> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Drive-by complaining - URL: https://www.smdp.com/drive-by-complaining/ - Published: 2007-09-24T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-25T01:02:52.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Driver launches Web site to track L.A.’s crazy drivers* Michael Shen was driving on the Santa Monica Freeway, applying the brakes as the traffic ahead gradually slowed, merging with vehicles from the Harbor Freeway junction. Bam. The driver from behind rear-ended Shen during the Sept. 16 accident, perhaps distracted by the Goodyear blimp flying overhead, he recently joked. The accident lends more credence to an argument the native New Yorker has publicly made since last year: Los Angeles area drivers could really use a course in courteous manners. Shen, who moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in mid 2006, is the founder of lacantdrive.com, a Web blog where he posts photos of drivers caught in a reckless act, exhibiting poor habits such has blocking an intersection or failing to signal a turn. In fact, Shen finds that Los Angelenos are the worst drivers in the United States, only behind residents from the entire state of New Jersey. “I have more dents here in one year than in the last nine years I had in New York,” he said of driving L.A. The site was the result of months and months of anger and frustration that slowly built up. A ding here, a near collision here and a tail-gating incident there and it was only a matter of time before Shen began to fear that the bad habits of Los Angelenos would begin to rub off. 5E8,“I saw myself getting angrier and rather than have it come to road rage or become a bad driver myself, I found a positive outlet,” Shen said. “It’s not meant to do anything but vent my frustration.” Each blog entry includes a photo — shot by Shen or submitted by another driver — and commentary on the bad habits exhibited in the picture. An “idiocy meter” and “assho\*e meter” accompanies each photo, rating the subject driver based on a meter of six Volkswagen buses. Along the right column of the site are links to driving related sites such as California DMV and State Farm, which Shen thinks are “links L.A. drivers probably never go to.” > “links L.A. drivers probably never go to.” The blog generates about 150 visitors a day. There are two categories of bad drivers in Los Angeles — the ones who drive aggressively on the road because they feel entitled; and the clueless drivers who just don’t seem to know the rules of the road, Shen said. The blog has garnered buzz from the media, the being story picked up by the L.A. Daily News and the Contra Costa Times. A segment is scheduled for CNN in the near future, Shen said. “It’s not so much that people are assho\*es — though they’re plenty of that here — but they’re really distracted and not focused on the road,” Shen said. Monica Cortez, who lives in Los Angeles, agreed, saying that the drivers here tend to honk their horns more as though they’re in a hurry. “I feel like they change lanes a lot and try to go faster,” Cortez said on Friday as she exited a downtown Santa Monica garage. Shen said he finds Santa Monica drivers tend to be a bit more courteous, perhaps because of the stronger pedestrian culture in the city by the sea. For many Los Angelenos, it might seem perplexing that a New Yorker would actually believe that the drivers here are more obnoxious than those on the east coast. But Shen said that because of the strong pedestrian and bicycling culture in New York City, the drivers are more conscious of the road in order to avoid an accident. But former New Yorker Brian Cheshire disagrees, saying that drivers in Los Angeles are much less rude than their New York counterparts. “There’s not that much road rage here,” Chesire, who moved to Santa Monica from Long Island a year ago, has observed. “There’s a lot more cars here and I have not seen someone give me the finger yet.” > “There’s a lot more cars here and I have not seen someone give me the finger yet.” In May, AutoVantage released a study listing the cities with the least courteous drivers. Miami topped the list for the second straight year, followed by New York and Boston. Los Angeles and Washington D.C. rounded out the top five. The auto club company surveyed more than 2,500 people nationwide. “We found that road rage is a way of life in America and it happens everywhere,” AutoVantage spokesman Todd Smith said on Friday. “Different cities in different cultures react differently to the road.” There were several driver behaviors that lent to Los Angeles’ second consecutive number four ranking, including honking of horns, slamming on the brakes, and waving arms and fists in obscene gestures. The common characteristic tying the big cities together is gridlock, Smith said. “We are a fast-paced want-now, gridlock and stressed-out society,” Smith said. “We don’t allow ourselves enough time in the first place to get ready to go.” For Shen, he believes changes can be made to improve the drivers in the Los Angeles area, including implementing mandatory driving tests for license renewals. “I don’t see why people say just accept it for the way it is,” Shen said. “The law is written for a reason.” jump hedline – Study found Los Angeles ranks fourth in rudest driver. suggested pullquote - “I’ve have more dents here in one year than in the last nine years I had in New York.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/092407-01_01.jpg) FED UP: L.A.’s drivers are a hurried bunch of commuters. (Photo: Photo courtesy) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 24, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092407.pdf?ref=smdp.com)