Drivers vent rage in e-mails, rather than on road

The mail folks won't be delivering any parcels Monday. They're off for the Labor Day holiday. But e-mails take no vacation breaks, as my computer is as jam-packed as the Strip for a Britney Spears-Paris Hilton cat fight on New Year's Eve.

Lots of drivers are aghast by what they find on our byways. Or how they find byways, like U.S. Highway 95. Joyce Arebalo calls it "the gauntlet."

"After all, it is a challenge each and every time we traverse it," Arebalo said. "Every time -- or so it seems every time -- I run the gauntlet, there is a change in the surfaces. Plus, the speed limits are totally ignored and you have to have eyes in the back of your head -- plus both sides -- when people cannot or won't navigate those places where the lanes do a magic swerve."

Arebalo said she's been living in the Las Vegas Valley for more than six decades, but she's "heartily thinking about moving out of here." Guess she won't be taking the 95, then.

Julie Rodela has lived in Las Vegas long enough to witness the mass migration of newbies, and their local yokel driving habits, here.

"If they are driving in our city, they learned (to drive) somewhere else. I am tired of having my life jeopardized by stupid behaviors of other drivers," Rodela said. "We are all guilty at times of bad decisions behind the wheel; however, it occurred to me that maybe some of these people don't know the rules of the road for our area.

"My idea is to advertise these rules," she said. "We have ads on buses, taxis, billboards (and such). Why not start putting some in that advertise safety rules and correct driving rules?"

I can think of a few no one around here seems to know. Like, red lights mean stop. Don't kill pedestrians. "Rum-'n'-Cokes equals hit-'n'-runs" would sound great on a billboard.

Chris Kuchuris isn't happy about getting a $150 parking ticket for exiting his cab for "no more than one minute" to drop off his daughter and her two children at McCarran International Airport last month.

"I was giving her a hug goodbye when I noticed a parking officer writing a ticket in front of my car," he said. "I immediately went to move my car when she simply put a ticket on my windshield, rather than handing it to me.

"I have lived in Vegas a long time, but our lack of compassion and common decency towards one another has sunk to a new low at the airport," Kuchuris said. "The message is: Don't be nice. Don't help other people. Don't say goodbye to loved ones. Don't be a human being."

I think that was the same message they wanted to put on the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, but it wouldn't fit.

Buffalo Drive is apparently a main route for pet-lovers, according to one anonymous reader whose car broke down on Buffalo near Alta Drive in July.

"Of course it was around 117 degrees. I was taking my dog to a vet specialist" at the time, the reader said. "I was standing on the sidewalk with my dog. One lady came by and offered us some water, and asked if we needed help.

"About 10 minutes later, another lady went by, copped a U-turn and came back with water and asked if we needed help," the reader said. "Some of the people who I told the story to were amazed. One said, 'You gotta be kidding.'"

Just don't take the dog to the airport.

Nancy Hutchings is worried that if she doesn't blow a gasket over streets torn up by road work around the southwestern valley, her car will.

"I'm still furious about a huge crevasse running perpendicular across St. Rose Parkway which some road crew took the time to post with a big yellow 'BUMP" sign, rather than taking the time to repair the damn thing," Hutchings wrote. "It's so jarring that I've given up taking that route and am now driving miles out of my way just to protect the suspension on my new BMW.

"It probably took longer to arrange for the sign and install it than it would have to effect a simple repair," she wrote.

You might be reading the sign all wrong. Is it asking you to "bump" into another car? It could be the valley's first official "Road Rage" zone. It's certainly the right spot for frazzled drivers to lose it.

Donna James tells speeders on speed-reduced Alta to quit their belly-aching. She once owned a home there, when Alta was a much less busy street. That later changed.

"Would have never bought the house if we had realized that Alta was going to turn into a mini-freeway. We had to take our kids somewhere else to ride their bikes," James said.

"We actually had people pull up behind us in our own driveway and yell at us for having the audacity to make them stop so we could pull into our driveway.

"A young boy was hit and thrown up onto our lawn by a driver that was very upset by it, but, 'Didn't people know that kids shouldn't ride bikes on a busy street like that!'" she said. "And this does not even begin to address the killed animals, close calls and fender-benders, all caused by speeding and just plain ignorant me-me-me-me-ism."

Traffic wouldn't be such a trouble if everybody ditched their cars in favor of the Las Vegas Monorail. You wouldn't have to fight for a seat with Gene Abel of Blaine, Minn.

"I love your city and visit it four or five times a year. Never have rode the monorail and chances are I never will unless they add the airport or downtown," Abel said. "Location, location, location."

Just like the middle of the Mojave Desert is the perfect locale for a city, right?

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call the City Desk at 383-0264, or send an e-mail to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.