There's no joy in the daily slaughter of the streets. Only relief.
Sitting on the 761 heading up Hilgard there's some horrible traffic. What's causing all the backup? After 5 minutes we see. The bus makes a collective gasp as we turn to face the crash. A kid talks into his cell phone "man, you got-a see this! This is gonna be on the news." Riders start gesturing and discussing how it happened. I step up to the front of the bus and take a shot through the front window. As I walk back to my seat I smile at the guy on his cell.
It is a smile of calm. Since I have lived in LA, almost every day I see the wreckage of tangled metal and scattered glass. Sometimes the cars have been towed, but the fresh splatter of fluids indicate a fresh accident. When I drive I am amazed at how many close calls I have. A few times I have been an eyewitness, and many more an ear witness, turning quickly to see what caused the bang.
What is amazing is not the number of crashes I see, but how few there are. Aggressiveness on the LA streets is the norm, and this means screeching and swerving near misses are ubiquitous. Sitting on the bus, you escape this daily sacrifice of life and limb that drivers choose willingly for the false feeling of normality it gives them.
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