Southland Drivers

As a native Angeleno with more years of driving experience than I care to admit to, I would like to respond to Bindiya Singh’s June 30 letter. It is true that drivers can be very rude and selfish and I am sorry for Singh’s bad experience while learning to drive.

Many drivers do not understand that the middle lane in the road or the fast lane in the freeway is not the place for them to be if they are impeding the traffic flow. While they may be driving the speed limit, if cars are continually having to pass around them on their right they need to be driving in the right (or slower) lane. I am not advocating driving faster than the limit, but the reality is that most people do.

NANCY MERICLE

Rancho Palos Verdes

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The other day I was driving on a residential street in Fullerton. I came to an intersection at which I had the right of way. The elderly woman coming down the other street toward me apparently either didn’t see the stop sign or believed that since her car was larger than mine it was she who had the right of way. Thankfully, one of us was paying attention, and an accident was narrowly avoided.

When I confronted the woman about her disregard for traffic laws, she acted as though she didn’t have a clue to what just happened. And what truly bothered me was that I knew she was telling the truth. This incident, which is repeated on a far too regular basis across the Southland, illustrates the need for the Department of Motor Vehicles to implement a plan to periodically test people over a certain age to judge whether they’re still capable of safely operating an automobile.

JOHN McELLIGOTT JR.

Fullerton

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One of the reasons that I purchased my 7,000-pound SUV was to have a fighting chance against all those reckless teenagers out there. You know, the ones that speed through red lights, cut you off and slam on their brakes, or pass on the right. At least if I get hit, my family might survive a side impact from one of them running a red light. This is not to say that all teenagers drive like that, but I believe that the majority of them do. Hopefully, they don’t have access to a large SUV, or can’t afford one yet.

KENT DelROSSO

Culver City