2001-02-09 - Morning
So according to a story in yesterday�s Union-Tribune, the San Diego Police Department has established a special detail to catch and ticket drivers who don�t pull over for emergency vehicles. To quote: "One motorist said he didn't pull over for an ambulance because he felt it was the ambulance driver's job to go around him. Another said he didn't pull over because he was near a hospital and that's where the ambulance was going, anyway."
Two things piss me off about this. One is that the police have to devote resources to this at all--that they have to take time and manpower away from catching rapists and gangbangers in order to go looking for morons who can�t figure out that when there�s an ambulance or fire engine coming up behind them, that siren and those big red flashing lights on top of it mean GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY! The other is that the fine is only $271. Why not revoke their licenses, too? They�re obviously too stupid and/or too full of themselves to be allowed control of a two-ton chunk of metal traveling at high speeds and I sure as hell don�t want to share the road with them.
San Diego has some of the worst drivers in the world--and I say this as someone who grew up in Los Angeles. L.A. drivers have an undeservedly bad rep--they�re aggressive and sometimes scary to watch, but they�ve got a competence born of having to spend almost as much time behind the wheel as they do working. San Diego drivers are aggressive, too, but dumb. There was no rush hour here till about two years ago and so no one knows how to behave in heavy traffic. Plus, this city has three distinct species of drivers who are stupid in their own special ways: old people (who think driving at 35 mph in the fast lane is burning rubber), college kids (who think they�re immortal and drive like it, too) and people in the military (who either think their cars are friggin� F-16s or have a three-day pass and are in a hurry for the drinking and whoring in TJ to get started). I�ve been here for a few years now, and I�ve seen 10 times as many people do unforgivably idiotic things with a car than I did in 30-plus years in L.A.
When I rule the world, something like 75 percent of the people who have driver�s licenses now will have them taken away immediately. And that means you, too, Miss Daddy�s Money SUV Lady Who Was Too Busy Putting on Lipstick the Other Day to See That the Light Was Red and There was a Gimp in the Crosswalk.
But on to positive things. Tomorrow is a dear friend�s birthday, and I expect much drinking, good conversation and sunset-watching to be had by all. And my narcissistic desire for feedback has finally won out and I�ll be putting in a guestbook here in a day or so. Watch for it. Write in it. Even psychotic Blink 182 fans are welcome.
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