Let me tell you the story of the little girl who sat in traffic for an hour and a half to go about twenty miles. TWENTY MILES.
It’s enough to make a girl scream. In fact, I think she did. A few times.
The thing is, it’s not like this day that the little girl was forced to sit in especially atrocious traffic was any different from any other day that she sat in traffic and made it in at least half an hour earlier.
Oh. Wait.
So, this little girl, she lives in Southern California and, being that Southern California is a desert, there are many long months where the sky is blue and the clouds hold back and the breeze is pleasant as all the little worker ants drive their cars along the freeways to work and school and play.
And then October 15th hits, and the news says that the rainy season has officially begun and then the next day it starts raining and doesn’t stop for the whole winter. And all the little people in their big SUVs forget what it is to drive in the rain and start freaking out and make a way bigger deal then they need to and create heinous traffic jams that make little girls half an hour late to work and ruin the whole day in the process.
It’s only rain for Christ’s sake. RAIN. Water. Count your blessings that you don’t live in a snowy climate, learn to drive, and quit gettin’ in the frickin’ way.
Oh, the conclusion to the story? The rage in this poor little girl’s head grew and grew to the point of bursting, and with one single scream directed to the heavens, she conducted all of her magical powers to incinerate all freeways (and the drivers on them) in a matter of seconds. She of course left herself intact, and with the new lack of traffic drove herself the rest of the way to work in a record time, with enough time leftover to stop for a bagel along the way, as she had forgotten to eat any breakfast that morning.
THE END
yeah, that does suck. however, i regularly sit in traffic for over and hour and only go about 20 miles. In fact, just about every time I go down to the office in Orange, it happens. It’s called the 57 and 60 interchange. So, at least you could blame the rain for your traffic. My traffic is due to poor planning on CalTrans’ part and slow building of the new interchange.
It’s a general complaint, I’ve found, from people that live in any state that has rain or snow that So. Cal. residents don’t know how to drive in the rain, SUV or no.
Last night one of the clerks, who peels out of the parking lot somewhat often, decided to perform this feat once more, but this time on a wet driveway. If you’ve been to the shop, you knw the driveway is somewhat steep. He lost control, and drove to the right, down into the bushes and crashed into the guard rail of a patio. Dumb ass.
Ha, that’s great.
Patrick, I feel your pain. Seriously – terrorists, schmerrorists. SoCal had best be watching out for *me* when I kill the masses just to relieve traffic. =P
Well, this from a girl who gets road rage quite easily anyway…ho hum.
Hahah. I am glad I am back in the saftey and security of Tulsa, where people only freak out like that on the 3 or 4 times it snows here. Sadly, these people should see it oft enough that they should know how to drive in it.
Nice story Loop. I love it when someone showing off gets burned.
road rage will end your life early. for the past couple of years, i have worked in some seriously shitty locations that bring with them a lot of traffic. because of this, i have become extremely easy going when it comes to driving for work. i avoid getting mad at individuals and i never get all full of rage when i am stuck in traffic. not only does this keep me from getting into rage-sparked accidents, but it also just makes the drive easier. listen to talk-radio or something soothing instead.
Well, luckily I can control my rage. I don’t act on it other than to scream and yell. It’s very cathartic, I can’t get anywhere in my car in the damn traffic, but I can scream my head off all I want. Heh.
seriously…its just a little water. for fucks sake. drive. dont drive 5 miles and hour on foothill when theres NOBODY IN FRONT OF YOU. does everyone just go retarded when it rains? dont get me wrong, im all about safety, and if its safer to drive slower or take that turn a bit more cafefully then go for it….but dont be an ass about it. geez it rains for a couple of days and we get all crazed. stupid people….stupid god.
Part of the problem right now has to do with our lack of rain for 6 months! The roads are covered with a coating of oil and anything else dropped from the undersides of cars, trucks, etc–as well as all that is tossed, thrown or upchucked out the windows! None of this has washed away for the past six months. Instead it has formed a coating over the asphalt. Check out what happens when you put oily furniture polish on a table and then splatter some water on top of it. So all these accidents are happening because most of these fools out there don’t recognize that their tires are floating over this layer and that stopping must be anticipated before the last minute!
We are also getting totally dumped on with this particular storm. It’s not just our usual first of the season rain–it’s a monster storm! Based on the level of the water in my pool before and after, I would estimate we’ve gotten close to 5″ of rain so far. Isn’t an inch of rain equivalent to something like a foot of snow?
Yes, it’s something ridiculous…three inches, four inches, something. It sure isn’t stopping, that there rain.
And as far as people not being jackasses in rain, I guess I was just spoiled by all that practice I got, living on the East Coast. Sigh.
And only two hours and forty five minutes before I get to do it all again. Poo.
I got on the 210 last night about about 1 am going westbound from Sierra Madre. It was pouring. down. rain.
My traction control indicator was on almost non-stop, and it wouldn’t let me get over about 55 mph (kept cutting the power to the wheels.)
It was a blast! Except when I hit the area by the Altadena on ramp. There had to have been a foot and a half of water on the ground. I’m sure the spray up, over, and around my car was impressive on the outside. It slowed me down to about 35. The truck looming in my rearview was quite disconcerting. ;)
Well yeah, when you can’t see the road or the lights of the car in front of you it’s a bit unnerving. Traction Control Indicator? That sounds nifty.
I can testify to the slime on the roads out there as well. My rental didn’t have any washer fluid in it, so when driving down from Santa Barbara, my vision was obscured the entire way back to Pasadena by a blurry oily blob
Oh, Phil, always livin’ on the edge…good thing that you *have* a traction control indicator, or we might lose you forever. ;)