Tag Archive for commuter

TGIF … and useful things to be aware of on the road this weekend

TGIFI hope you survived arguably one of the worst driving weeks of the year. I completely get why the roads are such a nightmare this week. Kids are back in school; summer vacations are over; everyone is getting back into their routines. But … it completely mystifies me as to why in about 2 weeks time people settle in and traffic does seem to ease up a bit (for LA standards). What happens to all of these cars? Where do these people go? Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful that there’s an improvement. It just makes no sense. I mean, it should be the same cars and same people on the road. The same kids are going to school. Do masses of people start calling in sick to work? They surely aren’t taking public transportation. Do they push the limits and go in later to work? Are hoards of kids already dropping out of school? Why does this happen? I’d really like to know.

Anyway, today IS finally Friday. We love Fridays, but we sure do not love the traffic that comes with it. Friday traffic is indeed a conundrum. I’m sure you’ve observed traffic is usually very light on Friday mornings. At the end of the day, however, all bets are off! It’s total gridlock and there’s no escaping it. It used to be if you left work before 3 p.m., traffic was a breeze getting home. Now, it gets brutal after 12 p.m. and surface streets are MUCH worse. Where do these people come from? Where were they in the morning? By the way, have you observed that Thursday is the new Friday? Thursday night rush hour now rivals Friday and it lasts longer it seems than a Friday. I’ve often left work at 8 p.m. on a Thursday and it’ll take me more than an hour to get home. At that time of the night it should only be about 40 minutes.

Anyway, enough of the rant for now. Here are a few useful items to be aware of this weekend. I’ll be back on Monday with a full blog post. Tune in then for more!

Road Closure
Do you remember the Carmaggedon Bridge up by Mulholland and the Skirball area? Well, the bridge is going to be closed for part of this weekend so you might want to avoid the area. It will be closed Friday and Saturday night from 10 p.m. – 8 a.m.

New Law – 3 Feet for Safety Act
There’s a new law on the books — the 3 Feet for Safety Act — taking effect September 16th to help drivers and cyclists co-exist.

Welcome to my bLAuto!

just me in carLiving in LA, the road has become an all too important character in my life. It’s the protagonist, the nemesis, the best friend who gives perspective on life, the annoyance that you sometimes just can’t avoid. It’s my routine and my escape. Sometimes it makes me want to scream and other times it allows me to breathe. At the age of 16, it was my “get out of jail free” card when the world was opening up and anything was possible. Now, as a commuter, there are days I fear it could lead to my demise.

Most of my adult life, I’ve had to commute a considerable distance. I figure each year, driving about an hour each way give or take, I spend about 500 hours on the road commuting for work. 500 hours! That’s about 20 days a year! With an average distance of just 25 miles each way, that translates to 4 times across the U.S. or about one and a half times around the earth. And this is a conservative estimate! I’ve had jobs that were 40-50 miles away. 20 days a year! To think of what I could do with that time back in my life.

I found after spending these two hours a day in the car, on a good day, my sanity was slowing slipping away. My regularly, somewhat genteel personality was lapsing into fits of manic combustion. I was not about to let the poor planning of urban developers get the better of me. So, I decided to turn this pent-up frustration into constructive therapy. Yep, I turned it all around for the sake of sanity. I started gaining pleasure in watching people in cars around me try to find a quick way out of gridlock – hopping lanes to see if they could squeeeeeeze an extra car past. The thrill I gained in watching these people interact on the freeway was almost sadistic.

Yet day in and day out I was no better off than anyone else. I was still one of the countless numbers of others caught in this cacophony of asphalt. So I thought and I thought. I thought about my goals, what I want to do with my life, how I could make myself financially secure so I’ll never have to drive in rush hour traffic again. I tried everything to maximize my time in the car and get my mind off traffic. I bought a comfortable car disproportionate to my income level with lots of bells and whistles (the LA thing to do). I listened to music, novels on CD like “How to Become a Millionaire.” And as my mind would still wander, I saw people’s driving habits form common patterns. Personalities emerged and started to show similarities. Just like we categorize people in society and label them based on their socio-economic status, I found that people’s driving behaviors could be categorized as well. Sure some people are in nicer cars, but this time, income level did not determine how far one could excel before another on the road to nowhere.

As it turns out, the road is a great equalizer. As in life, people behind the wheel are driven by their ambition, frustration, and others who set the pace. I can see it in how they drive and will share with you my insights. I hope you’ll join me on this journey in my bLAuto. I will share with you humor, pathos, tips and tricks, of course the occasional bitch session, and even offer what I hope will be educational information.

Thanks for joining me on this road trip! I welcome your comments.


Marci