I've never really admitted this to anyone, but something I worry about from time to time are idiot transplants who move to Los Angeles from other parts of the country and dilute the quality of driving there. Growing up, my conception of Southern California drivers was this: aggressive, but generally competent and more courteous than any other part of the country.
Moral of the story: Don't DWI (Drive While Idiotic).
Case in point: In the Los Angeles metro area, when someone in the next lane flips on their turn signal and wants to merge into your lane, what is the right thing to do? The answer is positively revolutionary: you YIELD.
Amazing, right? And what happens in every other part of the country? You speed up, as if out of spite. Like you would lose your place in line or something if you let someone in before you.
I've shared this observation with a bunch of people, especially non-Angelenos, and they insist that Los Angeles drivers are just as obnoxious as those in other parts of the country. I disagree and am willing to bet that anyone in LA, who does not yield when you flip your signal to get into their lane, is a transplant from another state (including the Bay Area).
When driving here in the Bay Area, I hate to admit that I usually adopt this abhorrent practice of speeding up to avoid letting people into my lane. I rationalize it by being late to everything. But once in a while I get to feeling evangelical (setting a good example and all), and when someone signals to merge into my lane, I slow down to yield. This usually results in much confusion on the part of the other driver, who pauses and makes no move to merge, though their signal light is still blinking. And I have to motion frantically to them and yell "GO, you mofo!"
But if that person yields to another driver the next time someone wants to merge into his lane, then it was worth it!
_________________________ The other thing that really frustrates me about Bay Area drivers is when I'm driving at a steady speed of about 35-40 mph on a surface road, and I approach an intersection, and I see a car at the intersection that looks like it is going to make a right turn into my lane. Now, most people who have a decent sense of safety will opt to wait until the coast is completely clear before making a right turn (or any kind of turn). I definitely make sure there are no oncoming cars before I make any sort of turn. But what to many Bay Area drivers do? Of course, they take a chance and turn right into my lane when they CLEARLY don't have enough room to accelerate. This causes me (and often the car behind me) to slow way the heck down in order to avoid rear-ending the retard who made the right turn. It's not only an obnoxious thing to do, but it's also totally stupid and dangerous. It's these kinds of blockheaded maneuvers that cause accidents. My parents always say it takes only 1 idiot to cause an accident. They are great drivers, so I'm inclined to agree with them.
_________________________ The other thing that really frustrates me about Bay Area drivers is when I'm driving at a steady speed of about 35-40 mph on a surface road, and I approach an intersection, and I see a car at the intersection that looks like it is going to make a right turn into my lane. Now, most people who have a decent sense of safety will opt to wait until the coast is completely clear before making a right turn (or any kind of turn). I definitely make sure there are no oncoming cars before I make any sort of turn. But what to many Bay Area drivers do? Of course, they take a chance and turn right into my lane when they CLEARLY don't have enough room to accelerate. This causes me (and often the car behind me) to slow way the heck down in order to avoid rear-ending the retard who made the right turn. It's not only an obnoxious thing to do, but it's also totally stupid and dangerous. It's these kinds of blockheaded maneuvers that cause accidents. My parents always say it takes only 1 idiot to cause an accident. They are great drivers, so I'm inclined to agree with them.
Moral of the story: Don't DWI (Drive While Idiotic).