Esh

At least you don't have people purposely falling trees in the middle of your highways.

http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamasc...nday_nigh.html

This is the 5th incident so far this year.

Vic55

Even the best roads get ugly sometimes... I live in the OC and have to say the roads are in pretty good condition; both streets and highways. The 405 down here is pretty flat with limited undulations and pot holes. The 5 freeway is not too bad either but gets nasty as one travels north into LA county. The trucks and their weight destroys the flatness of the road.

As for debris in the road, happens all day every day one just has to do their best to avoid it. I had a similar issue on the 210 freeway where a Ford Truck was in front of me at 75 mph and I was keeping a safe distance and he/she kicked out some unseen tire rubber and it was way to quick to avoid or swerve (an accident would be way worse) so I took my lumps and hit it. My fog light broke along with the grill mesh but thats all. Its the cost of ownership and driving on public streets.

pearlpower

I have hit ladders, trees, wheels, tires, bricks, wood, and almost people on Southern Cal roads. Bent my 20s 7 times in 4 months which explains why I will not put 20s back on it.

I just stay back behind other cars and pay attention to the road. This way in case something is in front of me, I turn. Sounds simple enough but what can you do.

LB63

QFT

It's like a public toilet, there are always people who "miss". In this case, it's a matter of people not taking care of their vehicles or not properly tying down their cargo. You can have 99 responsible commuters but it's the 1 person that gets **** everywhere so that the commuters who subsequently pass by have to walk all over it.

I've had my fair share of running over sht, but that's life

Vader13

It is getting bad, pot holes, lots of rocks and crap everywhere. I notice the emergency lanes PILING up with crap. We are on a downhill slide for shizzle.

pearlpower

As municipalities have less and less to spend on road maintenance and cleanup, this will certainly get a lot worse before it gets better.

K-A

L.A/Socal has been plagued with deteriorating roads recently, and it's gained lots of press. Villaragosa said that they won't be fixed because the City "has no money".

In my areas, I've literally learned all the pot holes, I constantly switch lanes, smoothly swerve around, etc. while driving, all in the name of taking the least beaten path I know of.

I drove on the 405 for the first time in years the other day, surprisingly little cars on the Freeway, however, for a 1 Mile period, there were SO many rock/debris flying around, I wanted to kill somebody. I was like 10 car lengths behind the next car, and I kept hearing crap sprinkled around my car.

I get very tempered about little sh** like that, I wanted to go and Trade my car in for a different one right then and there, however, it's all in the name of the game.

artowar

Bela’s story triggers some not-so-fond memories of driving around SoCal. I grew up and drove in the Midwest for ~15 years before moving to Los Angeles. I was there for ~18 years there before moving to the East Coast.

Here are just a few of the things I saw in my first year of driving around LA (I never saw anything similar in the prior 15 years in the Midwest):

· A ratty early 80s Firebird driving through Downtown LA, on three wheels, with a fountain of sparks coming from the driver's side rear brake drum scraping the pavement.

· A stop sign (just the octagon) rolling with traffic at 50+ mph between lanes on the 110 North. Basically a rolling buzzsaw ready to decapitate an unsuspecting victim.

· A panel delivery truck rear ending a Tacoma pickup on the 110 South, causing the heads of the driver and passenger to smash holes in the rear window of the Tacoma (Safety note: Don't drive a pickup without some headrests and some space behind the front seats...)

· [this one easily the scariest] On the 10 East headed out of LA, there are some portions with something like 8 lanes in each direction. I’m in the fast lane, and I see up ahead and to my right, a pickup truck that is merging into traffic. It’s also using a tow bar to pull (another!) 80s Firebird. The merge is one of those combination entrance/exit ramps, and (as you also get used to experiencing), someone that is exiting the freeway cuts off the pickup. The pickup locks up his brakes, starts to jackknife, and the tow bar breaks free. The Firebird is still going 40-50 mph, and free from the pickup, gracefully continues its drifting merge into Eastbound traffic. From my spot, I can see the Firebird is either going to get hit, or continue until it hits the median walls. It’s going slower than the flow of traffic, so as it crosses to the left, it’s also coming closer the traffic around my car. None of us have a lot of room to maneuver, and there are cars boxing me in. I would guess that most of the drivers around me didn’t even notice this car was headed our way. Basically, it became one of those moments where time slows down. I tried to gauge my speed to avoid where I thought the car would end up, and luckily for me I was going just fast enough so that it missed my rear left side and hit the car following me.

· On the 10 East going from West LA into Downtown, a motorcycle rider splitting lanes (legal in California), came a little to close to a 911, touched rear view mirrors and went down to the pavement. Lucky for him the cars weren’t moving at the time.

After about 5 years, I moved away from Downtown LA, and I guess that gaining some distance lowered the frequency if not the severity of crazy **** to see during the next 10+ years:

· In Irvine two separate instances of cars on fire in the middle of the road (at least it wasn’t the freeway)

· In Buena Park, I’m passed by a kid speeding in his mini pickup (I think it was a Nissan). He’s probably doing 70+ on what I recall as a 45 mph street. It’s a divided street, with two lanes on either side of the median, and periodic stop lights. As we approach an intersection, I see a Supra stopped at the red light in the fast lane. The kid in the pickup for some reason doesn’t (I think he was timing the green light), and doesn’t slow down, and doesn’t change lanes. I see his brake lights come on maybe 50 feet before he rear-ends the Supra, sending it through the intersection and off the road.

· In Brea, I’m behind a Celica at a red light. We’re in the fast lane. In the land immediately to our right is a big rig with a trailer. The light turns green, and we all start to go across the intersection. For our lane you have to jog to the right a bit as you cross, because the cement median is wider on the other side. It was easily visible for the Celica driver, but she apparently doesn’t notice, bounces off the curb and careens into the trailer of the big rig. Remember The Fast & The Furious movies where they drive lowered cars under the big rig trailers? Well this Celica wasn’t lowered. Just as its roof went under the edge of the trailer, the trailer’s wheels hit a bump, the trailer flexed down, and the windows on the Celica all seemed to explode out. The Celica then bounces back to the median and comes to a stop. The big rig? It never stopped…

· A flipped over full size van, spinning on its rooftop on the shoulder of the 57 South near Diamond Bar.

· On the 101 North, near Burbank, a horseshoe (still not sure where it came from) bounced up on my hood, made a nice divot, then took out the windshield.

· On the 110 North, in the separated carpool lane, a full size mattress. It was at night and just after a curve, and I didn’t really see it in time to avoid running over it. Since this area is South Central LA, I didn’t stop to inspect the damage either…

What I miss from SoCal are the race tracks and driving the Angeles Crest/Angeles Forest. I definitely don't miss the other crap that comes with daily driving/commuting, however. While I didn’t have a Benz when I lived there, if I had to go back, I think I’d feel naked driving around without one (or something comparable).

mikey33

That sux dude. There is road construction where I live and I hate it. My car was actually damaged by a bad road having a six inch drop off and the car's body panels on the bottom were scraped and so I had to file a lawsuit against the contractor which I am awaiting a settlement here in the next 10 days. It is ridiculous how some cities and towns get away with having crappy roads and not fixing them. We pay taxes to have good roads to drive on.

JonMBZ

I hear you dude, I drive the 91 every day and you can see right now I am searching for a rim. I have had my rims repaired 5 times on my BMW and 2 times on my C55 and I am just looking to replace it now since I am tired of buying tires when they crack again. These AMG wheels can't take very much impact it drives me nuts!

Also one time I was on the freeway and there was a big rig carrying a huge sphere made of plastic which looked like some drum for oil or gasoline underground. The damn thing came loose off the truck and went barreling down the 91. I couldn't believe my eyes it looked like something out of an action movie cars flying all over the place trying to avoid it. It took me a few seconds to realize it was actually happening but I avoided it. I called CHP and tried to describe it and they were like WTF?

MB_Forever

On the 5 freeway, there is an area in the mountains where the opposite traffic becomes elevated at a higher altitude for a brief period of time; as I was driving, a flying hub-cap apparently flew from a vehicle traveling at 75 to 80 mph in the opposite direction while I was going at similar speeds in the other direction, the hub-cap hit the windshield like a flying frisbee, penetrated the windshield, and finally got stuck in the passenger seat. The seat was badly damaged and had to be replaced and so did the windshield; luckily, I wasn't driving the Mercedes that time

pearlpower

Holy crap! Reminds me of



I drive that road weekly, scary stuff and of course Caltrans construction where they start, jack up the road, then disappear for months never helps.

MB_Forever

I literally jumped out of my seat and almost jumped out the car