My Louisiana Life

i have never in my life experienced drivers as terrible as the drivers in Louisiana. i watched someone almost die this morning on my way to work. I'll chronicle the events below:

First it is important to get the logistics-

My daily commute is about 1.5 miles, which usually takes about 8-10 minutes to drive. The town in which i live is separated into two sides by the very long (33 miles to be exact), Cane River Lake and there are only three places where this river-lake can be crossed. One of which is the third turn of the 5 it takes for me to get to work. There are three stop lights on the route. Allow me to map it for you:

it is important to note that the river-lake is not to scale on the map, i assure you.

ah yes, back to the near-death situation i was chronicling:

i was sitting at the intersection from hell (as noted on the map). stella and i were the second car in the line and while watching and waiting for my light to turn green i watch the cross-traffic. watching the cross-traffic has become a source of entertainment and extreme anxiety for me since moving to Louisiana because Louisianians tend to treat red lights as mere suggestions and constantly blow through them. this morning was no different.

so here i am watching, our light turns green and i do my usual OCD paranoid look right, look left, and right again before proceeding and praise God i did and praise God the woman in front of me did because some D-Bag in a huge pick-up truck comes hauling ace up the street (had she not looked both ways before crossing she would have been obliterated).

the next part however, is what prompted this rant.

as the guy is blowing through the red light, rather than watching where he is going, he looks at the woman in front of me and shoots her this grin. the only way to explain it is to picture Larry the Cable Guy smirking in sort of that jerk way...perhaps an illustration is necessary...

I'd imagine the thought going through his mind was, "Huh huh, i totally just smoked you through that light, huh huh, i am so cool. huh huh."

Moral of the story this guy wins the d-bag of the day award.

People in this state amaze me. I heard Governor Bobby Jindal speak on campus a couple months back and in the question and answer portion of his address a guy in the audience asked an extremely valid question. It was," Why is car insurance in Louisiana almost twice that of the average cost of car insurance everywhere else in the US?"

Governor Jindal's answer was this (well not quoted exactly, but you'll get the gist): "Sir, that is an excellent question, and i wish i had a better answer, but the truth is that 50% of the drivers in Louisiana are uninsured, and someone has to pay for their accidents."

You have got to be kidding me, right? So when these idiots run a red light and t-bone you going 40mph in a 25mph zone, you get to pay for his car and yours.

his car

your car

i hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into my Louisiana life.