Why is los angeles traffic so bad?

Question

it takes me about an hour and a half to get to work every morning.. and i leave at 6am! and the same to get home at 5. why can't everyone just step on their gas and go? it's so frustrating

Answer 1

It's so bad because everyone just HAS to live so far from where they work, because everyone just HAS to have a big yard and a garage and blah blah and they just HAVE to do it in a major city, and because the companies they work for just HAVE to be located in the city center or way out in the middle of nowhere, and public transportation is for peasants!  That is why it must remain fit only for peasants!  How DARE you develop buses or light rail when there are roads that need to be torn up and resurfaced?  Mix commercial and residential zoning?  ARE YOU INSANE?  This is Los Angeles we're talking about, the model for all new development in the United States!  Not some third-world toilet!  

(Seriously, **** LA, **** housing developers who are from there or have anything to do with LA, and **** the zoning boards who fellate them.)

Anyhow, that covers half the problem.

The other half is this:

http://jalopnik.com/335832/traffic-jam-m...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...

Basically, one idiot hitting his brakes too hard can bring traffic to a halt for MILES (not all at once, of course, but when you've got a lot of idiots...)

I would not be opposed to monitoring systems to detect such behavior...overreactions to things, I mean.  And if you exceed a certain number per year, you are executed.

Answer 2

You can only go as fast as the guy/gal in front of you, and the same is true for THEM.

The problem is partially because Ca. is so liberal with welfare money that ANY deadbeat can move in and collect free money.

Another reason is the weather.

The roadways can handle only so much before they become a parking lot.

Answer 3

Because:

1. People suck at driving.

2. Especially Californians.

3. People are lazy, half of them could ride a bike.

4. People don't pay attention; a driver hesitating for 2 seconds at the front of a traffic jam causes the person at the back to be held up for several more minutes.

Answer 4

same as new york. too many commuting vehicles. They were going to raise our bridge and tunnel taxes to something ridiculous to cut down on the cars from outside of manhattan going in everyday.

Answer 5

Everyone can't "just step on their gas and go" because it would cause major accidents.

LA traffic is particularly bad because:

1)  too many people live far from their work

2) voters generally vote against any attempt to improve the public transportation network.