Driving North on the 405 in Los Angeles County during the AM hours can be stressful and at times panic inducing. This experience is made worse by drivers who should limit their driving to Sundays on rural roads where they can exhibit their abnormal behavior and decrease the chance of causing an accident.
Today I witnessed the most extreme instance of one type of driver which drives me bat shit crazy. I call him Full-on Brake Man. There is no gradual slowing of the car with this guy. Instead, he cautiously maintains a very conservative, safe following distance, which is a good thing. However, the instance he sees any brake lights he stomps on his brakes causing the nose of his car to immediately dive downwards. This action also activates the anti-lock brakes and the car comes to a complete stop in a very quick stop-go-stop motion which results in other drivers to conclude that something serious has just happened outside of the typical 15 mph stop and go commute. The resulting domino effect is that everyone else jams on their brakes. Its a wonder that no one slammed into one another in our immediate vicinity.
Why is this guy on the road? Perhaps he was hoping I would rear end him, however his Acura seems new, so its hard to tell if the back bumper had recently been replaced. Or maybe he has lost his sense of depth perception and appears to only be able to respond to break lights and not be able to tell if the car in front of him is actually slowing. There's probably an infinite number of explanations.
Normal drivers recognize that brake lights will illuminate with the slightest touch of the brake pedal, this does not mean that a car in front will becoming to a complete stop in the next second but could be slowly coming to a stop. Its not an on/off switch.
Maybe what we need are brake lights that get super bright when the pedal is depressed hard or perhaps driver's like this should become more aware of how their actions are affecting others. He does share an urban area with 15 million other people. And should give up on living in a vacuum. In the near term, this abnormal behavior needs to stop. People living in an urban environment need to recognize the behavior of those around them and fall in line. Those who can not deal with the stress of driving on congested highways, or wish to do their own thing and can not keep from over reacting should avoid the big highways and keep to the easy streets.
Thankfully this guy moved over to the right hand land and exited the highway.
Today I witnessed the most extreme instance of one type of driver which drives me bat shit crazy. I call him Full-on Brake Man. There is no gradual slowing of the car with this guy. Instead, he cautiously maintains a very conservative, safe following distance, which is a good thing. However, the instance he sees any brake lights he stomps on his brakes causing the nose of his car to immediately dive downwards. This action also activates the anti-lock brakes and the car comes to a complete stop in a very quick stop-go-stop motion which results in other drivers to conclude that something serious has just happened outside of the typical 15 mph stop and go commute. The resulting domino effect is that everyone else jams on their brakes. Its a wonder that no one slammed into one another in our immediate vicinity.
Why is this guy on the road? Perhaps he was hoping I would rear end him, however his Acura seems new, so its hard to tell if the back bumper had recently been replaced. Or maybe he has lost his sense of depth perception and appears to only be able to respond to break lights and not be able to tell if the car in front of him is actually slowing. There's probably an infinite number of explanations.
Normal drivers recognize that brake lights will illuminate with the slightest touch of the brake pedal, this does not mean that a car in front will becoming to a complete stop in the next second but could be slowly coming to a stop. Its not an on/off switch.
Maybe what we need are brake lights that get super bright when the pedal is depressed hard or perhaps driver's like this should become more aware of how their actions are affecting others. He does share an urban area with 15 million other people. And should give up on living in a vacuum. In the near term, this abnormal behavior needs to stop. People living in an urban environment need to recognize the behavior of those around them and fall in line. Those who can not deal with the stress of driving on congested highways, or wish to do their own thing and can not keep from over reacting should avoid the big highways and keep to the easy streets.
Thankfully this guy moved over to the right hand land and exited the highway.
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