Driving in California / LA (Los Angeles, San Francisco: hotel, home, buy)

[dsuday]

Hi,
I am moving to California in another week. Last time you guys were kind enough to suggest some places to stay. So here I am back for some more help.

I will be driving from Portland OR to LA mostly via I5. I have been driving comfortably well in Portland for the last one year (when i learnt how to drive a car here and had brought one I am new to the states and never learnt driving in my home country).

I have been given some scary information about CA and LA driving. Is it really scary ? I try to do text book driving when I am in portland. My destination would be to reach Omni hotel in Downtown LA on Sunday. What should I take care of while driving in CA/LA ?

Regards

Uday

[EscapeCalifornia]

As long as you expect to be tail gated, passed on the shoulder, cut off every 10 seconds, you'll be fine. Don't do less than 15mph over the speed limit in the left lane either.

[SurekRZA]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

As long as you expect to be tail gated, passed on the shoulder, cut off every 10 seconds, you'll be fine. Don't do less than 15mph over the speed limit in the left lane either.

Dont do less than 5mph under the speed limit in any lane of the freeway, once in Los Angeles. People are very busy and dont have the time to drive behind you if youre going slow, especially with L.A. traffic hours. You have to learn to be an agressive driver if you want to get anywhere quickly in L.A. Dont worry, you'll be fine. In a few months you'll be driving like the rest of us.

[Sorcerer68]

The best driving advice involves planning:

*mapquest everything until you learn your way around, even then you may want to continue.

*live where you work and avoid commuting.

*Do your best to drive during off-peak times. If you must drive during rush hour, try to avoid the freeways.

Good luck.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by dsuday

My destination would be to reach Omni hotel in Downtown LA on Sunday. What should I take care of while driving in CA/LA ?

It is good you will be arriving in the Los Angeles area on a Sunday as this would be the time of the least traffic. There are a lot of one-way streets in the downtown area. Look at a detailed map of the destination and try to have a mental visualization of what freeways, what exits, and what turns you have to make to get to the hotel. Try to minimize left hand turns. Hopefully you are traveling with a friend who can serve as a navigator with maps, otherwise the memorization will help avoid struggling with maps in stressful situations.

[katenik]

buy a thomas guide to supplement/confirm mapquest directions. those online directions frequently leave something out, and if you don't know the area, you won't know that the directions are incomplete until you get there and have no idea which way to turn.

[maestramommy]

I agree with pp, defensive driving is best. When you want to change lanes in busy traffic, go ahead and signal, but you need to be aggressive or it'll never happen.

[dsuday]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am printing out directions and also I have a GPS with me which should be helpful while in LA..

I m right now all set for the trip. Maybe I will get to see first hand what the famed california driving is all about.

I drive pretty defensively here so I hope I should be okay ,but what scares me are the reports of aggressive and impatient nature of some CA drivers.

Maybe this is something I should go through myself to better understand and adjust to it..

[motoman]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

As long as you expect to be tail gated, passed on the shoulder, cut off every 10 seconds, you'll be fine. Don't do less than 15mph over the speed limit in the left lane either.

The advice given on planning is very good and it looks like you have that all situated just fine.

Los Angeles drivers aren't anymore "aggressive" or "rude" than drivers in any other big city. They're actually pretty tame compared to a lot of places.

The above description is the complaint you'll typically hear, but equally, if not more so, problematic, are people that are either scared or inconsiderate and drive too slowly, fail to keep up with the flow of traffic, do not know how to merge with traffic, do not know how to change lanes, etc.

It is the meeting of "faster" drivers and "slower" drivers that causes most problems.

[straight outta camden]

Originally Posted by dsuday

what scares me are the reports of aggressive and impatient nature of some CA drivers.

Ignore those reports, at least when you are in Los Angeles. I have driven all over, and Los Angeles drivers are some of the least aggressive in America. San Francisco drivers are immeasurably worse. In London, where I come from, we eat American drivers for breakfast.

The advice given about exceeding the speed limit is ludicrous. When you come to LA you will see lots of old cars; also lots of battered pickup trucks carrying garbage, furniture etc. They can't go more than 60mph. Sure, some people like to drive fast, especially if they have BMWs or live in the San Fernando Valley. That's their problem, not yours. Be aware of them but don't let them worry you.

Angelenos have plenty of driving faults. They are dreamy (imagining that call from their agent, perhaps?) Notice the way they leave their blinkers on for mile after mile. They still haven't figured out how to turn left without a turn signal (pull forward, guys!) But aggressive? Nah.