Lovely rant. You know, in CA it’s is illegal to not use turn-offs when so many (4?) cars are piled up behind you- no matter what speed you are driving. It’s also illegal here to drive while using a cellphone.
This seems like a problem with a simple solution. Sit out on your front porch and wait until you see a “dry patch” in the traffic. Load a bowling ball into your trebuchet and start zeroing in on the road. Wait until you see a metallic blue Pontiac Firebird. Lob a bowling ball through her windshield and/or engine block. Then, flag down a few cars in the queue and start finding witnesses who will eagerly back up your story that the bowling ball “came out of nowhere and struck swiftly, like the righteous judgment of a wrathful God.”
What do you mean you don’t have a trebuchet?
DrDeth, are you saying it’s illegal to go straight when there are more than four cars behind you? I know you’re usually at least a little bonkers, but are you off your meds again?
Hostile Dialect,
Hostile Dialect, Narcissist
You must use a turn-out. Where did I say anything about straight?
See CA VC 21654 and:
21656. On a two-lane highway where passing is unsafe because of
traffic in the opposite direction or other conditions, a slow-moving
vehicle, including a passenger vehicle, behind which five or more
vehicles are formed in line, shall turn off the roadway at the
nearest place designated as a turnout by signs erected by the
authority having jurisdiction over the highway, or wherever
sufficient area for a safe turnout exists, in order to permit the
vehicles following it to proceed. As used in this section a
slow-moving vehicle is one which is proceeding at a rate of speed
less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and
place.
Oh. My. God. You just described every bloody tourist that ever drove up into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Each of whom I used to get stuck behind on my drive to work. A pox on all flatlanders and other idiots who don’t know how to drive winding roads.
I must be misunderstanding the meaning of the word “turnout”. The Vehicle Code section you quoted is not clear about it. So, what the hell is a “turnout”, if not a turn? Turn != go straight, by definition.
Hostile Dialect,
Hostile Dialect, Narcissist
Go find a windy mountain road. As you drive you’ll see spots (often labeled turnout) where you can pull over and let people pass. They’re also useful if you have a carsick passenger who desperately needs to puke (speaking from experience there. Nothing but cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Oh yeah, that’s a good idea.)
I think it’s what we would call a lay-by: a short widened section of the road where slower vehicles can pull over and get out of the way. Kinda the opposite of a passing lane.
Oh, I know what you’re talking about.
DrDeth, what makes you think there are turnouts on Ventura Boulevard?
Hostile Dialect,
Hostile Dialect, Narcissist
I used to work at a college that to get to one had to drive the “cow path to culture” a two lane road. Most day it took me about a half hour to get to work, but I usually allowed myself 45 minutes due to the people who I used to call “gatherers.” I learned that due to the turns in the road, if the gatherer had accumulated more than 15 cars you couldn’t tell haw many cars were in line.
What really used to annoy me in these situations were the people who would insist on tailgating ME. If I can't pass the gatherer, tailgating me isn't going to make them go any faster. All it mans is if the person at the head of the line hits the brakes, for say a deer or a turkey (yes, this was a common occurrence) , I will have time to stop, but the guy tailgating me ends up in my back seat.Excellent rant. But Jurph, it is high time to fix your horn and/or your brights.
People in CA stopped using cellphones for a few weeks after the law went into effect - now they are back with a vengeance. And, speaking of the stupidity of LA drivers, I drove back from there Monday in a torrential rainstorm. 90% of them seem not to have gotten the message about turning on your lights when it is hard to see you. In the Bay Area we’re not nearly perfect, but I’d say at least 3/4 of drivers have figured this out.
What do you expect of people who put “the” in front of freeway numbers. 
Around here this appears to be the standard way of entering an exit ramp. Just last night I saw someone leave the carpool lane and cut across 4 lanes of traffic in about 100 feet to get to the exit. Og forbid he left his sanctuary a second early. I wasn’t sure, but he looked like a cheat to me anyway.
What was that?
:: Sunspace thinks back to his last trip on the 401 and the 427, distressingly few hours ago ::
WTF are you talking about?
Where does Ventura Boulevard come in? And, most of it has two lanes each way.
The OP is why I say cars just don’t belong on the road.