L.A. Commuters Shouldn’t Drive

If you have ever spent any time in Los Angeles, you know the biggest hurdle towards getting anything done is the traffic you have to deal with on the way. In the recent Los Angeles Times article “L.A.’s commuters can’t even go nowhere fast”, Christopher Goffard took a snapshot of the busy 110 Freeway and tried to talk to as many people stuck in traffic as they could. He also provides a nice summary of the LA Condition:

If you’re seeking the city’s ever-elusive center, it looks exactly like this. It’s anywhere the tires are stopped dead, a thousand deep. As a motorist in Southern California, your average rush-hour speed has plunged from 26 miles per hour in 1980 to about half that today. High gas prices have thinned traffic in some places recently, but the improvement is unlikely to last. In L.A. and Orange counties, by one conservative estimate, you’re now delayed by rush hours 72 hours a year, about double the time you were 25 years ago.

The article talks with several commuters, each describes the torturous commute they have to make each day as part of living in the most congested urban area in the United States. Unfortunately the article does not dive into possible solutions, preferring to comment on the carnage and move on by like an LA commuter rubber-necking at a traffic accident.