Drama Queens

[MR_MADHATTER]

I am now convinced that California is the land of the drama queens. I saw something today that made me just stare in disbelief. I just came out of a store and got in my truck and noticed a minor traffic accident had just happened at the nearby intersection. Apparently a van was rear-ended by a pickup. Not much damage, a bent bumper. The driver of the van was rubbing the back of his neck in a not too convincing way. I sat and waited to see what the responce was going to be. Fifteen minutes later 2 firetrucks (big ones), 2 paramedic trucks, an ambulance, a sherrif's patrol car, and a civilian vehicle belonging to what looked like a nurse all arrived at about the same time. The intersection was completly blocked, backing up traffic for miles. The van driver was placed in the ambulance. After that I drove away.

Here's the best part. A few yards away sat an "Urban Search and Rescue" truck (huge truck), a paramedic truck, and an ambulance parked in the same lot as me. Just sitting there doing nothing.

I had a three car accident in Louisiana. My car was totaled, air bag deployed but no injuries. That was at least three times worse that this accident. The only ones to show up were 1 police car and 2 tow trucks. There the rule is that if the cars are driveable and there are no injuries, they should be moved out of the way of traffic. Which we did.

What's wrong with this picture?

[Skud]

heh

the overkill on emergency response probably doesn't help the state budget any.

[Pumpkin_Jack]

Urban Search and rescue truck, what they think they were gonna find little kiddies, or immagrants locked in the trunk?

[Duke{CLR}]

Did the vehicle in this accident have a Dunkin Donuts logo on it?

[Hammy]

Sadly, the county will issue a bill to the guy with the neck for ALL those services.

He will send it to his insurance and then they will reject it.

Then, he will send a note back to the county asking that they justify the services (if he is smart).

They will reject his request to dismiss, then issue another letter that reiterates his committment.

He will probably let it lapse, because most people dont really address this properly, and it will go into collections and take his credit rating down between 10 and 30 pts.

The next action will be that he will call them again, spend 3 hours total over 5 different phone calls until they relent and realize that trying to collect on debt that they created is costing them more than they should have recieved.

----

ALL of this has happend to me in an accident where a driver ran a red light and T-boned me so hard my car did two full revolutions and took down a light pole.

They overkilled the response and then billed me for it.
The only difference is that I went after them before they could put it into collections by sending a letter that stated "being that we are in active conversations about this dispute, sending this into any sort of collections will activate immediate legal action on behalf of myself."

At which time, the entire thing was resolved in 48 hours after I sent that letter.

The thing is, California is too big- its just so big that it cant sustain itself. So big that the illegals have figured out that they can hide in here, sucking away the resources. So municipalities have to be creative:

Red light camera's
Ticket monsters (where they write hundreds of tickets on a single stretch of road every month)
Emergency response bill's
Burglar Alarm fees ($50 for the second response, $1000 for the third and each subsequent false alarm)

California is corrupt in a different way than Illinois, we are special interest corrupt- that is - no one is really stealing, they just spend all the state revenue trying to make everyone happy instead of creating a stronger environment for those special interests to co-exist in.

For those of you who dont live here, I respectfully ask that you withold your comments. This is definitiely a local understanding type of conversation that you would not understand just by watching the news.

[mapes]

Hmm Hammy your such a pessimist. I understand the state is almost bankrupt but, is it really that bad?

I also understand what your trying to say about the size of the state. It's like a big heavy car. To get it going it takes a lot of energy. To get it to change directions or stop also takes a ton of energy.

One more thing. I hate redlight cameras. Most study's show they cause more accidents at intersections and the really annoying thing is when municipalities actually shorten the time on yellow lights... Thats horrible.

[WalkinTarget]

But what about the seven injured Mexicans stuffed into the back of the van ??

[JohnyRico]

For those of you who dont live here, I respectfully ask that you withold your comments. This is definitiely a local understanding type of conversation that you would not understand just by watching the news.

Half of my management crew at work came to WA from CA. Every once in a while during a meeting something strange would come up and would eventually have to chalk it up some sort of "California Thing". One would always get so .

[Hammy]

Half of my management crew at work came to WA from CA. Every once in a while during a meeting something strange would come up and would eventually have to chalk it up some sort of "California Thing". One would always get so .

perfect illustration of the pooint. The "everyone has an opinion" statement should also say "but only a few of you should share them because less then half of those few will come close to being relevent.......EVER....in your life time......or mine.....so stfu.....please"

Lets just talk the entire subject to death and lose sight of the simple goa A --> Z - thats it, not Ato A1 to A4 and oh yeah C2 needs funding and wait a minute why do we give A4 any support..and OMFG!!!!!!
AHHHHHH!!!!

Like my SouthWest Salesteam used to say at my last company to me "you sure dont sound like you live in California" and the answer is, in less than 5 years I wont. I'm getting the hell out of here before my kids end up paying for the mistakes that the illegals and the liberals are making in our government.

Attention- GW has left the oval office, you guys have no more excuses!

[Skud]

Attention- GW has left the oval office, you guys have no more excuses!

I know I'm not supposed to comment on Californian issues, but isn't the governator a Republican?

[Duke{CLR}]

I know I'm not supposed to comment on Californian issues, but isn't the governator a Republican?

Yes a LIBERAL one.

[Hammy]

Yes a LIBERAL one.

Arnold created a great image, tried to be republican in his first term, and in realizing that California wouldnt tolerate his "get tough" plan (also known as the "reality check on Debt") he went liberal and has by and large gotten away with it until now.

See - California ignored their debt woes, and now, the problem is not only compounded, but has sat largely unmanaged and refinanced by the same crappy loan structures that the housing market has absorbed.

We are so screwed.

Welcome California- the new 3rd world.

[mapes]

Arnold created a great image, tried to be republican in his first term, and in realizing that California wouldnt tolerate his "get tough" plan (also known as the "reality check on Debt") he went liberal and has by and large gotten away with it until now.

See - California ignored their debt woes, and now, the problem is not only compounded, but has sat largely unmanaged and refinanced by the same crappy loan structures that the housing market has absorbed.

We are so screwed.

Welcome California- the new 3rd world.

Sounds like we should raise taxes....

[Duke{CLR}]

Sounds like we should raise taxes....

Didn't you guys have budget issues before you lowered the taxes? I would think that raising taxes would only hurt business and drive them away.

[mapes]

Well there was this DMV tax thing.......