I took a drive today

Well, I took a drive today... from St. George back to sunny Southern California. It was an adventure. My dad and I drove today, leaving St. George where it had just snowed about 4 inches, on our way back to Agoura the good life. We were a little hesitant at first because all the places I looked, and all the news from people was that the I-15 was closed in a couple places. Shoot.

So we took our chances and were fairly successful until we got to Vegas. Then there were signs (those crazy electric signs that hang over freeways making people slow down to read them) that said the I-15 was closed from Prim Nevada to California. What does that mean anyways. California is kind of a big state. So we got there and sure enough it was like a parking lot. From searching around the various highway stations we learned that they were escorting people through the stretch of road that was closed.

In the meantime, people were shutting off their cars and getting out. I just don't think, no matter how long you think you might be stuck on the freeway, is it ever a good idea to get out of your car. That wasn't even the worst thing about being stuck on the freeway. Not only were people getting out of their parked cars, some people actually thought they could reverse into the emergency lanes and back their cars to an off-ramp. Well I am only guessing that was their plan. I don't exactly know what they would do when they got to an off-ramp, they would have to try to get back into traffic and then cut across three lanes of traffic to get off the freeway. Again, not a smart idea. In addition to being illegal (I haven't checked it out yet but I will) it makes it pretty hard for emergency vehicles to travel in the emergency lane if there are people backing up down them. Honestly, honestly! What are people thinking sometimes.

I may be in the wrong field!

So my sister sent me this email of a link to a website she got from one of her friends where people could actually post licence plates of offending drivers. It is a fun website and hopefully you don't recognize your plate on it. There are also people's stories about bad driviers they have encountered. There are some good ones.

http://www.platewire.com/

But from there I found another great website http://www.howsmydrivingmovie.com/

And from there I realized there are actually people who claim to work in the field of Traffic Psychology. First off, how come I didn't think of that, and second, I may have to change my career goals... no, ok I'm not going to drop out of school, move to Hawaii, and start working with just about the only only guy I can find connected to a school in the states on the subject... but doesn't that sound nice?

Park It

So the other day I was driving and there was a small little fender bender on the road... normally I try really hard not to pay attention to accidents on the road because it only causes more problems. But this time I couldn't help but notice the people had just parked their cars in the lanes where the accident had occured. Talk about causing problems. I am pretty sure when you get in an accident, if it is possible (the cars are still drivable) you should move over out of lanes to take care of business. So I did a little checking... the California Driver Handbook on pg 49 reads
"Move your vehicle out of the traffic lane, if no one is injured or killed." On pg 51-52 it also reads "You must move your vehicle out of the traffic lane (unless it is disabled) when it is safe to do so, if you are involved in an accident. Law enforcement may tow or impound your vehicle if it is left in an unsafe area and causes safety concerns." http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl600.pdf So I looked up what it says in the Utah Driver Handbook, and no surprise, there isn't anything in there about moving out of traffic lanes. Go figure.

Hands Free

So starting yesterday California is officially hands free. Well, hands free from holding a phone up to your ear. It is now against the law to hold your phone up to your ear. Still perfectly legal to dial your phone, or to text message (although you still may get pulled over for not driving safely), or eat breakfast, read the paper, shave, put on make-up, smoke, but no, can't hold the phone up to your ear. Honestly I am struggling with it. I hate the blue tooth business. I can't stand when people have those thing like surgically implanted to their ear. I can't handle it. So I am opting (for now at least) to use the speaker phone on my car. Good times.

The Finger

So my friend and I were in St. George Utah a little while ago, and while driving, we got the finger. Ok so not the finger you are thinking of. Well, my parents live down a street that one must drive around a round about to get to. So we were driving through the round about, and apparently we either didn't know what we were doing, or I don't know what (because it couldn't have been us really). Anyways, the passenger in the car waved her finger at us. An angry wave. Who knew. I guess thats the way they roll in St. George!