DMV revisited, and some observations on the local drivers

[dianec42]

So I went back to the DMV with the form from my eye doctor. Now, here's the thing about this form: unlike, say, the Maryland form of 20 years ago, the California form does NOT contain any obvious statement of what the minimum requirements actually are to be able to drive, nor does it contain an obvious set of check boxes for the doctor to say "this person should/should not be given a license, possibly with such-and-such a restriction". Hell, I worked for the federal government for 4 years and *I* don't understand this form.

So I'm directed to the proper line and I give my pile of papers (including this form) to the very nice DMV lady. I then explain that I failed the DMV eye test last time (the big hanging sign AND the wee machine) so I saw my eye doctor and this is the form and they told me to bring it back so here I am. Does she look at the form and nod sagely? No. Does she call over someone else who might be able to make heads or tails of the form? She does not. No, she takes me back over to the wee machine and cajoles me into reading lines 5 and 6. With my bad eye. With, I might add, a frightening degree of success. Then she hands me my new temporary license and confirms (when I ask) that my proper one will show up in the mail some time soon-ish.

My guess? No one at the DMV understands this form either.


I have seen a great deal of strange driving in the past few days, well above and beyond the normal California insanities. I've seen a Pennsylvania driver speeding; I've seen a Massachusetts driver signal; and I've noticed that the drivers here don't seem to speed as a matter of course, the way folk do on the East coast.

Today I had to pass a very tough-looking dude on a motorcycle because he was just going too damn slow. That's not right at all. Also today, I saw a Mercedes with California vanity plates that read "MTG BIZ". I'm sure it stood for something utterly mundane, NOT Magic The Gathering, but I couldn't help wondering, Where *is* Richard Garfield these days?

Comments

From a recent interview with Richard

[scottymcleod.livejournal.com]

Yup. I'm definitely keeping my finger in Magic. I work with them once a week on new cards and expansions. But outside of Magic I’m working on some board games. I’m thinking of going to Europe to get them published and then probably do it here because we’re getting more and more good board game publishers here. Computer games, I’m constantly working on some computer project or another, even though nothing has come out yet. Right now I’m working with Microsoft. We’ve had a relationship for over a year in which they’ve prototyped about five of my games and we’re not sure which one of them is the one we are going to bring to market, but Microsoft has sort of made it clear that they really want to bring something out and probably more than one thing. I’m not going to hold my breath because I’ve had that sort of enthusiasm before, but I like the people I’m working with and so there’s a good chance that it may come to pass.

Re: From a recent interview with Richard

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

Yes, but is he driving around Southern California in a Mercedes? That's what I want to know!

Driving in New England

[scottymcleod.livejournal.com]

Noticed the whole speed thing when driving on a recent trip to Boston and Rhode Island that the speed limit on the major roads seems high and driving at my normal UK motorway speed of circa. 80 - 90 MPH was not the fastest car on the road the majority of the time.

Sub 30 MPH proved the best speed in any kind of built up area though as the driving patterns seemed change.

Was given a row driving in Texas last year for performing a 'Californian' rolling stop when I was not coming to a full stop at the stop signs - seems the Texas state troopers do not have a good view of how Californians drive which by the sound of things seems to be slower and more courteous than the Texans do.

[merde.livejournal.com]

one thing that has always mystified me about CA is how often i find myself in light traffic on a wide open road -- stuck behind a roadblock of people driving 10mph under the speed limit in every lane. as an east coast driver, this makes me crazy. i'm generally pretty mellow behind the wheel, but i get seriously peeved with people who can't even be arsed to drive at the damn limit or at least get the fuck out of my way.

scottymcleod, they may drive slower here, but they are not courteous, at least not here in the bay area.

notably -- and i'm making no judgements here, just sayin' -- the rudest drivers are almost always in a Mercedes, a BMW, or an SUV. the slowest drivers are either old people in Cadillacs or Hispanics in ancient beat-up econoboxes.

hey, if people don't feel comfortable driving 65mph, that's fine by me. but why the hell won't they stay in the right lane? even when the highways are liberally strewn with signs that clearly state "SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT"?

ARGH.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

"Courtesy" seems to be an alien concept to all American drivers I've seen. It helps to know what the locals are likely to expect. In Boston, for example, everyone tries to cut in front of everyone else; everyone tries to get away with stuff, but they also *let* each other get away with the same stuff. (Bahamian drivers would eat those guys for lunch, I'll tell you!)

In the LA area, the rule seems to be that everyone darts all over the place like mad because the street signage is so bad that everyone's always lost. (Can we please borrow some of your SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT signs, merde? We don't even have a *pointer* to a clue on that one here...)

You left out the obnoxious Lexus and Infiniti drivers, too. Maybe I just notice those more here because we get so many BMWs and Mercs in the UK that I was already used to those...