PASADENA – Driving around Pasadena on Saturday, I
couldn’t help but notice the traffic apocalypse hadn’t gone viral, it hadn’t
even attracted the usual looky-loos.
Yes, Pasadena is a world away from Interstate 405, “the 405″
when said in the same California English that turns the word height
into “heigth.”
But still the Crown City’s streets weren’t jammed with grid lock. The opposite was true.
Carmageddon experts predicted traffic jams throughout the
whole Los Angeles County freeway system. It hasn’t materialized thus far. The
freeways are relatively empty. Or as empty a place with a lackluster mass
transit system could be.
Joggers ran on the streets of Northwest Pasadena and
Altadena. Husbands attended to their honey-do lists. The quiet and inactivity
was surreal. It was like leaving your home on Christmas to find the streets are eerily empty.
It was, dare I say, post-carpocalyptic.
For now, Carmageddon feels more like snoozageddon.
