L.A.’s Crazy Freeway System
On the night of June 23, 1997, champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya drove his brother’s Mercedes on the 605 Freeway near Whittier. He was in the fast lane when the car stalled. He maneuvered to the left shoulder but couldn’t find his cell phone. The California Highway Patrol recommends you stay in your vehicle wearing your seat belt and call for help if your car stalls on the freeway. De La Hoya didn’t feel safe. He opened the car door, waited for a gap in traffic and sprinted across five lanes to the other side of the freeway. Moments later a massive truck smashed into the Mercedes, totaling the car.
All Angelenos have stories of witnessing horrific accidents, getting stuck in nightmare traffic jams or a seeing a police car chase on a freeway. To live in Los Angeles one must make peace with freeways. You learn to accept the gridlock, reckless drivers, ramshackle cars and ever-prowling highway patrol. In a city composed of haves and have-nots, freeways are the last bastion of egalitarianism. Whether you drive a Rolls Royce or a broken-down Chevy, all drivers have equal freeway access.
Charles Bukowski wrote, “When I drive the freeways, I see the soul of humanity of my city and it’s ugly, ugly, ugly.” The unwritten rule of freeway driving is to embrace aggressiveness. Defensive driving does not suffice. To signal before a lane change guarantees the car behind you will not let…
