One of the downsides to living in Southern California is having to put up with really bad traffic congestion, not just on the freeways but on the city streets, as well. That was driven home to my DH and me on Saturday when someone ran into the back of our car while we were stopped at a light. Fortunately, no one was injured.
It had already been a not-so-great morning. The DH woke up apparently mad at the world, me included. Then we had to drive from Anaheim to Placentia to pick up my new glasses, which I'm glad to say are wonderful. After that, we decided to go to the Souplantation in north Fullerton for lunch. We almost stopped at the nearby Barnes and Noble to look around, but decided against it. That was our big mistake. If we'd stopped, the driver who ran into us would have been ahead of us instead of behind us. Isn't it odd how one little, seemingly insignificant decision can sometimes have unanticipated consequences?
The traffic going home was horrible because of road construction. We were finally less than a mile from home when the fender-bender occurred. We pulled around the corner and stopped to talk to the other driver. He stopped, too, and said his brakes weren't working right. Then why was he driving? Before we could get his ID or insurance info, he said, "let's move away from the intersection," jumped in his pickup truck and took off! Sheesh, what a guy.
As you can imagine, my DH was furious. He had managed to take one photo of the man before he sped off, but unfortunately didn't get the license plate. NOTE TO SELF: next time someone runs into your car, get the license plate first, before you even say anything.
Two hours later, we finished filing an accident report with the local police. (The young men there looked more like Eagle Scouts than police officers, they were that young.) The only good thing to come out of the incident was a change in mood. Now it was the DH and me against the world, or at least the part of the world that hit us. I guess that's called making lemonade when life hands you lemons.
What's the traffic like where you live? I hope it's better than around here.
Linda
I forgot to add that My Town Monday comes to us courtesy of Travis Erwin, http://traviserwin.blogspot.com/. Thanks, Travis! Click on his site to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.
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14 comments:
Depends on where you're at, around here. Most of my county is pretty quiet. Some of the less-traveled roads are more akin to paths with signs that someone stuck up by mistake. And road construction makes everyone testy.
Glad no one was hurt, though that was pretty slimy of the guy.
Hi Linda,
I live in New York City. Manhattan traffic is ridiculous. I stopped driving in Manhattan about ten years ago. The rest of the city is hit or miss. I find that the least congested hours of the day are between 10 am and 2 pm, so I try to do all my driving chores during those hours.
Glad you were happy with the glasses!
Terrie
Road construction is an epidemic around here. You can't get from here to there anymore.
Oh wow. What an awful thing - I guess the guy with bad brakes also has a bad driving record. That sucks but at least no one was hurt.
Where I live, the traffic is insane. I used to work in another borough than where I live. It was a 44 mile ride door to door and it could take anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours. It was - and still is - truly awful. Over population, poor road planning and constant construction. "Congested" should be the name of our city.
~Debbie
Linda, sorry about the rear ender. Great idea to get the license plate number first and foremost. I live in Southern California, too, and know the huge volume of traffic at rush hour and on weekends. Debora, cute name you picked for your town-- Congested, New York. Kathleen
Sounds like this isn't the only congested area of the country. I like the name "Congested, New York", too. And Boston! I drove in that city once and I'll never do it again. ;)
Linda
Ten cars is a traffic jam here in Amarillo. I don't envy your traffic.
The highways are orange barrel land from spring to the 1st snow, but around here, it's not too bad (but more than I'd like)
Travis, ten cars = a traffic jam sounds like heaven to me, lol.
Debra, we get the orange cones year round, courtesy of the warm weather. Sometimes we can't even figure out what they're doing.
Linda
Yikes. Sorry. Rush hour is, of course, bad. But, other than that, traffic is bearable here.
Barrie, I've occasionally been caught in San Diego rush hour traffic and it isn't pretty. But in general, I don't think your traffic is as bad as ours. Not yet, anyway.
Linda
Traffic is definitely on the increase here in Orange County, California. Terrie, you are smart to drive around NYC between ten and two. I don't rent a car and drive in some big cities, particularly Manhattan. I do drive in San Franciso and Houston. Kathleen
The country roads are fine but around London and the home counties we have the good old M25 - often the biggest carpark at rush hour time - awful !
Debbielou, I was in London in 2003 and I couldn't believe the traffic! Of course, it may be less now. They were just starting to charge people to drive into the city when I was there. Thank goodness they have decent public transportation. That's one city I wouldn't want to drive in. I loved the underground, though. Mind the gap!
Linda
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