Traffic in Los Angeles

While a traffic jam is usually thought of as a dreadful occurrance in other cities, traffic jams are just another part of everyday life in Los Angeles. Ranked the 5th worst traffic city in the country, it is estimated that residents of Los Angeles lose about 128 hours a year just sitting in traffic. With complicated intersections from the 405, the 101, the 10, and the 5 freeways, it is no wonder why Los Angeles can have such congested traffic.

Generally, people recommend that you stay away from highways during peak traffic times which include mornings from 7 to 10 and evenings from 3 to 7. That only leaves a 5 hour time window between 10 and 3 for you to freely drive through the highway with minimal congestion during the day.

There can be many causes of traffic in Los Angeles, but the most common reasons are rain, an accident occurring on the side of the freeway, and the usual rush hour of people trying to drive to work. In Los Angeles, rain is quite rare, so when rain does fall, people can be overly cautious when driving to prevent any slippage or accidents. Whenever there is an accident, people drive much slower to be careful not to drive too close to the accident scene, but some people drive slower to observe what is going on. Finally, when it is the mornings or evening when people are driving to and from work, traffic is inevitable. There are so many intersections in the highway that there are traffic jams due to the sheer amount of people driving in Los Angeles. Sometimes, there are traffic jams in Santa Monica simply due to the amount of people that want to go to the beach. If one were to try and avoid the traffic by taking public transit, they would still have a hard time getting places due to the inefficient transit system in Los Angeles.