7) People drive better there than other cities where I've lived!
I'm going to agree with this. In fact, when the brakes on my rental car failed me on the 101, the good defensive driving skills of the other motorists saved my life.
I did almost everything right. I was one car-length per 10MPH away from the car in front of me. I took my foot off the gas and pulled up the e-brake. (I could have put the car in neutral as well, but didn't think of that.) I zig-zagged in my lane to increase friction and distance. I honked my horn and put on my hazzard lights. I screamed bloody murder and invented new curses. In response, everyone got the hell out of my way. I was able to change lanes several times and come to a complete stop because of this.
Traffic had been zooming along at 75MPH before suddenly halting about 8 lengths ahead of me. In NY, I'd have collided with someone else, and perhaps been very seriously injured, or very seriously injured someone else. LA drivers impressed me.
Then again,on another visit, an uninsured driver backed into me while I was parked in a gas station. When I got out of the car to exchange info, she told me it was my fault since I was the rear driver. I said, "Miss, my engine's not even on. How is this my fault?" She responded by disappearing faster than I've ever seen.
On another visit, I saw a man beating the crap put of his wife while driving. He was doing both things very well. I used to do things like call law enforcement at that time, so I called. I followed the guy for as long as I could without getting lost or noticed, and kept updating whoever it was I was on the phone with at the time on his position. I don't know if they caught him, but I hope her family beat his ass bloody, and fed him their boots via rectum. Still, I never saw someone pay so little attention to the road, and hold their lane so well.