One Dead, One Badly Injured After Weekend Wrecks

Dang, all were 22 years old? How's that for creepy??? I'm glad that most of them are okay and hope that people will drive safer... I know that they won't, especially the youth out there but I'm still going to hope that they do.

I see this sort of foolish and aggressive driving more and more. It's a real indicator of where our society is going.

It's almost impossible to drive the speed limit anywhere in Santa Barbara without someone running up my tailpipe so all I can say is that there is something wrong when so many people are in such a hurry to get nowhere.

Sorry Mr. Claussen but some people have places to be. Reckless driving is one thing, but if you are one of the thousands of drivers who cluster on the freeway, drive well below the speed limit, and sit and stare at green lights well........I'm sorry but I'm going to sit on your bumper.

On that note, the campaign "Slow Down Santa Barbara" is truly a problem for our fair city. It encourages people to take their own sweet time, mindless of the fact that somebody behind them may actually have somewhere to be. We're not all pensioners here guys. Some of us do have to make money!! Furthermore, it increases air pollution as it brings our cars closer to idle, hence increasing carbon output. And don't give me this "driving faster wastes more gas and in a time when prices are high yada yada yada". The gas mileage difference is trivial.

With that said, I am starting a new campaign:

"IT'S THE PEDDLE ON THE RIGHT SANTA BARBARA!!"

Sorry Mr. Claussen but some people have places to be. Reckless driving is one thing, but if you are one of the thousands of drivers who cluster on the freeway, drive well below the speed limit, and sit and stare at green lights well........I'm sorry but I'm going to sit on your bumper. -livingsb-

Did I say I drive "well below the speed limit"? I actually make it a point to go as close to the maximum speed limit as I can. If one-laned Foothill Road says 35 MPH, I will go as close to that as I can, certainly not 25, or even 30, or even 32, I will keep it at 35 or whatever the maximum speed is at any other one-lane road.. I am respectful of the fact that SOME people time their arrivals to their destinations based on the posted speed limit. (While it seems most simply are in a hurry because they lack common sense)

Since I mention Foothill, I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about: I figured out a few years ago that if I am driving the maximum speed limit on Foothill, and a vehicle pulls out a quarter of a mile behind me, it's almost guaranteed that whoever is driving that vehicle will be riding on my bumper in one to two minutes. It could be day or night but it doesn't matter.

Conclusion: I'm going the speed limit and hardly any slower, and the person behind me rushes up behind me and even more ridiculously, won't simply go around me and have done with it. (And this happens all the time on the freeway when in many cases they have TWO passing lanes on my left side) Either these people are simply doing this because they are trying to be rude and aggressive, or they are so mindless (I'm thinking this is the case) to think about how dangerous and pointless their driving is. Having said that, who is at fault here?...the person driving the speed limit, or the person who is in a hurry and won't just pass me?

I am sorry Livingsb, but you shouldn't sit on any bumper, because THAT is reckless, whether you have to be somewhere or not.

Here is another thing to consider: If there is a collision, the person who runs into the other person is at fault in the eyes of the law. THAT should be incentive to not tailgate.

If some animal, kid, or vehicle darts out in front of the person you are tailgating, you will almost surely end up into their back end.

Also, with Road Rage on the rise consider the possibility that the person your aggressing on might be crazy and come after you.

Simple solution: Give yourself 25% extra time to reach your destination and you won't be so stressed out. It's also better for your blood pressure.

Tailgating is stupid, but so is driving obnoxiously slow. If there's more than one lane, move over! How hard is that? Remember driver's training? Apparently some people are just too old to remember the basics.

If you're tailgating someone because they're driving the speed limit, you are being a jackass. Not everybody can afford tickets or the insurance hike they cause, and it's selfish to expect them to take on that risk just because you're in a hurry. This should ONLY be a problem on one-lane roads, because in theory, slower vehicles should always yield to faster vehicles.

This is the town of the "newlywed" and the "nearly dead". Unfortunately, it's the latter group that writes our ~absolutely obnoxious~ speed limit laws. Tragedies like the above stories are not caused by someone driving 35 in a 25 zone - they're caused by drunk driving.

But keep writing those tickets, cops. The city needs that steady stream of revenue to fund their next wave of modern art projects.