Discussion Topic |
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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 20, 2017 - 03:11pm PT
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I spent the past 7 days in LA, specifically in Downey CA which is in LA county. The weather was 'interesting' and the driving was the worst traffic on a continuous basis I have ever experienced.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/20/traffic-study-ranks-los-angeles-as-worlds-most-clogged-city.html
The first evening we had to drive 21.6 miles from Downey to Universal Studios for an event. In the normal driving world which is just about everything outside of Los Angeles my mind says 45 minutes in an urban environment would be a safe estimate to traverse said distance. Even in and around NYC, unless it's the BQE and then we're back in bizarro world of traffic.
Dropped the destination into Waze and it says 1h 6m. OK, a bit longer, but we've given ourselves ample time to get there and park and maybe have a pre-event cocktail.
1h 47m minutes later we rock in 30 minutes late. And this was to travel 21.6 miles. I could have bicycled that in significantly less time had I had a bike and a reasonable bike path not the 101 through the heart of LA.
So we chalked it up to being an anomaly. Not so fast. Over the course of the next five days we encountered similarly difficult driving on the 10, 5, 405, 110, 605, 710, 101 and other roads. However, a once in a quarter century storm probably had something to do with the drive times on THU-SAT. But interestingly enough, the rain keeps people away from Santa Monica.
YMMV
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 20, 2017 - 03:24pm PT
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LA is nothing compared to Jakarta.
When I was there it was an absolute nightmare and was so glad I wasn't the driver.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Feb 20, 2017 - 03:34pm PT
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If you biked, your bike would have gotten stolen while your back was turned at Universal, and all the time you saved riding to the event would have been wasted ten times over trying to get back home.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 03:41pm PT
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You'd have been lucky to survive a bike ride here. The crankloons love nothing more than
to terrorize cyclists, or pedestrians, all eight of them.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Feb 20, 2017 - 03:57pm PT
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Downy to Universal??
That route doesn't go...
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labrat
Trad climber
Erik O. Auburn, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:01pm PT
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Train is moving much faster than anything else in Truckee at the moment...
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:38pm PT
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1 hour 47 minutes on a Friday evening was a really good time. A bad night and that could have been almost 3 hours.
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:49pm PT
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Yeah, LA traffic is insane and drive times are completely unpredictable. BITD I had a friend who lived 10-15 minutes' drive from me with normal traffic in West LA, but on a day when the roads tipped over into gridlock, the drive took well over an hour. Eventually you give up on saying "I'll meet you there at X o'clock," and just agree to meet at some unknown future time. You also learn to do as much of your driving as possible between 9 PM and 5 AM.
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Johannsolo
climber
Soul Cal
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:54pm PT
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Stop being a pu$$y and suck it up. I just drove 2 hrs each way to Woodson from Long Beach on Sunday and it rained all day. Had a great time exploring.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:55pm PT
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I rode thru Monrovia once...It was like rappelling from a blackhawk helicopter into a somalian hornets next...Rude people...! Very Rude....
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:59pm PT
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Yeah. And the geniuses in city hall are reducing lanes on city streets in West L.A. to try to encourage people to ride bikes. Who's gonna ride a bike through exhaust fumes for ten miles to get to work? Maybe if your work is out-doors, but not if you're any kind of professional.
Don't those morons know that making gridlock worse makes pollution worse? And they're doing this sh*t on purpose.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Feb 20, 2017 - 05:03pm PT
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Shiny metal boxes are for sardines.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 05:22pm PT
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Sorry, Gunkie. It is pretty horrible.
During the week, the small window between 10AM-1:30 PM is usually reasonable. Then it gets OK again after about 7PM.
And the weekends are usually fine until Sunday late afternoon.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 05:41pm PT
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Chaz seems to believe LA is some dystopia. I've ridden my bike in LA for years and have yet to have one stolen. In fact, I still try to ride to the office (from Westchester to Santa Monica) whenever I can.
BTW, I wouldn't want to make the drive, rain or no. LA traffic is grim. Add rain and a Friday night and you're in for a long unpleasant evening.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Feb 20, 2017 - 05:54pm PT
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Downey to Univeral (on HWY 5) has been under construction now for years and will never be finished. Take the 605 or 710.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:08pm PT
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The key to driving in LA is not driving in LA.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:28pm PT
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Study: LA Has World’s Worst Traffic...
No, not even close. The short list: Rome, Mexico City, Cairo, London, Moscow, any city in Asia or India.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:30pm PT
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I lived in LA most of my life.
Trust me... San Francisco is worse.
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:34pm PT
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Northern TJ to the Grape Vine has got to be the biggest car laden concrete crap hole on the planet.
I go Eastside these days.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:45pm PT
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JTM, just so, I refuse to drive there, period.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:48pm PT
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LA is way light compared to Cairo.
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:56pm PT
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Riley +1
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Happiegrrrl2
Trad climber
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Feb 20, 2017 - 08:26pm PT
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I drove in LA once, and I hope I never have to again. I certainly wouldn't do it willingly.
It was BITD when I worked as a designer, and we went to LA for an R&D shopping 3 days or so. Besides the driving - Rodeo Drive...Holy CRAP! I saw this woman standing in the sidewalk who was SO perfectly "made up" from tip of her highlighted hair to the soles of her impeccable and probably $2K high heels. She was standing still when I spotted her, and I honestly had this thought: "How wierd is this? They put mannequins out on the sidewalk to show the stuff available in the stores????" And then, the mannequin began to walk. I really could not believe the precise attention to EVERY detail. In comparison, NYC's Madison Avenue "Ladies Who Lunch" were as dowdy old maids.
But except for that, and being told after the fact that I was not in NY and was going to get myself killed if I thought I could Jaywalk there(when I ran across a road mid-block to get to a smoothie place) and the car drivers really would have run me down if I hadn't scooted my surprised at the gall ass out of the road.
On one of those huge multilane roads, the traffic was going like 70MPH and this guy comes past on my right and then diagonally traverses the entire seven (or how many it was) lanes from outside to inner lane. I would never have believed it possible. But I guess when you HAVE to get places there, you know how much room between cars you actually do need. I swear I almost threw up at the sight of it.
JTM - I have driven just a few times in SF and it doesn't instill the fear in me that LA did.
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john bald
climber
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Feb 20, 2017 - 08:30pm PT
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Alright Tad!
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 08:32pm PT
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Happie, LOL! Funny story.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 10:41pm PT
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LA people are all pretty nice until they get into their cars. Then, if you're in their way because you don't know where you're going, they will let you know.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Feb 20, 2017 - 10:43pm PT
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Driving in LA requires timing skills. You don't go certain places at certain times.
Your route from Downey to Universal City could lake less than 30 minutes at the right time of day.
Disneyland would have been better from Downey (where Dave Alvin is from)
Some nice rocks at Universal:
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Feb 20, 2017 - 11:11pm PT
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Do you want to walk or do we have time to take a cab?
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 11:16pm PT
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I used to drive from LA area down the 5 to 91 east to Corona, and Downey is always the crappiest spot. Mostly I work from home and don't have to deal with traffic :)
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Feb 21, 2017 - 07:44am PT
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Quote Spider: "Driving in LA requires timing skills. You don't go certain places at certain times."
That's the key^. Sometimes must leaving an hour early can save 2 hours of sitting in traffic. There's a lot of alternate freeways and it helps if you know them too.
I'll give the OP some sympathy...That 91 Downey/Corona area has gotten particularly shitty for traffic.It all funnels down and there's not an easy alternative. There's so much new suburban sprawl out there it has truly become a total friggin' nightmare if you have to drive it at rush hour. If there is an accident you are screwed.
@ Happi- Oy- Your "mannequin" story is a drop in the bucket of LA weirdness. One time I was sitting a a red light on Sunset... Waiting to cross in the crosswalk at noon are three people:
1) a Hasidic Jew in the full gettup
2) an impeccably-groomed Asian man in an electric blue suit and
3). Fran N Furter from the Rocky Horror Show (fully made up in garters).
The even weirder thing was that all three seemed to be having a conversation waiting for the light- like nothing was odd.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Feb 21, 2017 - 08:19am PT
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it is what it is!
love the L.A freeway system. lucky for me I work so early in the morning that I never get any traffic however early work hours means drunks are going home.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Feb 21, 2017 - 09:07am PT
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my pressure relief valve never got tested when there was the option to slide between the lanes on a motorcycle. extreme focus required and a very measured application of distrust.
when things loosen up, i tried to migrate to the left most lane, allow some following distance to where i could watch for debris in the road that would appear from between the wheels of the vehicle ahead. any evasive maneuvers would in theory favor the median.
my point is ... when the landscaper tosses a bucket onto a flatbed he may as well be packing your parachute, he's making a life and death decision for any motorcycle that comes along. all the debris in the median is an eye opener.
how many times does the traffic report include a reference to "ladder in the number three lane?" that's a death warrant for the next motorcycle who might survive the slide, but then he's a pedestrian
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canyoncat
Social climber
SoCal
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Feb 21, 2017 - 09:34am PT
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The key to living in LA is to move here when young and do everything you want to do and see in the first 10 years when you still have the energy and patience to deal.
Then you settle into your career, and move close to work. No more driving around unless it's necessary. Been there, done that. I love LA. Admittedly, we suck when it comes to the slightest bit of rain. You'd think it was snow and ice.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Feb 21, 2017 - 09:53am PT
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Yea our traffic sucks.... Tell the world, don't go to LA.
As Rielly and others have pointed out... if you think we are bad, you have never been anywhere in the world.
Hooblie....you must drive your bike in the lane formed by the tires, never in the center-between the wheels.... cars will weave to miss stuff-- you must follow the car. And the oil and fluids that drip out out of cars is laid down in the center. That was taught to me by a nice CHP officer the first time I was ordered to TAKE THE CLASS by the nice judge.
One must be smart about when and where you go... For example: This Thursday I'm heading to Phoenix to referee a Kart race for three days... I will climb into my car at 4:30am and will not stop till Blythe for breakfast around 8:30. On the return Trip-- I will go bouldering in Phoenix-- Beardsleys...reminds me of Stoney point... and make a big detour to the north of the city via Lancaster. One must do this to avoid the 5-6 hour "commute" from Palm Springs to Moorpark if started at 3pm.
But due to the influx of 3rd world types and Jerry Brown's cuts to the DMV licensing procedures it WILL get worse, much worse, just give it ten years.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Feb 21, 2017 - 10:02am PT
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I moved to LA in 2008 from Denver. My friends from Denver asked me what it was like to drive in LA. I told them "the best way I can describe it is that EVERYBODY is absolutely sure THEY have the right of way".
Oh yeah, that lane splitting thing the motorcyclists do on the freeway scares me to death.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Feb 21, 2017 - 10:08am PT
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LA doesn't even make the top ten for bad traffic worldwide.
Here's the latest study...
Bangkok has the worst evening rush hour traffic in the world for a second consecutive year, according to GPS manufacturer TomTom.
The results were compiled after TomTom tracked a years-worth of traffic in 390 cities across 48 countries.
Here is the 2017 ranking of cities with the most severe evening rush hour traffic:
1. Bangkok, Thailand
2. Mexico City, Mexico
3. Bucharest, Romania
4. Jakarta, Indonesia
5. Moscow, Russia
6. Chongqing, China
7. Istanbul, Turkey
8. St. Petersburg, Russia
9. Zhuhai, China
10. Santiago, Chile
11. 11. Guangzhou, China
12. Shijiazhuang, China
13. Shenzhen, China
14. Los Angeles, U.S.
15. Beijing, China
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Gorgeous George
Trad climber
Los Angeles, California
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Feb 21, 2017 - 01:07pm PT
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You think driving in L.A. is tough, try riding a bike. People don't respect you one bit, so you have to fight for your right to have space.
I used to ride from SGV to downtown on my bike, could make the 13 miles in just under an hour, usually faster than someone in a car.
Talk about EXCITING!!!!
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Hoser
climber
Vancouver,Rome
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Feb 21, 2017 - 02:47pm PT
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I am surprised Manila didnt make that list Ghost!
The traffic here is bad for sure, being able to ignore all traffic laws helps...if you want rid yourself of road rage...come here, doesnt take long before you give up.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Feb 21, 2017 - 04:40pm PT
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What Dingus said is true. Just watch out for the BMWs.
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Feb 21, 2017 - 04:54pm PT
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Why would you drive in LA when you can take the electric streetcar system? No traffic jams. No air pollution.
Oh yeah, GM, Chevron, and Firestone bought it, dismantled it, and sold off the land so it could never be recreated...
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Feb 21, 2017 - 05:17pm PT
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You talking about The Red Car, Fet?
My Grandmother said The Red Car took "all goddamn day" to get from Pasadena to the beach, and everyone in L.A. bought a car as soon as they could afford one.
( because strange as it seems, people in the 30s, 40s, and 50s didn't feel like wasting any more of their time then than we do today )
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Feb 21, 2017 - 05:40pm PT
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I almost moved back to California years ago, interviewed in my old stomping grounds in Los Angeles.
I remember being on a 5-lane freeway, in stop-and-go traffic in both directions, as far as the eye could see.
It was 2 o'clock in the morning.
Needless to say, I did NOT move back to L.A.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Feb 21, 2017 - 06:24pm PT
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Oh yeah, that lane splitting thing the motorcyclists do on the freeway scares me to death. yeah well..
I split lanes everyday. It's great.
I've seen people do some pretty strange things while doing this for the last 40 years.
One of the weirdest was a a guy in overalls driving a cop car with a uniformed cop in the back seat. That or the scantily clad girl dancing on the center k-rail to the music in her head. That one stopped traffic in both directions for miles, or maybe it was the nun screaming profanities out her window, or maybe it was....
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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Feb 21, 2017 - 06:50pm PT
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Don't those morons know that making gridlock worse makes pollution worse? And they're doing this sh*t on purpose.
"The gridlock will continue until traffic improves." There's a reason I avoid that part of the country.
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Feb 21, 2017 - 06:56pm PT
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In terms of traffic, the Tijuana border line is Cairo, Rome and Jakarta all in one...all taking place in the middle of a swap meet.
You don't ever use your blinker, you don't ever make eye contact with the vendors and you never, ever let anyone in your lane.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 21, 2017 - 07:17pm PT
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Some crankloon in a POS Nissan Cube tried to take me off the line today! ARE U KIDDING ME?
A Cube vs a Raptor? Really? That's a seriously deluded metrosexual there.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Feb 21, 2017 - 07:32pm PT
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I've lived in LA for 30+ years, and yes, the traffic during business hours is tough, no doubt.
However, I'm amazed that someone would come to LA, with it's reputation, and expect to just fight through it with a car.
There are some amazing public transit options now. It's been a number of years since I've driven to downtown. No reason to, when you can take a nice subway, and relax and read.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Feb 21, 2017 - 08:20pm PT
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Like anything else in life it is a matter of having the right tool for the right job.
Get yerself a gyrocopter, dude.
[Click to View YouTube Video]\
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Feb 21, 2017 - 08:42pm PT
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Moscow is really not that bad. Navigation works great. No worse, or even better, than the Bay Area or Seattle.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Feb 22, 2017 - 02:37am PT
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Nobody drives in LA anymore...the roads are way too crowded.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Feb 22, 2017 - 07:32am PT
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^^^
But, bringing it all back home.
Authorities respond to report of shot fired on Interstate 805 in Chula Vista area
Dispatchers said a driver reported having a window shot out while traveling on northbound I-805 at Olympic Parkway.
Gyrocopters may not be all they're cracked up to be. Fortunately neither John Wayne nor Harrison Ford, nor anyone else for that mnatter, was injured.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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