Curses on the looky-loos!

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who tried to go over the Cahuenga Pass this afternoon, getting caught in the horrible traffic that resulted from the tragic crash near Highland that claimed the life of an off-duty LAPD officer. But I wasn't on the southbound/eastbound side of the freeway, where all lanes were closed and traffic was diverted onto surface streets. I was on the northbound/westbound side, which was backed up nearly to the Harbor Freeway. Why? There wasn't a lane closed on my side, nary a shred of glass from the wreck on the opposite side of the highway. It was simply the tiresome L.A. tradition of looky-loo-itis, where, even though motorists have seen wrecks many, many times, there is some compelling need to slow down and look at the fresh wreck. Tourists feel the need to join in this local tradition, contributing more rubbernecking than the locals.

We may build car-pool lanes or reversible lanes to try to ease traffic congestion, but will our freeway woes ever be solved until we resolve to be part of the looky-loo solution instead of the problem? Drive, don't gawk!