Driving in LA – Part 1: One Lane Wonders

For the next few days I will be discussion the driving habits and unbelievable traffic that exists here in Los Angeles. Please feel free to leave a comment, share your thoughts and further the discussion.

So let’s kick off the series by taking a look at the One Lane Wonders.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a major highway or a busy city street; people here pick a lane and drive in it come hell or high water.

I am not condoning the act of over-aggressive lane changing in order to further your position in traffic. We all know wildly shifting from one lane to the next usually does little to get you to your destination faster. How do we know this? I think we can all say we have had someone rush up behind, cut us off, weave in and out of traffic only to be stopped at the same red light we get to.

There are valid reasons to change lanes before you reach your destination or prior to the corner which you have to turn at. But here in Los Angeles people seem stuck in one lane throughout their journey. Here are a few examples:

• On the highway, drivers will remain in the far right hand lane despite traffic attempting to come onto the road. This is one of the biggest reasons for slow downs on the highway it seems. Drivers do not make a lane change to the left and allow people to merge onto the highway at the speed of traffic. Instead there is a terrible mess of slow moving cars coming off the ramp and fighting for a spot on the freeway with people hanging out in the right hand lane listening to Billy Joel and wondering if they can make it to Dodger Stadium before the 4th inning.
• On the highway, the left hand lane (aka the passing lane) is just another lane. The left hand lane should be used for passing. Granted some people think they should be allowed to pass every car on the road at 50 mph greater than the speed limit just because they are in the left hand lane (it’s not true by the way). But the passing lane should be used to move past slow moving traffic such as transport trucks (18-wheelers) or people doing less than the speed limit in the middle lanes. Here is Los Angeles the left hand lane is treated just like all the other lanes. In fact, there seems to be no ‘lane hierarchy’: left hand lane for passing, right hand lane for merging on and off the highway; everything else in the middle.
• In the city, people turn across three lanes of traffic. The other night we are on Wilshire for 8 miles and this amazing lane-transaction takes places more times than I can count. Wilshire is three lanes going in each direction so there is plenty of room to operate. As a matter of fact, sometimes there are four lanes if you count certain turning lanes that pop up at intersections. More often than not, people will drive in the far left hand lane and decide they need to turn right. So they brake (that post is coming another day) and try to make their way across three lanes of traffic to turn right at the upcoming corner. Same thing happens going right to left as I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people move from the extreme right to the turning lane at the next light. If the corner crept up on you because you are not from here, then keep going straight and make three rights or three lefts to get where you need to be. If the corner crept up on you and you are from here: Bad! Bad! Bad!
• Car pool lanes: Great idea, poor execution: The idea of rewarding those with more than one person in a vehicle here in car-happy Los Angeles is a great idea. If you qualify for the car pool lane (usually having more than one person in a car, but sometimes you need 2 or 3) you get to drive in a special left hand lane all by yourself. Usually you avoid the crazy traffic and whiz by all the single car suckers on the right hand side. Except when you get one of those one lane wonders in the magic lane. Just because you have five people in your car doesn’t mean you get to drive in the car pool lane and do 10 mph below the speed limit. You still need to drive at a decent rate of speed for the magic lane to pay off. On more than one occasion since arriving here in Los Angeles I have found myself moving out of the car pool lane and back into regular traffic because the flow is better with all the common-folk on the right hand side. Again, this comes back to people picking a lane and sticking to it no matter what their driving habits are.

Los Angeles drivers are some of the least-agressive I have ever encountered, and that can be a good thing but not when it comes at the expensive of the flow of traffic and the saftey of everyone on the road. The One Lane Wonders are everywhere out there – poking along the highway doing 45 in the left lane; hanging out in the right lane as traffic tries to merge on and off the 1, the 10, the 110, the 710, the 5, the 105, the 705 and every other crazy name of highway (coming up, just wait for it).

Keep your eye open for this common breed of driver the next time you are out – believe me they are out there!