crazy LA drivers

i dislike it when people stereotype geographical regions as having a certain class of people: "oh, those people drive crazy in that city"; "well, you know how those southerners are"; "oh, you must be from new york." i doubt that people differ drastically, although of course some general, minute differences surely exist everywhere. of these, LA driving seems to be one!

• coming home yesterday, within my 5 mile expressway journey, i saw 2 car wrecks. each time the cars weren't even pulled off to the side of the road, and the scenario was that a car hit another in the rear.
• in the past week, i've almost been hit twice while walking across the street (legally; the AIM Instant Messager signal appeared). the last of which, the driver and i completely stopped and looked at each other... the car was a benz. i know this because the metal logo almost prevented me from ever having children.
• a co-worker has gotten in two accidents in the past month--the last of which a car cut her off on the freeway.

192-car pile up in LA:



my mom recently scanned to me a drawing i did when i was 6:



i drew exactly what i could see during our long van ride... and it epitomizes my family's driving perfectly:
dad: "no no no, we are fine! do you want to drive? i had plenty of time to get over! the car was at least 1 foot away!"

mom replies: "okay, i'll just let you drive! i won't say a thing! ...

(5 seconds later, dad does crazy stunt)

mom: "you need to slow down! how fast you drivin'-- 75 mph?! he's braking!"
cocoa the dog thinks: "where are we going"
chris thinks: "it's going to be a long day!"