Recently in Transportation Category

I admit it: In my early driving days, I was a slave to Jiffy Lube. The little stickers the oil-changers gave me told me to change the oil every 3,000 miles, and obediently, I complied. I blame my parents. As a kid, I remember the time the engine of a family car ceased because no one had ever bothered to change the oil. I was never going to make that mistake, I vowed.

So I went to the other extreme, and continued for years. Especially here in SoCal, with a long commute, it felt like nary a month or two passed without another trip to EZ, Jiffy, or one of them Lubes.

But then one day I got a crazy idea: I read my car's owner's manual. Turns out my Honda Accord only needs an oil change every 10,000 miles. And my wife's Ford Explorer only every 5,000.

I had been an oil-changin' sucker.

I wasn't alone. The California Integrated Waste Management Board reports that 73 percent of Californians change their oil more frequently than necessary -- often every 3,000 miles, just like the lubers suggest. So the CIWMB is launching "The 3,000-Mile Myth" campaign to get motorists to stop changing oil so much -- for the good of their pocketbooks and the good of the environment.

So do yourself and the world a favor -- and don't change your oil. Well, at least not more than necessary, anyway. If you're unsure how often you should change it, go to 3000milemyth.org, punch in your make/model/year, and you'll get the info the folks at Jiffy Lube don't want you to know about.

I was prepared this morning for a horrendous commute. I didn't get it. Instead, it was a typical morning slog through the 101, moving but slow, maybe even a little faster than normal come to think of it. Word on the street is that so many people were afraid of horrific commute that they packed the Metrolink and other public transportation outlets.

This only supports the theory of tough traffic love as the solution to the region's traffic woes. See, people adjust to the incremental changes. Traffic gets slight worse every year, but not in big jumps, just little one. Five minutes here, 10 then. We just accommodate the changes by adjusting our lives in other ways. Dinner a little later; leave home a few minutes earlier. All the money we're putting into freeways is only to help us maintain it at the current tight capacity. The high-speed rail and other forward thinking things are coming anytime soon.

So what can be done? How about shutting down a freeway for good? Not that it would ever happen, but that type of catastrophic event has immediate and noticeable effects. People make radical temporary changes, that sometimes lead to permanent life changes They telecommute that week and find that they can work it into their skeds maybe two days a week. They find a job closer to home. They invest in an iPhone and monthly metro pass and incorporate commuting time into their workday . They quit their crazy lives, buy a ranch in rural New Mexico and homestead.

CalTrans has moved pretty quick on this freeway catastrophe, so it's unlikely to change any behavior in the long-term, but perhaps next time.

If you've tried to approach the Newhall Pass in any way, shape or form today, you know it's impossible because of the fiery truck crash that happened late last night in the truck-route tunnel. The Daily News crew is working hard on the story, so stay tuned to our Web site for updates -- including regarding questions about the structural integrity on I-5 after the searing heat of the blaze.