California Retrospective: LA drivers in 1989 didn’t want car phones; hated fuzzy dice

Traffic remains a top concern of Los Angeles County residents, according to a new USC Dornsife/California Community Foundation/Los Angeles Times poll.

And that’s no surprise. Polls have long found miserable commutes to be a top concern of residents in the region. In 1989, The Times produced an extensive poll in which Southern Californians sounded off about traffic and their love/hate relationship with cars. The poll offers an amusing time capsule of the Southern California driver of that era:

• While most people would like to own a fancier car, the majority have not been swept up in the latest gadget craze.

• Only 4% of drivers have telephones in their cars, and although 31% said they would like to have them, 64% indicated no interest in car phones. In Orange County, 5% had car phones; 26% said they wanted them.

• The fuzzy dice fad has a small following. Only 8% of drivers said they have some sort of ornament in their cars. It’s even less in Orange County, where only 3% said they display such items.

• Bumper stickers are more in favor, with 18% putting them on the rear of their auto in Southern California (11% in Orange County). Eleven percent of drivers in the region say they customize their cars. Oversized tires and souped-up engines are the most popular modifications.

• Seventeen percent of the people polled have car alarms; 23% have had their cars broken into. In Orange County, 18% said cars had been burglarized and 16% had an alarm.

• The vast majority of men and women polled (90%) said they pump their own fuel, and most said they can perform routine auto maintenance chores. However, 6% said they couldn’t pump their own gas and 29% said they didn’t know how to change a tire.

• Asked what a carburetor does, 82% of the men and 36% of the women interviewed knew the answer.

• Although the biggest plurality, 36%, said they worry more about bad drivers than anything else on the road, 12% said they worry about their car breaking down. There may be good reason for that. Some drivers apparently aren’t accustomed to using their legs much.

According to the poll, it has been a year or more since 20% of the drivers have walked as far as four city blocks.

More stats from that poll:

• 40% agree that automobiles have ruined Los Angeles

• 38% have made an obscene gesture to another driver

• 28% say their pet peeve is people who drive slowly in the fast lane.

• 13% have had a car accident in the last year (65% said it was the other guy’s fault)

• 5% have a gun in the car