I took the MSF course in Fullerton. On the final day, the instructor told us, "Now you have the skills to safely negotiate an empty parking lot."
Then he went on to explain to us how he had been racing for a while, and that we needed to get our bikes, and practice, practice, practice, to ride frequently and safely, and in about six months, take the next course on the list, before we could really consider ourselves safe street riders. After seeing and hearing about some really gruesome crashes, I've come to the conclusion that SoCal is sort of the Advanced course for riding: people don't signal--it might cause the car next to you to close the gap, and you can't make your lane change; no one really seems to get ticketed for speeding, unless you're going at least 15 mph faster than the rest of the speeders; people hit the brakes for no apparent reason, even when being tailgated(possibly _because_ they're being tailgated); you'd better get on that gas pedal, bub--you might not make that next red light; et cetera....
Or maybe it's just getting that way because the cagers feel like they're sitting in the Barcalounger at home, playing a video game. Cars are too safe; the only consequences these days, for the most part, are a broken nose, slap on the wrist, and higher insurance premiums.
