CalMike

Worst. Traffic. Ever. I know this could have probably been posted in or merged to a “spotted” or different thread, but today’s commute was so horrible, I feel it deserves its own thread. Seriously, this was one for the ages. One saving grace though, and a reason for posting this here, was that while I was stuck on one short stretch of the northbound 405 for about an hour, I spotted many ISs, among them a fellow Obsidian IS350. It was slammed nicely, had a rear roof spoiler, and a wēk’sôs plate frame. So first off, if the driver of that car happens to be a member on here reading this, I’m curious as to how long you were stuck in this nightmare jam for?

Supposedly the freeway was backed up due to a multi-car accident at Mulholland all the way to the Marina at the 90 freeway, over 13 miles! The backup, gridlock, and congestion on Santa Monica Blvd. alone was so bad that even a hook and ladder fire truck that drove by with its siren on was unable to get through a single block for at least five minutes. Once I finally got on the freeway, it took me over 45 minutes just to get 2 miles from Santa Monica Blvd. to Sunset Blvd. I would have exited but Sepulveda looked just as bad.

I’m from here originally and have seen a lot of bad California traffic in my life, but this was almost unprecedented. It at least had to rank in the top 5 worst I’ve ever been in, and I’ve personally witnessed a helicopter crash, the O.J. chase, and other unbelievable stuff happen on LA freeways before. All said, the total commute from my garage in Santa Monica to a destination in Calabasas was almost 2 hours. It might have even taken longer if I’d left earlier, since supposedly the accident that caused this had already happened an hour before I set out. I missed and had to reschedule an appointment that I normally would have been early to, but I relaxed knowing that even though the traffic really sucked, there are a lot worse places I could have been than the cozy interior of my IS.

So, aside from checking the traffic on the radio or sigalert.com prior to starting out, I’m curious if there is a way that I can get my XM NavTraffic to help me out to avoid this in the future. I put the destination in before I left, but only once I was about halfway to the freeway did the guidance mention some stop and go traffic, and even then, I was still clueless as to how bad things really were. Is there something I should be doing to be getting everything I can out of the navigation system? Had I known in advance, I would have just taken a completely different route (PCH to Topanga), but I’m not sure about the limitations of the traffic information. Does anyone know how often real-time traffic is actually updated? I know some people who swear by it, but I still feel like I’m missing something. When the car gives me three routes to choose from, I usually don’t bother previewing them, since I basically know which way I’m going. Would doing that give me a better idea about the traffic?

bnizzle87

I feel your pain. Insane traffic on the 405 to the 10 freeways around 4-7. From what I've seen, there is a good 5-15 min delay, which if it was as bad an accident as what you witnessed or simply just being in LA traffic, that delay to gather the info to relay it to drivers isn't much. Sometimes it takes about 90 minutes from Marina Del Rey to Pasadena, so I don't mind taking the long route on the 105. It does have its fair share of traffic, but nothing to the degree of the 405/10 IMO. But at least you made it home safely (though time consuming), which is more than those involved in the accident can say.

will_is250

lol this is why I live in Norcal...

meefer

iTrader: (8)

Two possibilities.

1. Android phone with Google Nav.
2. Motorcycle.

tnogi

iTrader: (23)

Hey bro..! yes that was meee lol.. thank you.. where you the one on the 4th or 5th lane by the merging traffic in a dropped '11 model?
Your right that was one my worse ever I was on my way to see my gf in woodland hills. It took me aprox 1hr and 45mins to get to her (( I was coming from torrance area.



toHn

kickin8

iTrader: (1)

XM traffic is NOT that reliable....

I think in the settings, you can select "avoid traffic".....

CalMike

Ha, nice. Yeah, that was probably me in the '11 on the right, good eye! I was going pretty much where you were, had to get to Valley Circle Blvd., but only started from Santa Monica. It still took forever and a half.

I think I'm going to start to keep my navigation set on dual maps with the secondary map zoomed out so I can have an idea of what traffic's like even when I'm a few miles from the freeway.

tnogi

iTrader: (23)

kooo.. I have an app on my phone and saw that there was an
accident but decided to tough it out, never thought it
was that bad tho lol..
Great looking ride!! I wish I could get the new model


toHn

CalMike

Thanks man. Is yours an 08'? I figured it was you because I remembered seeing that plate frame in the official Obsidian thread on here. But then I wasn't sure because when I got home and checked, the picture I found had different wheels than the ones you were rolling on yesterday. I like whatever the current set-up you've got is though. Are you on coilovers with 19s?

What app do you have on your phone? I checked sigalert.com when traffic was totally stopped to get more info, but decided to stick it out too. I felt committed to the route by that point, plus I got a look at Sepulveda which seemed just as bad.

syzygy

Snow mode is perfect for these situations given that it sets the "floor" to 2nd gear and severely reduces throttle sensitivity. Snow mode allows for an extremely smooth "bumper to bumper" experience.

tnogi

iTrader: (23)

Mine is an 06 and Im rolling on 20" on swift springs.
I have a sprint evo phone and the app is called Inrix traffic(pretty good IMO)..
It feels good to finally get spotted lol


Here is my current setup