Bad Driving

There’s a Ride-Share War raging in the loading zones of Los Angeles.
On one side, you have a fleet of flashy social media companies with names like Lyft, Sidecar and Uber, which offer car services at the swipe of a smartphone app. On the other side, you have the hardened professionals behind the wheels of United Independent, Yellow Cab and the like.
I was totally ignorant …

The average Angeleno wastes 60 hours stuck in traffic every year.
That depressing statistic comes from latest annual report by INRIX, a Washington-based traffic research company. INRIX not only ranks the country’s worst traffic cities each year, but also lists the worst times to drive in those cities. So what’s the worst hour of the week on LA’s traffic-choked streets and freeways?
The most congested hour …

With the Los Angeles mayoral primary just about a week away, there’s some last-minute campaigning going on.
But one of the issues that’s been largely missing from the campaign – at least hasn’t been talked about a whole lot – is traffic. As in all the Angelenos who get stuck in it way too often.
Kevin Roderick from LA Observed joins KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis, as he …

Starting this weekend, solo drivers will be able to bypass traffic on a stretch of the Harbor (110) Freeway by paying to use 11 miles of carpool lanes.
Existing “HOV” lanes will be renamed as “HOT” – high-occupancy toll lanes – allowing single drivers to use the carpool lane for a fee, depending on the traffic.
The so-called High Occupancy Toll lanes will be L.A. County’s …

Very soon, on parts of the I-10 and 110 freeways, it’s going cost you to use the car pool lanes — even if you have a passenger. You’ll have to deposit $40 to get a transponder and then pay for every mile you travel in those lanes. The price will be different at different times of day. It’s been tried in cities around the …

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation yesterday that will allow driverless cars onto California roads for testing.  The technology behind driverless cars is pretty much here, so why is it taking so long for the drivers to accept the idea? Will we have to give up autonomy and our love affair with the car?  Warren talked to the Wall Street Journal’s  Dan Neil about when we’ll actually …

L.A. knows a thing or two about making sequels. And this weekend one big one is coming to our freeways, Carmageddon 2. From 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning to Monday at 5:00 a.m. a ten-mile stretch of the 405 between the U.S. 101 and I-10 will be closed. That’s being done so workers can demolish one side of the Mulholland Bridge, which spans the 405.
Last …

On tonight’s Which Way, LA? we are exploring the ethics of riding a bike through a red light.  Inspired by this article by the former New York Times ethicist, Randy Cohen, we thought we’d take the conversation back to Los Angeles. We are, after all becoming more of a biking town every day. So we put Randy Cohen’s question to Facebook: Is it ethical for …

Work begins tonight on the demolition of Wilshire Boulevard on and off-ramps to the 405, which is supposed to continue for a year. Some call it “Rampture,” Shortcuts calls it hell. Either way it’s going to be a nightmare for commuters and it’s going to hit L.A.’s West Side the hardest, affecting drivers on their way to the Veterans Administration complex,  UCLA and The …

Los Angeles traffic authorities have unveiled a new pricing plan for street parking in nearly all of downtown L.A., one that uses “smart” street meters that change the cost of parking depending on demand. When demand is high, say in the middle of the day, you’ll pay more to feed the meter. When demand is lower, like on the weekends,  prices will drop. The …

It’s a big weekend for the Staples Center, as L.A.’s three teams are all playing games there this weekend. Just up the road at their stadium the Dodgers are leading their baseball division. A crew at the Staples Center will have just 80 hours to set up for six playoff games in professional basketball and hockey. Also this weekend, the country’s largest stage cycling …

Remember when we used to ask “Who killed the electric car?”
Well, unless you’ve been under a Hummer the last few years, you probably know the world’s car companies are pumping out electric vehicles like never before. This week, the center of the green car universe is Los Angles as the city hosts the International Electric Vehicle Symposium. It the big annual meeting where all …

It looks like the weather gods will comply for CicLAvia on Sunday with a nice 67 degree day and zero chance of rain. Are you planning on participating? More info at ciclavia.org.

.entry img, .entry a img{
margin: 0 !important;
}

The Los Angeles City Council recently passed an ordinance giving bicycle riders the chance to sue automobile drivers for threatening them, harassing them or trying to force them off the streets. Hit-and-runs are a big concern to cycling activists.
Cycling activist Don Ward recounts his hit-and-run story. About three years ago, he collided with a car while riding on Glendale Boulevard, near Sunset Boulevard, in …

On the eve of another CicLAvia — with 10-miles of Los Angeles streets cleared of cars — there is growing tension between bicycle riders and drivers of automobiles. Are hit-and-run incidents on the increase? Was at least one case intentional? We hear what the LAPD has to say about a new ordinance giving cyclists the power to fight back. Also, a new poll on …

If LA gets an NFL franchise, would a football stadium guarantee gridlock in downtown LA? Developer AEG released an answer today that’s 10,000 pages long. We get a first read. Also, the LA Coliseum Commission is about to turn over a public facility to a private institution, but won’t say why. We hear about the terms of the deal. On Reporter’s Notebook, how Mexican …

Correction, 5/24/12: This post mistakenly described the Beverly Hills Marketing effort in a way that could imply it was fraudulent. KCRW does not have any evidence of fraudulent activity and so regrets the error.
The note was stuck in the driver side door of my car.  I discovered it Friday evening in the staff parking lot at Santa Monica College.  My first thought was, “Wow, …

Be you exercise freak or couch potato, remember that the Los Angeles Marathon is this Sunday. Runners will start at Dodger Stadium and end at the Santa Monica Pier. In between they’ll pass a gallery of local landmarks, from Los Angeles City Hall and the Cathedral of our Lady of Angels to the Capitol Records building and the Chauteau Marmont. You can see a …

This is the price of gasoline at one downtown Los Angeles filling station on my way to KCRW this morning. Needless to say, I didn’t buy gas here, but it did make me happy that I drive a hybrid. Have wallet-busting prices at the pump changed your driving habits? Are you prepared for a spring and summer of $5 a gallon gasoline? For more …

We don’t usually do traffic reports here (Kajon Cermak has that covered), but this week is going to see epic freeway closures. There will be partial and complete lane closures on the 405 throughout the week.
In the southbound lanes, partial closures will begin this evening at 7:00 p.m. from the 101 south to Getty Center Drive. In addition, all southbound lanes will be closed …