Hand held cell-phone usage while driving has been forbidden for some time here. It was announced on all of the major radio stations, in all the major newspapers, on the internet, and on billboards.
In ALL major languages
Yet I see people doing it all the time
I suppose they were in a coma while everybody was talking about the ban . . .
Drivers who continue to turn left across my path at very busy intersections long after their advance signal goes to red (and mine is green) leaving me waiting in a growing line through yet another light cycle to execute my left turn. I seriously leaned on the horn recently against one of these inconsiderate boobs and all I got was an expletive and the finger for being rightly aggravated.
A few years ago I called a colleague on his cell. He lives in Cali. He answered and suggested that he pull off the highway and call back. The laws do work for reasonable people.
Yes, I was an idiot bicycle rider once, years ago. I got picked up for speeding ( too fast for conditions) riding through town traffic on my bike. The cop was right to do it too. Now, my motor( legs) just aren’t up for the task and unless I get help from gravity, I’m usually going too slow.
The only recipe for cell phone use, is deactivation or interference while the car is running. Something electronic has to be done, that’s mandated in all cars. I think it could be done. It’s near impossible to monitor otherwise.
aggressive cyclists who don’t care about anybody but themselves, and are unrepentant
Back at ya, @ok4450!
To put things in perspective, I do fear an aggressive or cell phone using 18 wheel semi driver more then an aggressive cyclist. One dings my car at his mortality risk, the other flattens me.
Why all the hate for cyclists? we have wide roads, sure I ride alone, but most of the time I can keep up with traffic.
I don’t hate cyclists, in general
I just can’t stand aggressive cyclists
I also can’t stand aggressive car drivers
That cyclist in San Francisco seemed like an unrepentant jerk. At least, that’s how I perceived it
Probably in San Fran that is how it is with cyclists. @db4960 we have bike lanes, wide roads and courteous drivers and bicyclers. I have had nothing but respect as I am riding, and give respect as due as a driver. We all play by the rules of the road, we do not have a problem with that. ps anyone in San Fran want to send me some teleme cheese? Whole foods carries it, orderd 8 lb wheel but $65 for shipping, it is like the ice cream of cheese and I miss it so!
@RobertGift
"Mexican-looking drivers . . . "
Do you have a problem with drivers that look like they might be Mexican or Mexican-American?
Why all the hate for cyclists? we have wide roads, sure I ride alone, but most of the time I can keep up with traffic.
I use to bike a lot in my younger days. I don’t have a problem cyclists in general…But the aggressive in-city cyclists…that’s a different breed.
The laws allowing cyclists more leniency if you will on the highwys, comes from our states in inadequate funding of bike lanes, wider roads and education. It’s the nature of the beast. Provide cyclist more options and you can hold them more responsible. Ask them to share the same travel lane with a car, you must give up a few of your rights as a driver to them. After all, they are operated by kids and adults who care enough for their health to exercise.
I agree, aggressive cyclists are a problem. But, that’s like confronting an aggressive chipmunk. Not nearly as dangerous as sharing the road with a passive, pot smoking driver, texting a friend while driving a Sequoia.
Oh great Robt. All of a sudden having a darker complexion is a worth while ingredient to add to this topic. I have a problem with all red haired white anglos who drive on the wrong side of the road too. Please omit your bigotries and I’ll omit mine.
Men driving full size pickups. Guys, if you would not cut in front that close if I were driving a police car, don’t do it to me in a minivan. I realize a lady driving a minivan is a soft target, but cowboy up and try it with someone with a badge. 
"Mexican-looking drivers . . . " Do you have a problem with drivers that look like they might be Mexican or Mexican-American?My Mexican girlfriend told me to say it like that since I can't prove the drivers are Mexican. But she knows they are Mexican. (Even yelled at one in Spanish!) She said many do not read English and says most do not care what the rules are, anyway. "They do as they did in Mexico." "Rules? We don' need no stinkin' rules". Such is what makes driving in Mexico so much fun!
#1: Rude drivers who hate bicyclists. Yes, there are bad cyclists out there. But some, like me, follow the rules of the road. I ride to work every weekday. Don’t put that chip on your shoulder until you actually see an individual cyclist behaving badly.
#2: Drivers who accelerate into a dicey situation. They close up an opening for a car to enter the highway, tailgate and honk their horn when someone slows to make a turn, speed up when someone tries to pass them, or passes another vehicle then slows down below the speed of the passed vehicle.
#3: Drivers in the city who don’t even slow down to make a right turn on red. It endangers pedestrians; and I once saw a car barrel around a corner and smack right into a double-parked car.
I have a problem with describing how someone looks as part of a problem. All of a sudden because they look a certain way, that becomes part of the problem ? Like I said, beginning a debate on behavior with an assumption that a nationality is part of the problem, even if you can get a friend to agree, still has no place here IMHO.
I also have a problem with those with yellow caution lights driving Ford Expeditions 100 mph. I haven’t heard of one " Mexican looking " individual doing it.
I don’t have a problem with cyclists; only the ones (and a fair number based on what I see here) who think a public roadway is for their use only and for whom getting killed never crosses their mind.
The rider on a 4 lane moving with traffic who darts across both lanes, into a left turn lane, and then makes a left on a red light without even slowing up or looking in any direction, traveling along at 15 MPH on a posted 55 clogging traffic when there is a wide smooth shoulder to ride on, riding at night with no lighting and dark colored clothing, etc, etc. I’ve come very close to hitting a few of the latter.
During a cycling event here a few years back a section of divided 4-lane was marked off with cones; leaving the outer lane to the cyclists and motor vehicles on the inner. As I was passing the cyclists about half a dozen of them decided to make a move on those in front and went between the cones (instead of the shoulder) and right in front of me; leading to my slamming on the brakes and almost going in to the ditch to keep from running over them en masse with a Ford F250; hardly a Porsche when it comes to braking and handling.
They got the one finger salute with the window down and a very vocal questioning of their maternal ancestry.
Those cyclists are supposedly the more professional riders and are coached about the rules of both road and race in advance.
"I also have a problem with those with yellow caution lights driving Ford Expeditions 100 mph. I haven't heard of one " Mexican looking " individual doing it."
She was with me when a Mexican-looking driver caught up and passed in lane 2
as we were at 105 mph in lane 1 of the Interstate.
She knows better than I what her countrymen look like and we ain’t afraid to say the truth.
(No yellow. The authorized emergencyehicle has red, white and blue light bar donated by the police department.)
Though I try to be as quiet and non noise-polluting as possible, Padilla enjoyed blaring the electronic siren.