Obituary: Five Icons of Etiquette Slain on California Roads

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joeekaitis

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Multiple vehicles struck a sedan carrying Common Courtesy and The Golden Rule, causing the vehicle to fly over a freeway embankment and burst into flames, killing all on board. The couples' children were killed by California drivers on city streets.

Famous just for being famous starlet Bambi Lohan Hilton Spears Dumblondski was talking on her iPhone and sending text messages on her BlackBerry when her champagne-pearl Cadillac Escalade luxury SUV drifted across the lanes of the Hollywood Freeway. The driver of the sedan carrying Common Courtesy and The Golden Rule was forced to swerve in order to avoid colliding with Lohan Hilton Spears Dumblondski’s champagne-pearl Escalade. Questioned about the incident, Lohan Hilton Spears Dumblondski commented, “I don’t know why THAT should have made a difference. I mean, you know, I don’t even know what a turn signal IS. And, hey, I'm a celebrity and it’s an Escalade. Doesn’t that mean everyone else has to watch out for ME and my safety, not the other way around?”

The sedan carrying Common Courtesy and The Golden Rule was then struck from behind by a pickup truck and flew off the freeway. Middle manager Dick Littlewurst who was driving the jacked-up Ford F-350 4X4 pickup with the off-road sport package said, “Hey, when a hawt babe wearing a bikini shoots past in a top-down Porsche Carrera, it’s my duty as a red-blooded American male to keep up with her.” After being informed of the victims’ identities, Littlewurst remarked, “Well, people like them don’t really belong on the freeway. In fact, I think California is going to be a much better place without ‘em.” Littlewurst later admitted to law enforcement authorities that he’s never actually driven his jacked-up Ford F-350 4X4 pickup with the off-road sport package as an off-road vehicle. “Heck, I won’t even let my wife put a bag of groceries in the bed. I mean, can you imagine what a broken jar of mayo would do to that paint job?”

Two of the couple’s children, Please and Thank You, were struck and killed in a clearly marked school zone crosswalk by a BMW and a Mercedes Benz. The drivers of the luxury sport coupes were travelling at speeds in excess of 85 miles an hour and later defended their behavior as justified because “the other driver started it.” The couple’s third child, You’re Welcome, was killed when soccer mom Heather H. Heatherfields failed to bring her Chrysler Town & Country minivan to a full four-wheel stop before making a right turn on a red light. Typical of California drivers, Heatherfields was looking left as she approached the intersection at 30 miles an hour and neglected to check for pedestrians entering the clearly marked crosswalk from the right. Her only remark: “Oh, crap, now I’m gonna be late and I won’t be able to get the kids’ Frequent FunTime card punched at Gymboree®.”

Plans for a memorial service were quickly scrapped as all of Hollywood, civil libertarians and most politicians suggested that the day should become a national holiday celebrating a new era in individual freedom.

The home once occupied by Common Courtesy and the Golden Rule was sold to another family who were welcomed to California by several state politicians. They are Rude and Inconsiderate, and their children Screw You, Hell No and Get the F*** Outta My Way.
 
this is why I live in flyover country.

As a refugee from the right coast, this is why I live in flyover country. They haven't been killed here...yet.
 
They haven't been killed yet in central California, either.

It's a function of city size, not state or area of the country you live in. People don't have time for common courtesy in big cities, but I have to say I see more of it in L.A. than in NYC, Chicago and most other large cities. The Bay Area (I mean outside the city limits of SF) seems to be ground zero for rushed, angry people who have something to prove, mainly because of extremely high living costs.
 
Joe, that was great! I particularly like the Littlewurst reference. Every time I see a truck like that I want to tell the driver I'm sorry he got short changed. Ah, if only those trucks were driven by equally beefy men, I wouldn't complain and they'd be maneuvering sensibly on our streets and highways with men behind the wheel who are secure with their identities and who have a big enough physical presence not to require calling attention to themselves.

The Dumblondskis and Heatherfields are a similarly loathesome story, and another hopeless one.

Thanks for nailing this situation perfectly.
 
What does it mean that.....

I drive a 50hp Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel Pickup?

We are almost completely devoid of common courtesy and the golden rule here in, "Let me drop off my 18 year old in the $60,000 house that I just paid $750,000 for. I'll be back in June to pick him/her up, but don't worry, I've given him/her a new BMW SUV, a Droid, my credit card, and 5 friends to share the house with. See ya in 9 months......neighbor."

I cannot get across town without at least one near miss, almost daily......either drive with my headlights on, or with my finger on the high beam trigger as if it was controlling the business end of an AR-15.
 
Driving.

I wish there was a way to encourage people to be more courteous in their driving styles. I drive a 1987 Volvo 240. It was not considered a swift car when it was new, but now cars of similar weight often have have TRIPLE the amount of power available to the driver. I just can't compete. My Volvo will still go well in excess of the speed limit if I want to, but it takes me longer to get to that speed. I've lost count of the number of times I have been run off the road at the end of too-short on-ramps when I could not accelerate swiftly enough to merge into the flow of traffic. This is mainly a problem in congested areas where the on-ramps were designed for slower speeds but where traffic now moves more quickly.

Also, turn signals aren't optional! I use mine, I wish other people used theirs. I don't drive by telepathy, if you want to merge in, I'll let you, just tell me first! Also, if you are driving in front of me and wish to turn, signal first so I can slow down. Slamming on your brakes and turning at the last second causes me to slam on my brakes (which increases wear and tear on my car).

I think that people in the US spend (for the most part) too much time driving, sitting in traffic, and riding in cars. I like living 10 minutes away from where I work. It saves me a tremendous amount of time, frustration, and wear on my car.

Okay, rant over, I feel better,
Dave
 
Todd, what has become of the clean cut Cal Poly good boys with their equally clean pick-ups? It sounds like things have changed for the worse in SLO-town just like everywhere else.
 
What happened to SLO?

The entitlement generation and their parents found us back in the early 80's. It's been a rapid downhill slide from there.

Combine that the "We don't want to offend anyone with a large check book" mentallity of the city council, and the PD, and you have what we have now; A city full of 18-25 year old "it's all about me" punks, driving cars most people can't afford as adults and packing the power of unlimited/unquestioned spending in their wallets.

In about '78 the City Council rezoned all the neighborhoods to make the lots R-2 or better, allowing people to build 2nd homes on the property, or developers to knock down a neighborhood house and put in a 4 plex or larger. All these 2nd homes were then rented to college students, as were all the apartments, and then the owners of the lots moved to nicer areas renting out the front house. 32 years later, there are no more nice neighborhoods where your kids can play with other kids and where you become friends with all the people on your block. Now you'll be lucky to find 1 family with children on an entire block...and they are surrounded with rentals and apartments and homes with 5+ college kids, their 5+ cars, and their 20+ friends. Guess how that all turns out on Thursday-Saturday night?

Meanwhile, normal families can't possibly afford to live here because there is no work, and no high paying career type employment unless you're a Dr., attorney, cop, firefighter, or work in the big prison or mental institution/prison.

In a nut shell, that's what happened to slow.

Sorry for the rant.
 
Yeah, SLO is bad, but it's always been that way. The side-streets downtown are so narrow, they have no business accomodating anything other than pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Instead, you have thousands of college kids speeding on these 25MPH streets, which empty out onto the "main" roads (Marsh and Higuera) which aren't much wider, and which have a constant flow of pedestrians jaywalking from side to side.

They've been talking about closing this area to automobile traffic for a lot of years, sooner or later a tragedy is going to force this issue.

BTW the clean cut guys are still there. In force. :-)
 
I was a City and Regional Planning major when I was at Cal Poly. I hated the school, which at that time was a babysitting facility for San Joaquin Valley parents who couldn't stand to send their kids away, and they felt the provincial and strictly regimented scene at Cal Poly would be the safest place.

In one of my classes, the professor boasted about how SLO county was championing open space and curbing rampant and sprawling development. From what Todd has stated, it appears they took that whole philosophy too far in the other direction.

I hated SLO and environs for a long time after leaving Cal Poly, but about 20 years ago I developed an appreciation for Pismo Beach, as it was still completely asleep and reminded me of the ghost town the now-boutique village of Capitola used to be in the 60's. But you take the good with the bad at Pismo. The reason it's still the way it is is because it's the closest beach to those who think proper beach attire is overalls and work boots.
 
Nothing wrong with workboots at all. I like a man in workboots as much as the next guy, but generally those paired with overalls are not considered beachwear. I guess I should have been a little more clear and concise about the Pismo tourist demographic, but I was trying to avoid any non-PC "Grapes of Wrath" references.
 

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