(Don’t you ever wonder what kind of offense these people could commit in traffic so heavy you couldn’t possibly exceed the limit or change lanes enough to invoke reckless driving?) The slowdowns then cause lane changing as each jockeys for a “fast” lane, which causes more lane changing, rear-end collisions and on and on! By pulling a car to the curb lane to do what they do, there is an immediate backup as “rubberneckers” check out what is happening or just slow their already snailish speed in blind obedience. Surprise? Not really, if you analyze what the CHP does when they make a routine traffic stop on the freeway. One of the prime causes of major traffic tie-ups at the height of commute traffic is the California Highway Patrol. Maybe Metro can look into a similar camera programs to ensure that Los Angeles’ Wilshire BRT delivers the ridership benefits projected.As a former 120-mile-per-day commuter, I would like to share the following observation.
#CALIFORNIA ANTI GRIDLOCK LAW DRIVERS#
Other cities, notably New York and San Francisco, use on-bus traffic cameras to enforce driver compliance with bus-only lane laws these cities do still experience some issues with scofflaw drivers impeding transit. For my (admittedly small) sample last Friday, I saw no traffic enforcement on Wilshire Boulevard. In my observations of the Metro Silver Line BRT running on freeway ExpressLanes, a visible traffic enforcement presence has helped ensure that errant drivers do not get in the way of that BRT project’s success. County Sheriff Department also patrol Wilshire bus lanes?) County Sheriff officers did this, not LAPD. There is some evidence that, despite “BIKES OK” signage, LAPD sheriffs sometimes wrongly ticket s cyclists on the Sunset Boulevard bus-only lane. The first phase of the bus lanes opened in June 2013, so, for some stretches, there should be a couple years’ worth of enforcement records. SBLA will make inquiries to LAPD and find out how LAPD bus-only lane enforcement activity has been proceeding. After some police enforcement, the word would likely get out, and drivers would stay out of the lane, benefiting the commute times for the tens of thousands of Wilshire bus riders. It seems that a few LAPD motorcycle officers patrolling these lanes at morning and evening rush hours could easily write dozens of right turn violation tickets. Times‘ description) enforcement opportunity as LAPD’s ill-advised downtown pedestrian ticketing. This situation is as much of a proverbial fish-in-a-barrel (to use the L.A. I uploaded four videos showing numerous peak-hour right turn violations–see above, and here, here, and here. Both rapid and local Wilshire buses were arrive very frequently at the peak commute hour, though, between buses, there was still often a one or two-minute space that law-breaking drivers file into. I stopped at a handful of intersections, and every time observed multiple cars breaking laws by proceeding straight ahead through right-turn-only intersections. Signage on Wilshire designates right turn only during peak commute hours.Īt the start of each bus-only lane block, the pavement is marked “BUS LANE.” At nearly every intersection from Beverly Hills to MacArthur Park, there are signs that state “RIGHT LANE BUSES RIGHT TURNS ONLY 7AM-9AM 4PM-7PM MON-FRI.” The majority of drivers did respect and stay out of the bus-only lane.
I observed dozens of these cars clearly impeding the progress of the very frequent Wilshire buses. to 5:30 p.m., I observed hundreds of drivers breaking traffic laws, most of them driving straight ahead through right-turn-only designated intersections, but also two cars illegally parked in the designated “anti-gridlock” tow-away no-parking lane. That car and the one behind it followed me through the intersection, ignoring the right-turn-only designation for cars in their lane.
#CALIFORNIA ANTI GRIDLOCK LAW LICENSE#
This Mercedes with license plate 6JJH202 is blocking the Metro 720 bus from getting to the Crenshaw Blvd stop. Unfortunately, many peak-hour drivers are breaking the law by driving in the exclusive bus lanes. Metro forecasted that the Wilshire Boulevard peak-hour bus-only lanes will significantly improve commute times for the more than 25,000 people who board Wilshire Boulevard buses at peak hours every weekday.īut those improvements will only materialize when the bus-only lanes only have buses in them. On April 8, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and other Metro, federal, county, and city leaders cut the ceremonial ribbon opening the second phase of the $31.5 million Wilshire BRT (Bus Rapid Transit). All photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.
Illegally parked car blocks the Wilshire BRT peak-hour bus lane last Friday.
0 kommentar(er)
