Today on my drive home, I saw a car get pulled over about a mile behind me.  It made me think about how often I see cars pulled over at the Magic Mountain exit of the 5 North.  From the moment you get over the hump into the Santa Clarita Valley, the 5 becomes a fast ride.  It’s hard not to get carried away with all the speeding cars around you and I always have to be extra careful that I don’t drive too fast.  I wonder if I passed that very same highway patrol who caught that car I saw in my rearview mirror.  I assume that I had, and of course didn’t even notice.  Good thing I was driving the speed limit, unlike a lot of my neighbors on the road.

Just as I was thinking about all the cops I’d seen along Magic Mountain Parkway or Tourney road, I turned off the exit to that very spot and lo and behold, there were two cop cars there.  This time it was just because of an SUV that had to be towed, but usually it’s because someone got caught along the speed trap the 5 becomes at that point.  From Stevenson Ranch all the way up to Castaic, it’s a huge stretch of light traffic (most of the time) and motorists get too reckless.

I remember my dad telling me about another small speed trap area – that part of Magic Mountain Pkwy leading into Valencia.  The road is wide, there isn’t much around you, and you got used to freeway speeds, so when you get there, it’s easy to get back up to 60 or more.  There’s plenty of space on the shoulder to allow a cop to lie in wait and while I haven’t seen anyone pulled over, I do catch myself going over the 50 MPH sometimes.  It’s harder to recognize how fast you’re going when the road is so wide and empty.  You don’t have that much around you to gauge your speed either.  It definitely takes some vigilance to stay within the limit.

I couldn’t tell – did this guy just not care about how poorly he drove or was he too high too notice? And what did the other person/people in the car think?! Just gotta love LA drivers. -___-

This went on along the 405 South from the Getty to the 10! Unbelievable.

I think it’s really interesting how a car-obsessed nation chooses to use vehicles as a form of personal expression.  From the basics like model and color of the car to the ornamentation that is added to it, Americans really get into their cars.  And, in a sense, they really exercise their freedom to express themselves in more ways than one.  Oftentimes it can get pretty personal and revealing.  It’s at once fascinating and bizarre (yet completely accepted in mainstream culture).

Take bumper stickers, license plate frames, and other stick-ons, for example.  They express political views, personal life details, a certain sense of humor, or a way of life (among other things).  I see cars with bumper stickers supporting the candidate they’re voting for or advocating world peace.  I see cars with license plate frames joking about how they’re a spoiled princess or proudly declaring that they’re the world’s best mom/dad/grandma/grandpa.  I see cars with plastic stick-on stick figures outlining each member of the family – parents, children, and pets alike.  Then there are the dedications to a loved one lost.  It’s amazing the variety of things you can put on the back of your car for all to see.

Of course there’s also the license plate itself.  Everyone has to identify the state in which they reside, but many go beyond that and get fun backgrounds and custom characters.  In California, there is space for 7 letters or symbols and it’s amusing all the things people come up with.  I’ll have to compile some pictures sometime.  Most of these often take a bit of interpretation, since a lot of the letters have to be missing to fit the parameters.

Now let’s not forget the interiors as well.  Do you have a tassel dangling from your rear view mirror?  Or maybe a scented dolphin to freshen up the air?  Oh, and what about that flaming steering wheel cover you use and the Hello Kitty head rest covers?  Right… that’s not weird.  I never really understood people who had to cover up the insides of their cars, unless the steering wheel cover was a grippy one because the original got worn so smooth it became slippery.  Still, plenty of people adorn their seats with their odd taste in cartoon characters or cute little animals.  Let’s not even delve into the tissue box in the back with a pastel yellow cover and flowers sewn on top.  Really?  The Kleenex box designs just didn’t cut it for you?  It’s not like the box will get cold, you know…

Yeah.  Americans LOVE their cars and use it as the ultimate form of self expression.  Whoever knew that revealing these random details about your personality and preferences to complete strangers you’ll never even speak to would be such a popular phenomenon?  I learn a lot about the people driving in the traffic around me just with a glimpse of their car.  Truly amazing, and perhaps sometimes TMI.

Panda and I went to the LA Auto Show at the convention center this past weekend and saw a bunch of interesting things. Click for the full size shots!

Katana and her fiance came to visit last month and during a drive it came up in conversation that he likes Scions.  She and I were both appalled by this lack of taste and it got me thinking – why do boxy cars look so ugly to us?  When he first mentioned this opinion, we both exclaimed that they look like shoe boxes, so angular and awkward.  And that I think is the key.  You see, when have you ever heard of a designer shoe box?  They just don’t make them.  They make designer shoes and designer containers of various sorts (think perfume/alcohol bottles, branded packaging, etc.), but they do not make designer shoe boxes.

Now, since Scions look like shoe boxes, it goes to reason that they are not very fashionable either.  See?  My logic is infallible.  So it’s my conclusion that Scions aren’t appreciated for similar reasons that shoe boxes aren’t: they do the job, but not all that gracefully and they aren’t aesthetically pleasing.  Practical, simple, but certainly not the most desirable.  Wouldn’t you agree?

I have found that I’m not a big fan of pickup trucks.  Most of the ones on the road are a waste of space, since the owners rarely make sure of the truck bed.  Meanwhile, over half the length is the truck bed, so you might as well be driving a raised Smartcar for all the seating space you get.  Plus, a lot of them are open air, which is not aerodynamic and definitely doesn’t help with gas mileage.  Trucks aren’t that fuel efficient to begin with anyway, so it’s certainly not helping the case.

Of course, for certain professions, they are the perfect vehicle and can be very useful.  However, I see far more personal ones than commercial ones.  It’s not even like you can put people back there when you have a big group.  That truck bed is not a very versatile space – all it can really be is a trunk and people don’t need that much space in their daily routine.  I feel it would be much more sensible to drive a car that can fit at least 7 people if you’re going to be taking up that much space.  Perhaps they should make that part detachable!  Think of how much clearer the highways would be if all trucks without loads could just get rid of that tail portion.

Then again, the type of people who buy pickups probably aren’t the type who would want to drive around a tiny head portion of the car when they’re not transporting large items.  In the land of excess, it’s hard to get people to think more conservatively (in the environmental sense).  Oh well, it’s a thought, isn’t it?  I think either that or only having pickups sold for commercial use would be a good solution.  People who want to use one for moving can then rent them from a local leaser.  Now that would be a nice thing to see.

Have I shared this before? Can’t remember.

I believe it was a Honda previously...