7JPA246

Since I posted a couple of days back, thought I'd try and keep the ball rolling here... This clip features some idiot cutting across the gore point (well, at least they signaled for that) then getting into my lane (no signal for that, much less any acceleration) and giving me a chance to give my ABS brakes (thank GOD for those, or else this would have ended differently) and horn a run. Shortly after you see them braking way more than is necessary for a gentle curve in a transition road, probably in retaliation for me having the nerve to lay on the horn as they nearly caused themselves to be rear-ended. For the icing on the cake, they preform an illegal pass on the right.

Metro Police -1426274 -- 16-0184

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted, huh? Once again, not for lack of content!

So, for my first and probably last post of 2016, Here's a lawman who is above the law, running right through a stop sign! Well, Metro police anyway, but so far as I know, they're every bit as much police as any other department. My guess is they were escorting the armored van in front of them, keeping all those nickels and bus tokens safe! Got a great shot of their plate a few miles up the road, and was able to take down the vehicle number, 16-0184.

My Windshield!

Driving home from work over the weekend going North on the 710 when this unfortunate event occurred. Keep your eyes on the right lane, you'll see some debris coming across, then bouncing up. While I was driving, I saw a glint to that side lining up with the Jeep's tailpipe, and of course there's a loud bang. I thought it was a backfire, and it was at least 5 minutes later before I realized my windshield was broken!

Here's a few stills of the piece coming up. Looked like a disk in the first couple of shots, then it looks cylindrical, then like a flat rectangle.

5UIZ019

People who don't signal. There's a lot of them out there, and you just have to do your best to try and figure out what they're going to do. So, when you see someone following behind someone else who's turning to the right, then they brake and head off to the right, too, I usually figure they're going to the right. Well, take nothing for granted. Could be they usually drive a semi, where they need to swing to the right before going left! I was trying to get out from behind said slow moving vehicles, and damn near creamed them! Another instance where if there were audio, you'd hear me laying on my horn. I'm pretty sure they had no idea where they were going, because they pulled into the driveway, and then stopped there. I'd bet it wasn't the first time, too, because their back bumper was all banged up, and there's a dent on the trunk lid.

7AYS849

This driver gets in the lane that picks up for the 60 freeway... then decides he didn't really want to be there, and comes into my lane without looking! You'll notice I waited until the lane they had vacated was completely established before I even got in that lane. If there were audio, you'd hear me on my horn the whole time they are drifting back, but they don't register the fact that they are changing lanes having not checked to see if there is room to do so safely!

7EIG751

One of the quickest and easiest way I take to get home takes me by General Hospital. That is where this clip is from, and this is not an isolated incident. I don't know if it's because this is a low rent hospital or the caliber of the workers there or what, but it's a magnet for bad drivers! I would suspect this driver is employed there, what with his $60,000+ Mercedes and indifferent demeanor. He rolls right through a stop sign in front of oncoming traffic (must be in a big hurry or something) then goes REALLY slow (decided he wasn't in such a big hurry after all). If I were the upper management at this hospital, I would cross reference this plate and find the employee connected with it and drug and alcohol test them, as well as inventory the prescription narcotics that they have access to!

Runner!

I wish this was a better video, as it is you have to look REALLY close, probably on full screen and more than once to make it out. I hesitated to even put this up because it's near impossible to see, but it's there, just after the sign and just before the overpass. At around the 3 second mark, a pedestrian runs from the right side across three traffic lanes, the two on the interchange and the one on the ramp to the left. It looks a bit like he may be continuing on across the two additional freeway lanes after that, too (and I can't see why he wouldn't be doing just that, there's really nothing on the island he's ended up on!!!) In fact, that's about the clearest you see him, standing on the island at the very end of the clip!

I'm considering trying to find a better quality dashcam...

5YGA994

I've made mention here before about being in the lane you need to be in in advance. For your viewing here is a prime example of how not to do just that! Coming from the other direction in this clip, you'll see in the right lane of the two that continue straight a car that obviously should have been in the right turn lane. They block that lane for the full duration of the green light coming that direction. At the end of the clip, I added on where I was behind them and you can clearly see the obligatory "USC Alumnus" plate frame!

6FLU532

Here's coming South on the 5 at the point where the exit lane for the 60 picks up. Pay attention to the 2nd car in front of me, you'll see them drift halfway into that lane... then back. Very shortly after this, they head over to the right and lay on their brakes. I have no idea what some people do when they should be driving.

6UJN624

What is it with people who drive Nissans? I know there are a lot of them out there, but it doesn't seem like more than you see Hondas or Toyotas, but it seems like an inordinate amount of them I see are driven badly, dangerously and illegally.

Perfect case in point here. This is Northbound on the 5 at the transition to the Northbound 710. If you don't know, this is one of those transitions that exit to the left side. The lane picks up around 1/4 mile before the actual transition. You can see, the traffic is backing up onto the transition (they're doing construction on the 710, and it's most always jacked) and this takes place within a couple hundred feet of the split. This tool comes cutting in where there isn't sufficient space and then slams on his brakes. No, signalling your intentions while you are coming up from behind me doesn't make it allright. It was a close thing, just the kind of thing I wanted to get a dash cam for!

7DCH880

Here's a prime example on a cut off. There was less than a car length between our cars, doing around 60 MPH. At this distance, even my low resolution camera, his license plate was easily readable. Of course, he couldn't bother to use his signal, and no sooner is he in front of me than he's on his brakes. Just a few seconds after the end of this clip, he did the same thing to the guy in the next lane to the right, but that wasn't easily seen from my cam.

6VVT269

Just driving along & this Mercedes does this U-turn in front of me. I don't have a problem with that, so long as it'd done safely... that is, where there is enough room before any oncoming traffic! As you can see, there isn't. The topper to this is as I swerve around them, they honk at me! What's wrong with people?

5HFX969

Here we see a Nissan that gets in front of me and proceeds to drive fairly slow for a mile or more. I generally get in the lane I'm going to need to be in and stay there, unless there's plenty of room and opportunity to do so. Thus, I was behind him for far longer than I would have liked! That mile or so later, they FINALLY start acting like they are going to get out of my way, signalling right. Of course, I'm pleased and also thinking that they probably had meant to take the exit to the right and may cut all the way over. Oh, no. After a few seconds of signalling and not going, they suddenly decide that LEFT was the way they needed to go (could have just stayed there, out of my way) then proceed to slam on their brakes before cutting across the double solid white lines and gore point! You can see me swerve, but can't hear me laying on my horn!

4ATM738

This is one of those incidences where I wish I had a rear facing cam, too! The first part of this clip is at a 5-way intersection. Going in my direction there are three lanes, one for hard left, one for fork left, and the right lane either forks right or you can turn hard right. As I'm waiting for the light, I see this Saturn pull up behind me in the right lane... then back up, and get behind the two vehicles in the middle lane! Heh. The the light for the fork left changes... and they fork to the right! You'll see them right after the ambulance. Very dangerous, because the crosswalk on the far side of the right fork is walk lighted at this juncture.

I made a mental note to myself to try and get their plate number if I was able. Two cars got between us, but a mile or so up the road, where the video resumes, they both get in the right turn lane, giving me a clear shot. The bonus came right after I'd gotten the number, they turn right across the very wide double white line gore point! Whenever I see this type of thing, I think that they have no idea where they're going!

7DHP262

I was amused by this. The driver of this mini van, plate number 7DHP262, apparently thinks the proper procedure for exiting to the right is to briefly signal to the left!

7COS919

Whenever any vehicle has stopped at a marked crosswalk or at any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle. Cut and pasted from the CVC, section 21951. Yet that is exactly what the driver of this Honda, license number 7COS919, does, and in a VERY unsafe manner, I may add!

7DID716

I'm trying something different. I notice that the video quality is greatly degraded (it wasn't that great to begin with) once it has been uploaded via Blogger, so I'm trying uploading a clip to YouTube and embedding it here. More than I really wanted to get into, but...

Here we've got a Camaro, license number 7DID716, who pulls out in front of me and doesn't accelerate. Predictably, as soon as I get out from behind him, he suddenly finds his accelerator. Pulling up to the red light, it looks like he can't decide what lane he wants to be in! My favorite part is when the light changes, and he drives up the sidewalk ramp! There is a Metro PCS store in that lot, perhaps that explains a lot of the way this guy was driving...

5UMA433

Here's a spot of road that actually got fixed recently. It is a stretch of road that is routinely backed up in the morning. It used to have two lanes, then narrow down to one, and of course you'd always get people who would pass in the right lane and continue past where it ends, until the road narrowed to where they have to bull their way in. In the last few months, as you can see, they have eliminated the right lane. But, if you're a big enough tool, I guess that makes no difference! Here we have a Mercedes, plate 5UMA433, and if you were curious, the infraction would either be CVC 21754 or 21755. I kept the video long enough that you can see they get to where they're not moving, as well as getting a clear shot of the plate and their broken left tail light! I could have left it longer, so you could see they were not getting anywhere fast anymore until I turned off three minutes later!

6FDC146

Here we have a stupid, inconsiderate, dangerous driver. They're driving a Honda Fit, license 6FDC146. You can't much blame people for not wanting to be behind a semi truck, but check out the nasty cut off they do when they first change lanes! Next, they've got a ton of room to get back in front of the truck... and they don't! What you get instead it not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES they block up the lane, laying pretty hard on the brakes before they actually get back in the lane they wanted to be in! For a nice coda, look at all the empty freeway ahead of them when they finally stop blocking the lane!

8T57662

Here's the main reason I wanted to get a dash cam, people who don't seem to be paying attention while driving! I put the portion from about a minute before, when he, for no apparent reason, gets in the left lane. The only reason he didn't take me out was I was laying on my horn from the time he starts drifting into my lane!