It’s been a year of devastating fires, immigration raids and political fury. Yet the topic that most provoked Essential California readers in 2025 proved to be a far more quotidian annoyance — bad drivers.
Scores of you wrote to us to catalog the roadway misbehaviors that most perturb and enrage you. We’re laying out your complaints today, as the end of the year draws near, because the Essential California team wants you to feel heard.
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Reader Roy Solloway spoke for a huge number of you in describing the most commonly cited concern. “No one seems to use turn signals,” Solloway wrote. “They just slow down without any warning, brake and then turn and you have to slam on your brakes to avoid hitting them. No wonder our car insurance rates keep going up.”
We hear you Mr. Solloway. And now, I, your regular EC scribe, have a confession to make: I am one of the signal scofflaws. I am a blinkerless bandit.
And I offer an explanation. By using our turn signals, we’re letting fellow drivers know where we’re headed. They can then slow or change lanes to stay out of our space. How considerate. How deeply human. Signaling doesn’t just show where we’re pointing our vehicles. It shows we care about others.
Why we don’t signal (when we should)
But do others care back? You’ve doubtless noticed that many drivers respond to your red blinker like a bull to a matador’s cape. Seeing red, they speed ahead! They close ranks with their lane-mates, blocking your path. Their lane is theirs and they’re not ceding it to anyone.
Nearly matching the non-signal in the Driver Annoyance Derby are motorists who hunker down in the fast lane at grandpa speeds. Reader Abdalla Mallouk said he tries to be considerate, but he urges those “anxious, elderly or uncomfortable on a big LA freeway” to move aside. Same to all those “scrolling or texting on their smart phone or clearly distracted by their over-sized center screens,” the ones featured on a certain brand of electric vehicle.
Leah Bishop of Santa Maria agrees: “If you’re in the fast lane (left lane) and have a line of cars behind you MOVE OVER!!!”
No surprise, this doing-unto-others attitude would address essentially every other driving gripe. Like double-parking. “It’s like the city’s pastime — everyone does it: delivery trucks, school drop-off, cops, everyone!” fumed Jacob Motz of San Francisco, who’s been forced into zigging and zagging to get around double parkers. “Nothing beats playing Frogger on a morning commute.”
Tailgating and loud music
Bob Lentz of Sylmar feels other drivers constantly violating his space, in more ways that one. ”Drivers who drive one foot in back of me when I am not driving fast enough for them!” Lentz fumed. “Drivers who think that the music they enjoy should be played at a loud volume with the windows open so that surrounding drivers and pedestrians can also enjoy the music!”
Similarly, Herb Meyerowitz has had it with the motorists who focus on everything but driving. “People eating, putting makeup on, people holding a dog,” Meyerowitz wrote. “It’s pretty bad out there. I was kind of freaked out riding on the Westside when the Waymos started, but now I feel they are safer than most drivers.”
As a putative Essential Californian, I feel we’ve all got to do better. And I pledge to lead by example.
I acknowledge to one and all that my sans-signal driving comes from my baser instincts. It promotes the notion of driving as a competition. Only some drivers will win. Others must lose.
The selfishness of these microaggressions feels self evident. So I say with a repentant hear that 2026 will be my year of the turn signal. I will let you know when I’m coming. And when you signal, I will let you in.
Read more: The seven most frustrating offenses California drivers commit every day
Today’s top stories 
Storm clouds roll over downtown Los Angeles.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A deadly winter storm arrives in Southern CaliforniaThe ongoing fight for Warner Bros.Larry Ellison, father of Paramount chief executive David Ellison, has pledged a $40-billion personal guarantee for Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Discovery recently rejected a $108.4-billion hostile takeover bid from Paramount after accepting a $72-billion offer from Netflix.After the firesWhat else is going onCommentary and opinionsThis morning’s must readsOther must readsFor your downtime 
(Diana Ramirez/ De Los; Photos Courtesy of Oeste.)
Going outStaying inQuestion of the day: What is your New Year’s resolution?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally … your photo of the day 
Kym Estrada and Alvin Torres, owners of San & Wolves Bakeshop in Long Beach.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
Today’s great photo is from staff photographer Juliana Yamada of San & Wolves Bakeshop owners Kym Estrada and Alvin Torres, who, like other L.A. restaurant owners, are struggling to stay afloat with mounting financial pressure due to tariffs and other factors.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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