Common courtesy missing among Calabasas drivers

Upon viewing the recent signs posted about Calabasas regarding a "Traffic Calming" workshop, I am compelled to share my thoughts regarding the drivers in Calabasas.

I am a six-year resident of Calabasas Park. I run daily through Calabasas Park and often up around Gelson’s, down Mulholland Highway out to Las Virgenes, up Mureau Road and Parkway Calabasas. I have a unique opportunity to observe the residents, students and, most importantly, drivers that come into and out of Calabasas.

I see and hear residents complaining about teenagers who drive "wildly," go too fast, don’t observe stop signs, ignore rules and create a traffic mess around the high school.

Yet I see many parents driving their kids to school who are speeding down Valmar (and other streets). Parents who are ignoring stop signs, turning right from mid-intersection instead of a right lane. Parents who yell at other drivers or honk incessantly because the person in front of them does not accelerate as quickly as they would like them to out of an intersection.

The most apparent problem that I see every time I run in the neighborhood is the driver of a car talking on a cell phone, not watching what they are doing and creating a dangerous situation.

Many drivers are not using their signals and appear to be driving with an attitude that they own the road and do not have to follow the same rules as everyone else. Yet, the minute someone else does not follow a rule, they are yelling and cursing out their window.

While running, I have been bumped into by drivers who never looked for a pedestrian when turning right through a stop sign or red light. I have been yelled at for not moving faster through a crosswalk when I have the green light. I have had people turning left honk at me because I am in the crosswalk (with a green light) that they want to drive through.

Many drivers in Calabasas are just plain rude. The idea of "Traffic Calming" needs to start in the states of minds of the drivers.

I am embarrassed by the adults who drive in Calabasas (many of them parents of driving children) and who set such a poor example for the kids who are so easily criticized for their driving habits.

All of us, not just our children, need to slow down. We all need to come to a complete stop. We all need to signal when we are turning. We all need to look for pedestrians (more than once). We all need to pull over to take a phone call or, better yet, not talk on the phone at all while driving. We all need to stop thinking that we can drive our huge SUVs at high rates of speed while talking on the phone.

We cannot calm traffic if we ourselves continue to make our streets unsafe. How can we expect anyone else to drive safely if we do not?

Kira Vincze

Calabasas