and they are parked smack in the middle of the intersection, blocking eastbound traffic on Michigan.

Cloverfield at Michigan 3/30

This motorcyclist came off the freeway, wove through three lanes of stopped traffic, and zipped in front of me from the right after following me too closely for a bit. For a minute I wasn't sure he would stop at the light, but he did.

Cloverfield at the I10 3/30

This happens every day, all day. Folks pull off the freeway onto Cloverfield and just pull right into the intersection, without there being any place for their car to go. And then the light turns red, and we can't get through. Fortunately, this morning I was in the left lane, and was able to zoom by all this.

Bundy at Ocean Park 3/30

The standard pull-into-the-intersection-after-the-light-has-turned-red maneuver. I was fiddling with the camera and missed the guy in the pickup who turned left from the middle lane here. Needless to say the middle lane is not a left-turn lane.

Gretna Green at San Vicente and again at Montana 3/29

Dang it, my camera battery died again this afternoon, so I couldn't get a photo of the silver Toyota Tundra that pulled a double-maladroit in less than two blocks! He turned right from the left side, and in front of, a black Mercedes onto San Vicente, and then did it again around a maroon SUV at Montana. The driver of the maroon SUV then proceeded to back up towards my car, and then sat there glaring at me in her rear-view mirror as I tootled my horn and shook my head in disbelief.

But we're all charged up and ready for tomorrow!

Pico approaching Sawtelle 3/29

I see a safe following distance; this driver sees room enough for his car.

Sunset east of Saltair 3/29

The silver Lexus followed the white Mercedes way too closely all the way from Barrington to Kenter. The white Mercedes responded by driving all the way from Barrington to Kenter with its brakes on. Nonetheless, we were all doing about 40 mph.

Strathmore at Gayley 3/29

Neither of these cars was in the intersection when the light turned red. And note the red car on the far left; he pulled into the intersection after the light had turned red, too, and then veered to the right to avoid being flattened by the black SUV. Soon all three cars were stopped in the middle of the street.

Pico at the I10 underpass 3/29

This driver was all over the road, driving too fast and passing too closely.

National west of Barrington 3/29

This guy pulled out of a parking space in front of me, and then moved slowly, very slowly, down the street, just far enough into the middle of the street to keep me from being able to pass safely, until he found an open parking space about six spaces in front of where he had been. He then put on his turn signal and moved over a bit in preparation to park parallel.

Bundy approaching Santa Monica 3/29

This guy kept slipping over the line, driving for a couple blocks over the line and then would slide back into the lane, then back over the line, then back into the lane.

Co-opportunity parking lot 3/28

While not technically a driving photo, this is indicative of a general attitude. My car is on the right; there is about a foot at the wide end between it and the Prius on the left. Trixie asked, "Mom, how should I get into the car?" I had the same question for her; she at least is about half as wide as I and she had more space at the passenger door than I had at the driver's door.

National at Palms 3/28

Both these cars entered the intersection well after our light had turned green.

Sunset west of Barrington 3/28

I kept clear of the KEEP CLEAR letters, and the truck in front of this woman on the side street pulled into the line of cars queued up for the Barrington light. Then this woman slid her car in front of mine without even stopping for the stopsign. There seems to be this unwritten expectation these days that at an intersection with a 2-way stop, the drivers who do not have the stop sign will allow the drivers who do have the stop sign to turn right into slow-moving traffic. And there are a number of them who feel that if I have stopped to allow one car in, then I must be willing to permit an entire phalanx of them in front of me, and proceed to pull their cars willy-nilly in front of mine.

Which, if you've ever SEEN my car, would seem a truly foolish and foolhardy thing to do.

Sunset west of Barrington 3/28

Keep clear! Keep clear! Keep clear!

Bundy, south of Wilshire 3/28

See the greige car in my mirror? The driver followed me at half-a-car-length pretty much from Olympic to Texas. That's about a mile, for those of you not familiar with the neighborhood.

Bundy at Missouri 3/28

This Volvo driver turned left from the middle, not the left-turn, lane. After the light turned red.

Bundy south of Missouri 3/28

Here we have the standard left turn after the light changes AND the pulling into the intersection when there's no place for your car to go and being stuck there after the light changes. Don't they understand this is nascent gridlock?

Rose at Centinela 3/28

The standard, begin the left turn well after the light has turned red. I guess if they didn't do it this way, traffic would never advance. But this car was stopped behind the line when my light turned green.

National at Inglewood 3/27

See where this driver has stopped for the red light? Oh well, at least he stopped...

Rose west of Centinela 3/27

The guy in the white car facing us is driving backwards, and did so for a full block and a half before shifting and turning left right in front of me.

Bundy at Pearl 3/27

Sorry for the break in service; I just last night returned from a conference in Las Vegas, but this morning picked up the thread where I left off. This guy waited until the light had just turned green, and then, signaling his intention, turned right. Yes, from the left lane, in front of the large blue bus to his right. Thanks to Marian, I now have a name for this maneuver: the Maladroit.

Bundy north of LaGrange 3/16

Oh the photos I missed this afternoon because my battery died! Like the gold Maxima that turned left from the right lane in front of the silver minivan on Bundy at Pearl! And the light blue sedan that turned right from the left side of the big blue bus on Bundy at Missouri! And the taxi and the Hummer that coasted side-by-side through the red light on Bundy at Olympic!

This guy? He was rampantly changing lanes, cutting folks off, back and forth, in a desperate attempt to get ahead as we inched southward. Despite it all he still ended up stopped at the same lights as I.

Kenter at Tuallitan 3/16

He had a stopsign, but pulled out smack in front of me.

Kenter at Tigertail 3/16

These trucks are all stopped.

Montana at San Vicente 3/16

This truck was definitely going too fast to stop for the red light, but isn't that too fast for a shopping district?

Bundy north of Olympic 3/16

Gettin' fancy here. Took this in my rearview mirror, so you can see the red light, and all the traffic backed up into the intersection.

10E ramp at Bundy 3/16

Carpool lane violation there on the left.

Bundy at Pico 3/16

This bus is stopped here. And yes, that's a traffic cop.

Bundy at Olympic 3/16

Deleted the wrong danged photo; the other one showed both cars that ran the red light here.

San Vicente at Bundy 3/16

Two cars after the light turned red. The red one was stopped well behind the "stop here" point.

Kenter, north of Bundy

This woman, with kids in the car, drove about half a block on the wrong side of the road before pulling over to the left curb.

Kenter at Sunset 3/16

All of these cars are stopped. But still!

Kenter north of Sunset 3/15

This car drove about a quarter mile at 10 mph without blinkers or brakelights or anything. Finally it signaled, braked, and pulled over to the side of the road.

San Vicente at Bundy 3/15

A double whammy. The silver minivan ran the red light turning left, and the bicyclist went straight through the intersection from the right-hand side of the right-lane-must-turn-right. Without looking left.

Bundy at Wilshire and Bundy at Montana 3/15

Bundy at Montana


Bundy at Wilshire

For both of these shots the light turned green and no cars came through the intersection and I lowered my camera, and then immediately had to raise it again to capture people who shot through the intersection well after the light had changed.

Bundy, south of Olympic 3/15

This guy in the expensive black sports car on the right pulled into the center lane way back when it was solely a left-turn lane, and drove about two blocks in the left turn lane.

Rose at Centinela 3/15

If she'd been in the intersection when the light changed, I would merely have smiled and waved, but because she ran her red light, I had to take her photo.

Dorchester, west of Centinela 3/15

This car pulled out of the IMAX parking lot right in front of me without stopping.

Yale at Arizona 3/15

This had the potential to be truly awful. The woman in the wheelchair crossed Yale, and the white car, which you can see the tail end of, did not stop for her. Actually, no one seemed to be hurt, and it was the wheelchair that boinked into the side of the car. And everyone just drove off in their respective directions: the wheelchair lady headed east, the car lady headed north.

Actually, to her credit, the car lady did come back and look for and talk with the wheelchair lady. But still!

Bundy, south of Santa Monica 3/15

These guys were doing about 30 mph down Bundy along with the rest of us during the morning commute. Note the guy standing in the cherry picker bucket in the back, about three feet off the bed. Wouldn't some kind of headgear be mandated for this activity?

San Vicente at Bundy 3/15

So sweet the look of frustration on this woman's face when she realized that she was trapped in her proper lane by the giant cheese bus, instead of being able to cut into line to go south on Bundy!

Kenter at Sunset 3/15

Forgot my cell phone, and had to go back, so we got to go through this intersection twice this morning! The bus was pulled halfway into the intersection when the light turned red, but the SUV wasn't anywhere near the intersection.

Bundy at Sunset 3/15

This driver must have missed the lesson on where to stop at an intersection. Or maybe she thinks that far yellow line is the one she's supposed to stop behind.

Actually, this car, which was parked squarely on the crosswalk when I pulled up behind it, kept inching further and further forward, until the light turned green, when it zipped forward and turned left in front of the oncoming southbound traffic.

Kenter at Hanley 3/15

The truck with the rolloff is moving backwards.