Drives Like Lightning...

The Pack Mentality...

July 27, 2007 | Categories: traffic, road rage

I was actually able to make it into work early this morning (615am).  Now you figure that being that early, there should be little traffic on the road right?  If you do, you obviously don't live in LA or don't know LA traffic.  Rush hour begins at 5am and lasts until 11pm on Fridays.  Scary isn't it?  Yeah, don't remind me.  As I was saying...  While driving, I noticed another annoying trend among LA drivers: the pack mentality.  Now here's what usually occurs.  People merge onto the freeway and if they're by themselves, they tend to drive a little faster.  When they hit a pocket of resistance, they get absorbed into that blob- unless you're like me and try to maneuver around it.  Sadly, these "packs" usually take the entire width of the freeway (aka: from the fast lane to the slow lane), are 5 to 10 cars deep (or long- however you want to put it) and travel at the same speed (usually 5 to 10 mph SLOWER than the speed limit).  So yes, maneuvering takes a little effort.  The weird thing is, people try to block you off when you're trying to just get around it all and you're left wondering, "why??".  I just want to drive either the speed limit or 5 mph faster...  Is that too much to ask?  These packs impede forward progression and will most likely be the start of something much larger and more problematic: the dreaded traffic-jam.  Now we all know about my dislike of SLOW drivers in the FAST lane.  Why doesn't anyone just move off to the right???  It's like you flash your brights and they drive slower- not just the car in the fast lane mind you, the ENTIRE PACK.  WTH!?!  Now to those of you reading this, please be courteous and move over if you're in the fast lane.  Please yield to the more speedy drivers.  It'll save more headache and stress if you just let them by than having them try to "bob and weave" their way around you.  :)  Thanks all!

Read More