The gas price factor: does it/will it ever really affect driving?

This posting is more of a question mark than anything else.

It's a fact that oil prices are at all-time record-breaking high.

Will gas prices soon follow? Again?

According to Business Week, gas prices are on the upswing--yes, again.

"$93 Oil: Coming to a Gas Pump Near You"

How will this affect your driving?

We talked about this before in a post last year:

"WHY driving sucks: the rising price of gasoline"

and we also talked on the same post about some myth-busting by Mr. John Stossel of the ABC newsmagazine 20/20:

"Price-Gouging" and the myth that "The World is Running out of Oil".

Has anything changed? Will really expensive gas really change people's driving habits?

What do you think?

Traffic and technology: collective navigational driving

Here's an interesting New York Times article on a technological device that can help drivers: Navigating With Feedback From Fellow Drivers (By Roy Furchgott - Published: October 18, 2007)

Dash Navigation's Dash Express "not only receives location data from the satellites of the Global Positioning System, like other navigation units, but it also broadcasts information about its travels back to the Dash network."

In other words, this device offers GPS-and-other-driver-assisted driving. By collecting data from other devices on the road, the system can alert you to what's up ahead. It won't work well, though, until there are enough units out there on the road.

Cool idea--if it works... Anything that can improve traffic is welcome on this blog...

You can read all about it in The New York Times site: Navigating With Feedback From Fellow Drivers

OPEN DISCUSSION #12: "what does an unprotected light mean?"

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Protected and unprotected lefts revisited: theory ...":

I was in an accident in SanFrancisco recently; the driver of the other car reported that he was going straight at an unprotected light; what does an unprotected light mean?

Posted by Anonymous to L.A. traffic sucks: Let's fix it! at 9:10 AM

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When you come to an intersection, you have three options:
1. Go straight
2. Turn right
3. Turn left

But if it's a 4-way intersection, there are cars that also want to do the same thing (go straight, turn right, turn left) at the three other corners. What do you do? The only way to keep traffic from becoming a big mess is by regulating who goes first.

How do you do that?

With a...

1. Traffic light
2. Stop sign (4-way)

A traffic light regulates traffic by PROTECTING YOUR RIGHT OF WAY:

1. Green: Go! Your right of way to go in this direction is protected by the green light.
2. Yellow: Caution! Be ready to stop! (NOT in L.A., though! In L.A. a yellow light means, "GO AS FAST AS YOU CAN BEFORE IT TURNS TO RED!! TAKE NO PRISONERS!")
3. Red: Stop!

At some intersections, it's possible or not possible to turn right or left for some reason. When the light turns green, it usually means that traffic can flow STRAIGHT on the same street in both PARALLEL directions. Because traffic is flowing in one direction (say, north-south at a particular intersection), that means that traffic perpendicular to it (east-west traffic) is blocked by a red light. So if you have a green light, you can go straight, and--in MOST states--you can turn right (Unless there is a "NO RIGHT TURN ON A RED LIGHT" sign at that intersection).

How then do you turn left?

At most intersections in L.A. you have to wait for the traffic flowing in the opposite direction on the same street you're on to stop before you can make a left. THIS IS CALLED AN UNPROTECTED LEFT TURN.

WHY?

Because your right of way is NOT "protected" by a GREEN ARROW light. If there is NO GREEN ARROW LIGHT at an intersection that means that you can make a left turn ONLY on a UNPROTECTED turn. That is, you HAVE TO WAIT until the traffic flowing in the opposite diection to yours on the same street STOPS or slows down enough for you to have a chance to make a left turn.

If you have stopped at a RED LIGHT and you need to make a RIGHT turn, and in your state making a right turn at a red light is legal, then I think this is also an UNPROTECTED turn. Because your don't have the right of way here. Traffic coming perpendicular to you does! So if you want to turn right on a red light, you must wait until traffic coming perpendicular to you stops or slows down to give you a chance to make an UNPROTECTED right turn at a red light.

So, as far as I know, an "unprotected light" means turning left or right without having the right of way but allowed on the condition that you use caution and wait for traffic to stop or slow down before making a turn.

I have never heard of "going straight at an unprotected light". Unless he means that he was "running a yellow light". Or unless he means that he was "running a red light"!

As far as I know, the ONLY WAY you can go "straight at an unprotected light" is by "running a red light"!

As I explained above, the ONLY TWO "unprotected" directions you can go are LEFT or RIGHT. How can you possibly go "straight at an unprotected light"?

Perhaps he means a YELLOW light. Perhaps the ONLY light you can go straight on an "unprotected" light is the YELLOW light. In L.A. NO ONE respects this --that's why "unprotected lefts" are so difficult to make there-- but, technically, when the light turns YELLOW you're supposed to slow down and be ready to come to a stop before the intersection. So, technically, if you go straight on a yellow light, you're really going "straight on an unprotected light"? The YELLOW light means "caution, get ready to stop!", so if you go straight, you're actually going "unprotected" because you don't really have the right of way anymore (except in L.A.! In L.A. YELLOW means "GREEN" to most people!).

One of the Newsmagazines (20/20, Dateline NBC, 48 Hours...) had a report about all the terrible accidents that have happened because of people "running a yellow light." I'm really amazed that there are not more accidents in L.A. because of this. I think the reason there aren't is that motorists making a left have become resigned to waiting and making sure that ALL cars have come to a stop before making a left turn on an unprotected light. If they thought,"Okay, light's turned yellow, those guys must slow down and come to a stop right now! It's my turn to go! I have the right of way!" I'm sure there would be millions more accidents in L.A.

I don't know the details of your accident. If you were "making an unprotected left turn" and he was "running a yellow light," then I really don't know who's at fault. Perhaps you both were. If the light was turning yellow when he decided to go straight, he should have slowed down and come to a stop. If you were trying to make a left at an unprotected light (NO green left arrow), you should have WAITED until ALL cars came to a stop or traffic slowed down enought to give you a good chance to make a turn.

In such situations, the best thing is to drive defensively, not aggressively: WAIT. BE PATIENT. WHENEVER YOU ARE AT AN INTERSECTION MAKING A TURN, USE CAUTION. If you were both aggressive and impatient, then an accident is the result.

Does that answer your question?

Hope that helped clarify things a bit...

OPEN DISCUSSION #11: "why not just accept it and think about bettering the time you spend in traffic."

[Swiss846] wrote:

"You spend much time thinking about the traffic situation in LA. why not just accept it and think about bettering the time you spend in traffic. You talk about telecomuting, but you can do that in your car. With mobile internet you can blog while on the 405! Let's be honest, driving at 5 miles an hour in a row of cars hardly takes much skill, I've seen people reading books, watching movies, eating dinner, Smoking bongs. Pretty much anything you can do in your living room can be done on a los angeles freeway."

Thanks for the comment and for reading the blog! Your contributions to this whole discussion are much appreciated.

This is a very interesting comment, and this is the kind of insight into the problem I am looking for. This, of course, reflects the traditional Southern California laid-back culture of sunshine, beach, and surfing. That's cool. Nothing against that.

Everything is a matter of perspective: do we want to look at this glass as "half empty" and rant and rave about it or do we want to look at it as "half full" and make the best of it as Swiss846 suggests? Or do we want to "fill the glass up" to overflowing (fix the problem) or "drink it up" (move elsewhere) and not even have to think about it anymore?

I noticed this before, too, that L.A. drivers seem to be resigned to the traffic congestion problem. They seem resigned to "driving at 5 miles an hour." Since their time at home (or wherever) has been drastically cut by traffic congestion and their commuting time has increased dramatically, they have redefined their mobility, they have redefined their leisure time, and they have transfered their living room to the car! In Swiss846's words, "Pretty much anything you can do in your living room can be done on a los angeles freeway."

This is really a question of how you want to define mobility, how you want to define lifestyle, how you want to define QUALITY OF LIFE. This is a QUALITY OF LIFE question: has your mobility decreased and your commuting time increased to such a point that you spend such an unbelievable amount of time in your car in L.A. that you practically LIVE in it?!? "People [are] reading books, watching movies, eating dinner, smoking bongs" in their cars! They might as well live in them!

And if so, are you okay with that? Are you happy with that? Do you want to live like that? Or are you just resigned to living in a situation you feel you can do nothing about so you might as well adapt to it?

This is really a question for every single individual driver to answer and decide for themselves. There is a psychological and a social dimension to this whole problem, and different individuals cope in different ways.

It's interesting that the one thing L.A. drivers do the most in their cars, and which I talked about in my posting Rush Hour: the modern hell, is the one thing you forgot to mention! Talking on their cell phones! I am convinced that the cell phone is the one "drug" that keeps drivers in traffic, "driving at 5 miles an hour in a row of cars," like you said, from going berserk with frustration. It's not simply the "reading books, watching movies, eating dinner, smoking bongs" or doing pretty much "anything you can do in your living room" in the car what keeps them sane. It's the fact that they can talk to somebody! It's human contact what keeps us sane! Trapped and isolated in that little tin box of plastic, steel and rubber on wheels for hours, we would go crazy without human contact like the Michael Douglas character does in "Falling Down." I believe it is the cell phone what makes traffic congestion bearable.

For me, personally, a car is a tool, the tool of choice for most Americans to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. It is a means to an end. I cannot conceive of the car as an end in itself. The purpose of driving is NOT driving. The purpose of driving is at my destination, NOT on the way there. Sure, "getting there is half the fun" and all that. Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride. And every other cliche you can think of. But if we shift the purpose of driving to the car itself, to being in the car, we might as well live in cars!

Every individual (and/or family) must decide for himself or herself what QUALITY OF LIFE they find acceptable or are willing to live with. If 20 million people have decided that this is how they want to live -- "reading books, watching movies, eating dinner, smoking bongs" in their cars because they are resigned to "driving at 5 miles an hour" on the freeways -- then the discussion is over. This blog has NO purpose. I'm "wasting my breath" (so to speak) here.

Listen, I'm not even in L.A. right now, and I don't drive. But when I lived in L.A., I found this traffic congestion problem very frustrating and thought that if I ever had a chance to do something about it or write (e.i., blog) about it, I would. That's all. The problem doesn't even concern me personally. Still, I find it very challenging.

I am also kind of mystified by, or rather puzzled about, two questions:

1. Americans are pragmatic people, they love solving problems. Why haven't they solved this one?
2. Americans tend to be reactive, not proactive. How big or serious will this problem have to get before they react "en masse" to it?

I don't know the answers to those two questions. Do you? Does anyone?

I am also convinced that blogging is perhaps not the best medium to approach this problem. I am interesting in film making. If I could, I would shoot a documentary about the issue and generate more buzz and bring a million times more attention to the problem than any blog ever could. A documentary on just about ANY issue is worth 100,000 blogs. No question about it. It's not even a contest. The power of the visual medium is unquestionable in this culture brought up on TV, movies and video games.

Personally, I happen to be interested in blogging and its potential, and this is as good a topic to blog on as any other. In the process I have learned and I am learning a lot about blogging. If I haven't accomplished anything else and I have just "wasted my breath" here, at least I have learned a lot.

This is not necessarily the best issue to blog on because a lot people tend to take some of the things I say personally. They take it as criticism of their country, as criticism of their culture, as criticism of their city or as a criticism of them personally. They are sensitive about the issue. Instead of taking this blog as a contribution to helping THEM to solve a problem or as a contribution to helping THEM to improve their quality of life, they take offense by it. Perhaps (what do I know? I'm just guessing here) they also take it as an insult to their intelligence. They are aware of the problem and they are pretty much like you: they are coping with it the way you do and they are happy to live with it that way and they don't want anybody telling them what to do or how to live their lives or how to change their lifestyle or how to change their city. So I will probably lose interest in it sooner or later. For now, I just happen to find it interesting.

Just to give you an idea of how much more interested I am in writing itself than in this particular issue, I can tell you for a fact that I have edited and re-written this posting about six or seven times since posting it! The writing itself and the images that come with it are something I can do something about. The writing and the images are something I can control. This issue of traffic is something completely beyond my control, something that affects and concerns millions of people, something my "tiny voice out here in the wilderness" may have little or no impact on at all. I am not so much looking for success in this particular issue as I am looking for success in a writing career.

Like they say in the South of France, "c'est tout!" (that's all!)

Again, thanks for your comment!
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Traffic and technology: satellite radio

Mel Karmazin, President & CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio was on Charlie Rose last night.

Very interesting, to say the least. Actually, very enlightening.

What does an interview with a media executive have to do with traffic in L.A., you might ask?

Well, for one, Mr. Karmazin talked, among many other things, about his admiration for Ted Turner and for his idea to start a 24-hour all-news cable channel (CNN). I don't know if any of you has realized it yet, but satellite radio is to terrestrial radio what cable TV was to network TV in the 80's: the floodgates of information (e.i., content) are about to open wide on radio like they did on TV when cable came on the scene. The possibilities to disseminate information are enormous. And information (an enlightened public, a well-informed public, and intelligent public) is the key to improving ANYTHING in this country. Traffic can never improve as long as drivers are unaware of what's going on around them in real time.

So I thought: what about a satellite radio channel dedicated to traffic?

I looked on the Sirius website and sure enough, they've got one: SIRIUS Traffic. You need to be subscribed to Sirius satellite radio and you need a compatible navigation system. Other than that, "SIRIUS Traffic provides real-time information on accidents, traffic flow, construction, and road closures for only $3.99/month, when added to your existing SIRIUS Satellite Radio subscription."

If you subscribe to Satellite Radio through SIRIUS, adding traffic might be a good idea.

Traffic is not the only thing that needs to flow for congestion to improve in L.A. and elsewhere. INFORMATION is equally important. And what better way to make information flow than technology?

Technology is one of the key ingredients to any creative solution to the traffic problem. Satellite Radio may well be part of that creative solution. Consider it.

RETHINK L.A.

But of course! What was I thinking?

In America, the best ideas to get a message across come from the advertising world!

Saturn's "Rethink American"
ad campaign, as crafted by Deutsch/LA (
Saturn Says, 'Rethink American'), to promote their new hybrids, is the perfect key to a potentially successful ad campaign to transform L.A.

But of course! The power of advertising!

In America, a commercial is worth 100,000 blogs!

RETHINK CAPACITY [images of people car pooling, riding public transportation]

RETHINK MOBILITY [images of people telecommuting, working at home, walking, biking, riding scooters/Vespas, motorcycles]

RETHINK L.A. [images of a traffic-free city where traffic flows beautifully]

WHO WANTS TO DO A VIDEO?

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Saturn "Rethink American" Commercial



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A philosophy of activism: What are we going to do about it?

We can talk about traffic all day long in a thousand posts, but it won't make that much of a difference if no one ever does a thing about it. So we need not only creative solutions to a very difficult problem, we also need a philosophy of activism. What are we going to do about it?

Commeting on the 54th verse of the Tao in a chapter called "Living As If Your Life Makes a Difference," Dr. Wayne Dyer, in his book "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao," writes,

"Choose an area to concentrate on making a difference.

"Don't entertain doubt about your impact on the world; instead, develop a VISION for Earth and convince yourself that you are perfectly capable of contributing to this VISION. whether it's grandiose or small. See a world without hatred, disrespect, or violence; where the environment is respected and cared for; and where cancer, AIDS, starvation, child abuse, weapons of all kinds, or any other detrimental or demeaning scenarios disappear.

"The anthropologist Margaret Mead addressed this idea in the following observation: 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.'" [p. 264 - emphasis mine]

There are a lot of people out there who say that anybody who feels this way or acts this way is probably just a "dumb shit." Well, isn't that what the Pharisees (perhaps in other words) called Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago? "hey, look at that crazy 'dumb shit' going around saying he is the 'son of God.'" Whether you believe he was or not (I personally don't), whether you believe he ever existed or not (I personally am not sure), the impact this man --or his name and what he preached-- has had upon the world is undeniable. His impact has lasted for over 20 centuries--over 2,000 years. And like that rock musical says, "In 2,000 BC, Israel had no mass communication!" How did he ever make it SO BIG?!? To begin with, he had 12 darn good activists and some who could write like it's no one's business. So even in this age of unfrettered mass communication where you--or anybody--can upload your videos to YouTube and broadcast yourself to the whole wide world in minutes; even in this age of raging cynicism where "Who cares!" is the anthem of the day; it's still true that anybody who has ever changed the world, for better or for worse, was called a "dumb shit" at one time or another. We are in very good company here.

Whatever contribution--large or small, important or insignificant--I am making with this blog, I am happy to be making it.

For good or bad, for better or for worse, ideas--great ideas--have a way of taking a life of their own and becoming unstoppable. If there is any good, any good at all, in anything we are saying here, someone will find it and use it to make a difference.

My heart goes out to Los Angeles and its people. Their lives should, or could, be so much better... Whether it will never be what it once was, it doesn't matter. If 20 million people demand that it become something better TODAY before it becomes something worse TOMORROW, believe me, IT WILL. And all it takes is ONE person to start making a difference. The rest is up to YOU...

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SPEED CORRIDORS: North-South

Following up on our last post, if we speed up traffic by creating East-West "speed corridors" on all major roads on the Westside from Sunset to Venice, what happens to North-South traffic?

Here's a better question: as things stand today, how in the world does one get fast enough from the 101 to I-10 through Hollywood or West Hollywood? How in the world does one get fast enough from the 101 to I-10 or points south without taking the 405 or going all the way downtown?

The answer lies in the "Freeway Revolts" of the 1970's. You can read all about it in this wikipedia entry. Here's a quote from it:

"The Freeway Revolts (sometimes expressway revolts) refer to a phenomenon encountered in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, where planned freeway construction in many U.S. cities was halted due to widespread public opposition; especially of those whose neighborhoods would be disrupted or displaced by the proposed freeways. Such 'revolts' occurred in many U.S. cities, such as Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Portland, Seattle, Washington DC, Cleveland, and Baltimore. In many cities, one can find unused highways, abruptly-terminating freeway alignments, and short stretches of freeway in the middle of nowhere, all of which are evidence of larger projects which were mothballed."

The whole list of all the cancelled or unfinished projects is all there:

-"The Laurel Canyon Freeway (CA/SR-170) would have sliced across western Hollywood, the Mid-City West area, and western Inglewood en route to its terminus at the San Diego Freeway (I-405) near Los Angeles International Airport. It was scrapped in the face of community opposition from these districts and its namesake Laurel Canyon. Only the portion traversing the Baldwin Hills was finished, later being designated as La Cienega Boulevard.
-"The Beverly Hills Freeway (CA/SR-2) would have run from the Hollywood Freeway (US-101) in southern Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Westwood along the alignment of Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. It went through several proposed iterations--including a cut-and-cover tunnel--before its mid-1970s abandonment in the face of opposition from residents of Beverly Hills, the Fairfax District, and Hancock Park.
-"The Slauson Freeway (CA/SR-90), originally known as the Richard M. Nixon Freeway and intended to run across southern Los Angeles and northern Orange counties between the Pacific Coast Highway (CA/SR-1) and Riverside (CA/SR-91), was truncated as a result of opposition to its construction through South Central Los Angeles. The only portions completed to freeway level are the short Marina Freeway that runs between Marina del Rey and southern Culver City and the Richard M. Nixon Parkway in Yorba Linda.
-"The Glendale Freeway (CA/SR-2) terminates roughly 1.5 miles northeast of its intended terminus at the Hollywood Freeway (US-101), due to opposition from residents of Silver Lake.
-"The Pacific Coast Freeway (CA/SR-1) would have upgraded the existing Pacific Coast Highway to freeway standards. Opposition by residents of Malibu, Santa Monica, and the coastal cities of the South Bay region led to the project's abandonment. One segment, between Oxnard and the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, was built in the 1960s before the project was abandoned.
-"The Redondo Beach Freeway (CA/SR-91) would have linked the Pacific Coast Freeway in Redondo Beach or the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Torrance to the Long Beach Freeway (I-710). Opposition by Redondo Beach and Torrance led to its truncation to its current terminus at the Harbor Freeway (I-110) in Gardena; the California legislature subsequently renamed it the Gardena Freeway.
-"The Century Freeway (I-105), itself the subject of an unsuccessful freeway revolt in Hawthorne, South Central Los Angeles, Lynwood, and Downey that lasted nearly two decades, was truncated at the San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) instead of its intended terminus at the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) due to opposition from the city of Norwalk. One of the compromises allowing the freeway to be built caused the inclusion of a mass transit line in the freeway median. This is the LACMTA Green Line, which opened with the freeway in 1995.
-"The Long Beach Freeway (I-710) was originally intended to go from the port complex all the way north to Pasadena, linking up with the Ventura and Foothill Freeways (SR-134 & I-210), completing a bypass of Downtown Los Angeles to the east. The freeway was completed to just past I-10 in Alhambra, and a half-mile stub was built in Pasadena (still unsigned, but officially SR-710). Opposition came from the small city of South Pasadena which would have been cut in half, eradicating its small but lively downtown. A six mile gap currently exists and Caltrans is still attempting to build some sort of link, the latest idea of which has been a pair of tunnels.
"Opposition to the building of the 710 extension through South Pasadena has, for some 30 years, resulted in the suspension of plans to build an extension from the 210 freeway through West Pasadena and South Pasadena. The ramps exist and a stub is in place at California Avenue, but much of the land taken for the freeway has been resold by CalTrans to private parties. In 2006, the idea of completing the freeway by means of an underground tunnel was first proposed. This idea is currently under a funded study by the LACMTA.
"A proposed rehabilitation and widening of the aged Long Beach Freeway (I-710) between the Pomona (CA/SR-60) and San Diego (I-405) freeways, which would have demolished over 2000 residences in five cities and one unincorporated area, created such outrage that Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) abandoned it within days of its unveiling in 2004. Caltrans and MTA have issued a new plan that would use MTA-owned utility right-of-way along the Los Angeles River and require the taking of fewer than ten residences.
-"During the 1980s, Caltrans proposed extending the Orange Freeway (CA/SR-57) from its terminus at the "Orange Crush" interchange to the San Diego Freeway (I-405) by means of an elevated alignment along the bed of the Santa Ana River. Pressure from environmental groups led Caltrans and the Orange County Transportation Authority to abandon the plan."

It may have been fashionable activism in the 1970's, but you can see how L.A. is now paying the price for these cancellations and unfinished projects. It may have been the idealistic thing to do back in the environmentalist movement mindset of the 70's, but it wasn't exactly the best or the most forward-looking thing to do.

The answer to the above questions is, of course, that you can't.

-"The Laurel Canyon Freeway (CA/SR-170) and The Beverly Hills Freeway (CA/SR-2) would have been the answer to the questions above. As it is, they were scrapped, and L.A. now has a pretty mess on its hands.

So what do you do now?

If you create "speed corridors" on all major roads going East-West, North-South traffic is going to get pretty jammed without these two cancelled freeways.

The only possible answer is to build overpasses and pedestrian skywalks on Centinella, Sawtelle, Sepulveda Blvd., Westwood Blvd., Santa Monica Blvd. (intersection with Wilshire Blvd.), La Cienega Blvd., Crescent Heights Blvd., at all the points of intersection with Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico and Venice Blvds. to keep traffic moving North-South.

See my posts: WHY L.A. traffic sucks: OPEN DISCUSSION #3 and WHY L.A. traffic sucks: Open Discussion #6: Pedestrian Under/Overpasses - for more on this issue.

Short of this, you can
-dream of a subway or a monorail within 20 years;
-you can move to a less congested city;
-or, if you work permits it, you can just stay at home and telecommute, work from home, and not go anywhere except when traffic dies down after 9:00pm at night.

You can also push for the transformation of the city into a more walkable, bikeable, scooterable, motorcycleable, publictransportable city.

Or move to El Segundo! The city of El Segundo seems to be that kind of a place, nudged there between a major international airport (LAX) and a refinery (Chevron), it seems to be the kind of community where you won't have to drive much to get around. And if you do, there's hardly any traffic. It's probably L.A.'s best kept secret. They even have a FREE trolley Mon-Fri to bring business people from the Sepulveda business area to downtown El Segundo for lunch. Like in the rest of L.A., it's best if you have a car, but if you don't, MTA buses take you to the Green Line, which can then take you to other connecting points. Not advisable if you're pressed for time, but not bad, either.

Or you can just do this...

Los Angeles [Swiss846]



Live with it! I guess...
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SPEED CORRIDORS: East-West

Most of the panel discussion at the L.A. Press Club focused on "mobility," "capacity" and "flow" on the freeways in L.A. I believe that this is a misplaced and misguided emphasis. We have to get away from this idea that the only way to increase mobility and traffic flow in the L.A. area is by increasing flow on the freeways. The idea that the only way to increase mobility is by increasing flow on the freeways is a totally misguided idea. DO NOT believe it.

Any solution to the congestion in L.A., especially on the Westside, will have to include increasing traffic flow on the streets as well, as an alternative to the freeways.

The only way to achieve increasing traffic flow on the streets is by creating temporary SPEED CORRIDORS.

The only way to create SPEED CORRIDORS is by keeping the lights GREEN on ALL major roads going east-west from Sunset to Venice (Sunset Blvd., Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica Blvd., Olympic, Pico, Venice Blvd.) for at least 5 minutes or longer at certain intervals from 7:00am to 9:00am in the morning going east to west, and from 4:00pm to 7:00om in the evening going from west to east. This would create unbelievable flow that would get most cars and buses in and out of the Westside (west of he 405) every morning and evening at a very fast rate.

It is this mass migration of workers going east to west in the morning and west to east in the evenings what creates unbelievable congestion on I-10 and all major roads east-west from Sunset to Venice.

By creating these SPEED CORRIDORS, you would be creating an alternative I-10, which cannot possibly handle such an unbelievable volume of cars without getting jammed. You would be creating an alternative to I-10 without increasing capacity on the freeway and without building another freeway.

It's a great idea. BELIEVE IN IT.

Detractors of this idea would counter: "Well, what about traffic going north-south? While the lights are green for east-west traffic, north-south traffic would be getting jammed on all those roads running north-south that cross the roads you mentioned. And what about pedestrians? They'd be stuck waiting for 5 minutes or longer for the light to change to cross the road!"

My answer is that this idea of SPEED CORRIDORS cannot be implemented without creating a few overpasses for north-south traffic and some skywalks for pedestrians (see my posts WHY L.A. traffic sucks: OPEN DISCUSSION #3 and WHY L.A. traffic sucks: Open Discussion #6: Pedestrian Under/Overpasses for more on this issue).

The idea of tolls on freeways as a solution to congestion would be not only self-defeating, tax-regressive and eventually useless, but it would also be COUNTERPRODUCTIVE: ALL those who are unwilling or unable to pay the tolls would simply spill out onto the streets and roads to avoid paying the tolls, thus creating even more congestion, congestion of unbelievable proportions on the streets of L.A. To believe that tolls are going to change behavior and keep people from driving as single drivers in one car is an illusion. Whoever said that freeways are the only way to "get there"?

Since, according to Tom Rubin, former Administrator for Public Transport in Southern California, "we" (whatever that means!) have decided NOT to increase capacity on freeways, ANY solution to the traffic congestion problem in L.A. MUST include increasing flow on streets and roads as an alternative to the freeways. There's NO question about it.

Any solution, or set of solutions, that focuses on freeway flow at the expense of street flow is part of the problem, NOT part of the solution.

ANY great and creative solution, or set of solutions, for the traffic congestion in L.A. and other metropolitan areas, will have to consider flow EVERYWHERE, NOT just on the freeways.

L.A. is like a 500-pound individual whose arteries are clogged and whose blood is not flowing like it should. This "individual" needs to slim down, start exercising and increase blood flow to ALL parts of the body.

It is that simple a solution.

Whether this "individual" will have the willpower and determination to change or continue to stumble along at the current sluggish pace, is another question.

If you were one of those "blood cells" inside this "individual", what would you say?

Would you say this?

DAMN LOS ANGELES TRAFFIC! [From: ACCDzek]



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Dylan: "Don't follow leaders/Watch the parking meters"!

In LA Traffic Panel Discussion - Volume II, Tom Rubin, former "Administrator for Public Transport" in Southern California says the following,

So what we have is a situation where if we made a decision we aren't going to add capacity, we have to either use what we have smarter, or as has been said [by Mr. Moore], ration it through various means. And this being the United States, where capitalism--I don't think--has totally completely died, tolls are very realistic. And tolls, particularly time of day tolls, will encourage people to change their behavior.

"One of the things that has happened that is the single most significant thing that has happened in U.S. transportation is work-at-home. You take a look at all the model splits: how many people are driving, how many people are car pooling, how many people taking transit, time after time after time, year after year, area after area, there are only two things that are going on: single passenger vehicles and work-at-home. And as the technology increases and as that way of work increases, that is going to change as well more and more.

"We are responding to it, but it's not a question we can't do it, we can't add capacity. We can. The problem is that we have decided NOT to."

Don't you find it especially miffing that this former beauraucrat, who's probably partly responsible for the current mess, and who does not even admit it or take responsibility for it, much less apologize for it, is not even smart enough to leave the word "capitalism" out of it when proposing such a bad idea of "tolls" as the only realistic solution to making people "change their behavior"? At least, he should be smart enough and leave the word "capitalism" out of it! I guess he doesn't realize how he's giving himself away completely by having said that.

I'm telling you. This is the last person in the world you should listen to for solutions to this problem. He is exactly the kind of person Dylan was referring to when he sang, "Don't follow leaders/Watch the parking meters"! Follow him and your "parking meter" is going to go UP, WAY UP, in the form of "tolls" designed to make you "change your behavior."

Does he mean to say that you cannot educate people in America?

Does he mean to say that you cannot appeal to their sense of civic duty?

Does he mean to say that NO ONE in L.A. would give up driving for the good of the entire urban community?

If so, then it is hopeless, completely hopeless. Because it is a fact that there will always be enough people in the world with enough cash to pay ALL the tolls in the world, and NOTHING, NOTHING IN THE WORLD --not the high price of gas, not tolls of ANY kind-- will ever deter them from driving.

Have they ever tried? Have they ever mounted a citywide campaign in all media to educate drivers and appeal to their sense of civic suty to help solve the problem?

Have they ever offered L.A. drivers a REALLY GOOD and REALLY RELIABLE altervative to driving?

He is also overlooking the fact that the driver demographic in L.A. is not only made up of commuters and truck drivers and service van drivers and bus drivers and people running errands, but also of TOURISTS and BUSINESS PEOPLE in car rentals. Thousands of them pour into L.A. every day, and they would be willing to pay any toll they have to pay to get where they are going. The out of town trucks just passing through on their way north or south on the interstate freeways, will have to pay tolls unless you limit their access to the freeways going through town to nighttime.

Tolls would be self-defeating, tax regressive, and in the end, useless. They would have to raise them more and more to REALLY make some people change their behavior.

I only have one thing to tell you. Or better yet, I'll let Bob Dylan himself tell it to you: "YOU DON'T NEED A WEATHERMAN TO KNOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS!"

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues



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LA Traffic Panel Discussion - Volume II: "NO" to adding capacity, "YES" to tolls?!?

Here's the second part of that LA Traffic Panel Discussion: Ever-Lasting Gridlock? that took place at the L.A. Press Club on March 29 of this year.



And here's my response:

Mr. Johnston starts out with a very basic question:

"Why is it that when there's more traffic it moves more slowly?"

Mr. Moore, the USC professor of civil engineering and "expert on the technical side," replies:

"What transportation engineers really focus on is flow.

"At very low densities and high speeds, you got low flow, and you got very densities and very low speeds and you got low flow. And it's that region between jam density and no density at all where your flow would be theoretically maximized. And that's for most folks a low level of service. That's in the neighborhood of, say, 35 miles an hour--faily congested conditions in the minds of most folks. So when I'm driving around in the freeways, I'm thinking in terms of flow. [...]"

Mr. Johnston then asks why the 101 always gets jammed from Cahuenga to downtown.

Mr. Moore replies that "what you're seeing is a period of extended demand that exceeds capacity." That's why. And you have only three options:

"[1] You can add capacity--That's an option. That's expensive.
[2] You can better manage the capacity you have.
[3] We can try to suppress the demand.

Short of that I don't see any avenue for improvement. [...]"

Got it?

That's the technical assessment. In other words, the choices are stark. Expect to drive not faster than 35 mph on freeways in L.A. because at such high densities (a lot of cars on the freeway), drivers drive too defensively and cannot keep up higher speeds.

Then Mr. Johnston asks, "What about the issue of... if we build more roads, we simply generate more traffic."

Mr. Rubin "would be happy to take that." Here's his answer. Read (or listen) CAREFULLY.

"We can build our way our congestion. We have just decided NOT to!

"The problem we have is,... these are taken so seriously: the cost restrictions and the [sic] restrictions, that it becomes almost impossible in this day and age to think of adding capacity in an urbanized area. In many cases it can be done and it has been done successfully. But the limitations are there. And you add the statutory requirements.

"At the present time, in an area undergoing congestion, which therefore has some air quality problems [....], it is virtually impossible to get permission from the federal government to either build a new freeway or add general-purpose lane capacity to existing freeways. What you can do is add an HOV lane. That's the exception. So in many cases, we have seen HOV lanes being added, not necessarily because they're the best solution, but because it's the one thing you can build [...]

So what we have is a situation where if we made a decision we aren't going to add capacity, we have to either use what we have smarter, or as has been said [by Mr. Moore], ration it through various means. And this being the United States, where capitalism--I don't think--has totally completely died, tolls are very realistic. And tolls, particularly time of day tolls, will encourage people to change their behavior.

"One of the things that has happened that iis the single most significant thing that has happened in U.S. transportation is work-at-home. You take a look at all the model splits: how many people are driving, how many people are car pooling, how many people taking transit, time after time after time, year after year, area after area, there are only two things that are going on: single passenger vehicles and work-at-home. And as the technology increases and as that way of work increases, that is going to change as well more and more.

"We are responding to it, but it's not a question we can't do it, we can't add capacity. We can. The problem is that we have decided not to."

Let me get this straight:

We can add capacity, but we have just decided NOT TO in order to tax people with tolls to change their behavior?!?

If anybody out there gets any other conclusion from what he said, let me know! Because every which way you look at it, that's the ONLY conclusion one can get from what he said.

If I understand this correctly, in a country where capitalism "[hasn't] totally completely died," they CAN but they have decided NOT to add capacity. Why? In order to TAX you and make you change your behavior that way!

It may be a very "capitalistic" solution, but it's not a very fair and not a very "democratic" solution. We all know what would happen if tolls were implemented as a cure for traffic congestion. The rich and the upper-middle-class, and to a large extent the middle-class, would get to ride the freeways in absolute comfort at whatever speed they want. But the minimum-wage earners and the poor would have to take the streets to get to work, thus spilling the congestion from the freeways onto the strets. Tolls implemented to cure congestion, as Mr Rubin sugests, would be a form of regressive taxation that would affect the minimum-wage earners and the poor. Just like the high price of gas has not affected high and middle-income bracket wage earners but it has affected the the minimum-wage earners and the poor, tolls would affect the minimum-wage earners and the poor.

Moreover, can you imagine the jams, the congestion, before every toll booth? In L.A.? Are you kidding me? Not everybody would have a fast-lane electronic tag to get through the toll booth fast enough. Want proof? To take the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, you have to pay toll. Almost always, at certain times of day, there's an unbelievable JAM right there before the toll booth. And to require every car to purchase a tag would really mean that only those of high or middle-income level would be able to fork out the extra $50 or $60 a month to purchase a tag just to drive on a freeway. So THEY, the minimum-wage earners and the poor, would create a jam before the toll booth every day.

DO NOT LET THEM SELL YOU SUCH A DUBIOUS, SHODDY BAG OF GOODS, SUCH AN IDIOTIC IDEA.

You already pay enough tax to maintain freeways and roads. DO NOT let them now TAX YOUR RIGHT to drive on those freeways and roads. You should OPPOSE this idea with everything you've got. Pressure them to come up with REAL solutions, not IDIOTIC ideas.

See? This is what happens: politicans, under pressure from the electorate to find solutions to problems, put then pressure on these beauraucrats and academics, so-called "experts," to come up with solutions, and this is "the best" they can come up with: IDIOTIC IDEAS.

I deal at greater length on this issue in my posting Would taxing the Modern Hell (rush hour) turn it into the Modern Heaven (traffic-free cities)? as a response to Nobel Prize winner economist Gary Becker of the University of Chicago, who's one of the original proponents of this idea of tolls to cure congestion.

He may be a "Nobel Prize winner," but he should know that he is proposing an idiotic idea. And, as an economist, he should know that tolls would be a form of regressive taxation on lower-income earners and the poor.

Moreover, I think that to frame it in these dire, stark, black-and-white terms -- IT'S EITHER NO MORE CAPACITY OR TOLLS, MAKE YOUR CHOICE! -- is rather pathetic from people from whom we should expect REALLY CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. (For a really creative approach to solving the traffic congestion problem on the Westside, see my post: WESTSIDE SOLUTION AT A GLANCE)

DON'T YOU THINK?
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L.A. needs to transform itself

L.A. needs to transform itself. The L.A. traffic and congestion problem cannot be solved without L.A. transforming itself into a more walkable, bikeable, scooterable, motorcycleable, publictransportable city. There's no question about that.

Patchwork will not do it. "Tolling" and/or "increasing capacity" on the freeways will not do it. If your arteries are clogged, you reduce your cholesterol intake and exercise more. L.A.'s arteries are clogged. What will it take--a "heart attack" (an earthquake)--to wake everybody up?

L.A. and surrounding cities need politicians with GREAT VISION, who can sell that VISION to the public (angelenos), to the politicians at the federal, state and local levels, and to the urban planners and developers. A vision of a city of the future, a city that doesn't feel and look like the L.A. of nightmarish visions of the future like Blade Runner's, a city made up of vibrant walkable, bikeable communities full of highly mobile and highly community-conscious residents who think not only of themselves but of their neighbors and of their entire urban area as well.

That should be the vision, the blueprint, for an L.A. of the future, and that vision needs to be born now, today, not 20 years from now. At the rate it's going, in the year 2025, L.A. will be a highly unliveable place. That film Blade Runner will go from cult sci-fi classic status to prophetic. Of course, journalists like Ted Balaker will want to downplay such pessimistic assessments and call them "fashionable defeatism." It is people like him who have a voice in the media who should be calling for this vision instead of offering "band-aid-to-plug-a-leak-in-the-dam" ideas that are just patchwork solutions.

L.A. needs to transform itself.

That vision may not be popular with the gas companies, it may not be popular with the car companies, it may not be popular with the self-centered, self-serving, ego-driven set of drivers who think their needs or desires come first at the expense of everybody else. But this is not about popularity. It's about facing a tough reality and making some tough decisions for the good of the entire urban community.

L.A. needs to transform itself.

The politician who can sell that vision is the man or woman of the hour, the man or woman of the future...

And not only that... the politician who can sell this vision to the voters, to the politicians and to the beauraucrats in Washington, Sacramento and City Hall, to the urban planners and developers; the politician who can challenge the power interests that will oppose this vision with all their might-- the whole "oil/auto-industrial-complex" -- is a politician with real cojones...
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LA Traffic Panel Discussion - Volume I

1 minute and 55 seconds of the video clip are dedicated to the reception: people snacking, drinking and mingling to the tune of the Beatles' "Baby, You Can Drive My Car." Then the three panelists are introduced by Mr. Johnston and given an opportunity to give a "brief summary of the crucial issue facing us this evening." This is where it gets interesting... Watch!



So Mr. Tom Rubin goes first, and what he has to say in this brief intro. is very interesting: "Transportation decisions in the United States really have virtually nothing to do with transportation. And that pretty much drives the results. When you're making transportation decisions ignoring transportation impacts, [you get] a transportation system that reflects that in its performance."

That's a very interesting observation, but what the heck does it mean?

If transportation decisions are not based on transportation issues, then WHAT, pray tell, are they based on? And WHO makes them? WHO's accountable?

Obviously, this is the approach that's behind the current mess (and a former insider like Mr. Rubin should know better than anybody else).

So right off the bat, we get confirmation of something we've been saying over and over here on this blog, that at the policy decision-making level, a paradigm shift has to take place. The whole approach to how these decisions are made and who makes them needs to change. Or the "high expectations" that Mr. Balaker trumps about later are an illusion. NOTHING will change for the better or for the long-term without this fundamental change.

Then it's Mr. Balaker's turn (we don't know whether Mr. Moore got a chance to have his say on "the issue facing us this evening" or whether he got skipped over or simply cut in favor of the reception). Mr. Balaker makes two points we have also been harping on here in this blog since April 2006, perhaps not in the same words, but in exactly the same meaning and spirit:

1. "The point I want to make is that mobility matters... These days the term 'geographically undesirable' is becoming more and more commonplace among people who date in urban areas... Mobility is good."
2. "We've fallen into this fashionable defeatism where we think that there's nothing that can be done about traffic. ... Congestion is something that can be triumphed over. And I think it's about time we did that."

Of course "mobility matters" and "mobility is good." No one is denying that. What you have is a population in denial over whether everybody who owns a car should be on the road at the same time every day. Freedom of mobility should entail some responsibility. If you don't have to drive, why drive? If you need to get some milk at the convenience store two blocks away and you can walk, why not walk it? Why not ride your bike? After all, it's good for you! Perhaps a study should be done on the relationship between heart disease and obesity and driving in America. The French and the Italians are thinner and live longer and healthier perhaps because they walk more.

What Mr. Balaker is, in fact, saying is that mobility equals driving. That's not true at all. The only way to attain mobility is not necessarily by driving. The problem of traffic and congestion in American cities such as L.A. will never be solved until people in L.A. are given as many options as possible OTHER THAN DRIVING to attain the mobility they need and desire (How about, for instance, creating more walkable "downtowns" like Santa Monica's that can be easily accessible by clean and reliable transportation like the Big Blue Bus? That's the kind of mobility L.A. needs).

As to point No. 2 --"Congestion... can be triumphed over"-- of course it can! But it won't be easy and it will take a concerted effort by policy-makers and drivers working together to make it happen. There's no magic formula. Neither "tolling" nor "increasing capacity" alone will do it. As we have documented on this blog, the L.A. area has a lot of fixing to do. They can do all the "tolling" they want, they can add all the road capacity they want, but it won't make that much of a difference in the long run if all the other problems we have outlined on this blog are not fixed as well. People will continue to pour into Southern California and the additional flow created by "tolling" and extra capacity will go up in smog!

Tomorrow we will view and respond to Volume II of the Panel Discussion.

Hope you enjoyed it and learned something new. I did. Don't leave it up to the politicians, the experts, the pundits, the academics, the beauraucrats, the self-serving journalists (hawking you wares, huh? What's this? Oprah? ;-). They created the mess in the first place. As this panel discussion will show, they know the least about how to solve it.

L.A. Traffic.. you hearddd [From: ashleeee]
[a girl telling visiting friend(s) that "this is normal."]



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The one and only true real solution to L.A traffic right now: lanesplitting on a motorcycle

This guy, who goes by the name of "adamthelizard" on YouTube, and who has graciously allowed us to use his video here, is a Master Lanesplitter and he shows us how it's done on this cool video of his.

It may look dangerous, it may look risky, it may seem reckless, but from what I hear (comments on YouTube), it is perfectly legal (as it is to ride the motorcycle on the car pool or HOV lane), and HE ROCKS!

And he's ahead of the pack. One of the things that the panelists at the L.A. Press Club talked about (video entries to be posted soon), and priced above all else, was/is MOBILITY. Mobility is the one thing that L.A. traffic has reduced almost to zero. Well, "adamthelizard" show us that NOTHING -- traffic or no traffic -- absolutely NOTHING (except traffic lights, of course!) stands in the way of his mobility.

He rocks! Check it out:

Lanesplitting in Los Angeles [From: adamthelizard]



If you'd rather ride a Vespa (scooter) or a bicycle, see our post:
WHY L.A. traffic sucks: OPEN DISCUSSION #4: "I only ride my bike in LA"/The Italian Solution

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Experts, pundits, academics, and journalists weigh in on the issue

Ok...! It's time to let the "experts and pundits," the former beauraucrats, present academics and ever-lasting journalists have their say!

Guess what I found on YouTube?

"Traffic in L.A. Panel Discussion: The Ever-Lasting Gridlock?"

It took place on March 29, 2007 at the L.A. Press Club moderated by treasurer and board member, Rory Johnston. The panelists included:

-Tom Rubin, "former Administrator of Public Transport in Southern California."
-James E. Moore II, "Professor of Engineering at USC, he's an expert on the technology side" (in Mr. Johnston's words)
-Ted Balaker, "a journalist who has his particular views on the issues."

This video is the "Video News Advisory", and Mr. Johnston promises, or rather hopes, the following:

"We're hoping to really clarify the issues and come up with some solutions that nobody else has ever thought of, and then we'll be able to be driving with ease from here to eternity."

Mr. Johnston must be a tad facetious or disingenius because I have to tell you: I viewed and listened to the whole thing (all five video parts of the panel discussion) and I didn't hear a single thing that was new. I did hear a lot of clarifications on the federally-mandated and political roadblocks to improvement and a lot of clarifications "on the technical side" (the correlation between capacity and congestion), but I didn't hear anything new or inspiring or ground-breaking or enlightening.

Not to rain on anyone's parade and you can judge for yourself, but somehow, after listening to the whole panel discussion, I was left with the feeling that, if we could somehow, by magic, give these three panelists the power to do whatever they wanted to fix traffic in Southern California, the whole thing would end up just as it is now: a mess. I mean, come on, one of the panelists was a former beauraucrat, somebody, who, when he was in office, had the power and influence to make a difference. I didn't hear him take any responsibility for the current state of affairs or offer any truly enlightening or ground-breaking suggestions. Just more of the same. Actually, the one "solution" they all seem to agree on, "tolling," is the one I disagree with (but more on that later or see my posting Would taxing the Modern Hell (rush hour) turn it into the Modern Heaven (traffic-free cities)?).

But anyway, judge for yourself. I'll post all five video parts of the panel discussion and respond to each one individually.

Speaking of technology, we've got the latest technology--well, YouTube, courtesy of parent company Google--to deliver their message to you...

LA Traffic Panel Discussion - Video News Advisory



If you really want my opinion (don't answer that! it's rhetorical! ;-), the best thing about the whole thing, other than getting some kind of public discussion about the issue going, was the use of Jimi Hendrix's "Crosstown Traffic" as background music for this video clip. He was great! He wouldn't make a great L.A. driver with this attitude, but he reflects beautifully the way we all feel in traffic...

Crosstown Traffic by Jimi Hendrix

You jump in front of my car when you,
You know all the time that
Ninty miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive
You tell me it's alright, you don't mind a little pain
You say you just want me to take you for a ride

You're just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you
Crosstown traffic
I don't need to run over you
Crosstown traffic
All you do is slow me down
And I'm tryin to get on the other side of town

I'm not the only soul whos accused of hit and run
Tire tracks all across your back
I can see you had your fun
But darlin' can't you see my signals turn from green to red
And with you I can see a traffic jam straight up ahead

You're just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you
Crosstown traffic
I don't need to run over you
Crosstown traffic
All you do is slow me down
And I got better things on the other side of town

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