socal traffic II

Once again, on my trip back from San Diego just now, I hit unreasonable traffic delays. This time it was the classic gapers' delay. But there was nothing interesting to gape at, just a couple of cars on the side of the road and some blinking lights. Yet traffic came to a halt and was stop-and-go for a few miles, and of course started moving as normal right after the scene of an apparent crash. Overall people here do seem to be slightly more respectful than the losers I'm used to sharing the road with, so I must give credit where credit is due. Or maybe it's just that all the freeways have 4+ lanes on each side and so I'm able to keep the pedal on the floor and weave through traffic to get around the usual logjammers. (As you may have guessed, I've made frequent use of every lane available on every road I've been on for the last week and a half.) But nobody gets a free pass for grinding traffic to a halt just to look at some dumb crap that probably happens every day around here.

Overall, I can't describe how bad the traffic is around here. I could never live in this area just for that reason alone. In other places, even D.C. and Chicago, you kinda hope for a better-than-usual ride and are disappointed but not surprised when you hit traffic problems. But around here you don't even hold out hope. You get on any freeway without any doubt that you'll be parked before long, and it's just a matter of how many miles you'll go before you get bottlenecked somehow. It's unlike anything I've ever driven in.

This area of the country is very pretty and does have a lot going for it in the way of nearby stuff and activities and such, but it has so many drawbacks -- traffic, gross overpopulation, outrageous living expenses, proximity to the intelligence and decency void that is Hollywood, and on and on -- that living here one day isn't remotely an option and I can't see it ever becoming one.