Randy Cruz was riding home from work when she was hit from behind by a motorist who then left her in the street as he drove off and hid in a parking lot. Randy was lucky. She wasn't alone. She was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and received stitches to her head. She's in pain but she's in good spirits and in great company! The motorist was apprehended as he hid and there......

One of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's traffic fixes has been these anti-gridlocked zones. But do people actually listen to signs? No. But with a threat, more will. So then came the Tiger Team, a specialized team that would patrol a heavy rush hour traffic artery to enforce the no parking signs by ticketing and towing away any vehicle parked there. Today, the fourth such team was deployed on Sunset Blvd. Five traffic control officers and seven......

Photo by manmadepants via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Atlanta may have received top honors this time around, but Los Angeles and San Francisco linger at the back of the top ten list for worst commutes in the country, according to a report released by Forbes. And to that, they compare some LA vs. SF statistics: Commuting Efficiency: "Los Angeles checks in at 20%. In San Francisco, an extremely efficient city, 28%......

Cell phone photo by LAist News Editor Andy Sternberg Found yesterday morning on the 101 south on-ramp at Glendale Blvd. Sign #1: "Honk if you Drink" Sign #2: "'Will work for Beer" Thank you Caltrans, thank you.......

Red Light cameras at Verdugo Road/Mountain Street and Colorado Street/Pacific Avenue went into operation today In November 2006, we asked the city of Glendale, among many other cities, if they used cameras at intersections to catch red light runners. They said not yet. Today, via Daily News, we find out that they went into operation today at two of the city's most dangerous intersections: Verdugo Road and Mountain Street and Colorado Street and Pacific......

No direct link, but ABC7 has a large red breaking news banner at the top reporting that "Fox Hills Mall in Culver City is locked down while police search for a stolen car suspect." The leaning tower of Pisa. Check. The leaning tower of Hollywood? Double check. The Sunset + Vine building appears to be leaning. Timber! Donda West, mother of Kanye, who passed away after plastic surgery at a local hospital died from......

According to a new study by David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah, talking on a cell phone while driving can make a person drive up to 2mph slower that other drivers, the LA Daily News reports. "The distracted driver tends to drive slower and have delayed reactions," said Strayer, whose earlier studies have resulted in the well-known findings that cell phone talkers react more slowly on the road than drink drivers.......

Did you notice anything different on your commute through the Valley at the 405/101 interchange yesterday? Was it faster, smoother, safer or none of the above? In any case, it should have been after 2 years and $46-million. This is what they did: Widened the northbound freeway in the area to six lanes Added an onramp from Sepulveda Boulevard to the northbound 405 The Sepulveda onramps to the 101 freeway were reconfigured At yesterday's......

I have to confess something: despite living in the NoHo Arts District, despite working on Sunset and Vine, despite writing for one of the most public-transit-friendly blogs in the city, I have remained hesitant about taking the Metro to work every morning. I mean, it makes sense: the station in NoHo is about a 10-15 minute walk away, it's a quick 10 minute trip to the Hollywood and Vine station, which drops me conveniently......

He plays the part on TV but Drew Carey is not all games all the time. The host of both The Price is Right and Power of 10, Carey moonlights as one of Hollywood's most visible Libertarians (see also: Clint Eastwood, Trey Parker, Jason Reitman). Starting today, he's taking it broadband via the Reason Foundation's new online video channel "for free minds and free markets," Reason.tv. "We need Reason to help fight the stupid drug......

A dead body was found early this morning in Irwindale, KNBC is reporting. Backups in traffic that the investigation is causing will probably be substantial as rush hour quickly approaches, so plan accordingly. All lanes of the southbound San Gabriel River (605) Freeway were shut down in Irwindale early Tuesday following the discovery of a body. The body was found on the freeway just north of Live Oak Avenue at 3:57 a.m., according to......

I am a polite, mild-mannered person. Laid-back would be a good L.A. way of saying it - I say duuude a lot, about as much as I say "please" and "thank you". I hold doors open for people. I am kind to the elderly, even those who try to strike up conversations with me in elevators, despite my extraordinary claustrophobia. The peccadilloes and perversities of human nature that draw other, less mellow people to......

Last week, we showed you the Pope's 10 Commandments for Driving. Today we share with you a more humorous batch from the syndicated radio program - Car Talk. This week [now last week] on Car Talk, we shared the Vatican's new 10 Commandments for driving. (And no, we're not kidding. You can read them here.) And, well, temptation got the better of us. So, we had no choice but to add a few of our......

31 traffic collisions in the past two years at this intersection and what do you get? A new Photo Red Light (PRL) system which will activate this morning at 7:30 a.m. with Councilwoman Wendy Greuel and the LAPD. Across the city, the threat of a $381 ticket has reduced the collision rate by an average of 10-15% at PRL intersections. 12 more intersections in the city are slated to receive this technology with today's addition......

We spent the past week in NYC gallivanting around on the subway system, gleefully reaching each destination in a timely manner and with minimal walking distance. Yes, we do ride the Red Line occasionally, however we would ride the Metro subway more often if it provided better access to all parts of the city. We recently covered a citizens' initiative to further develop the LA subway system (Get LA Moving), but the ongoing political......

May has been rough on LA. That very first day we had the May Day Melee, then it got super hot, and then we had to deal with that damn fire. And we're only 10 days in! If all of this has rattled you perhaps you need to delve into your inner-hippie and escape north about 90 minutes away to Santa Barbara this weekend. For if you do, you will find a three-day music......

By week's end, LA is regularly littered with a handful of free rags. Combined, these publications put the Tribune Company's Spring Street operation LA Times to shame as far as reporting on the dozens of municipalities that make up this metropolis of more than 12 million people. LAist reads the weeklies so you don't have to. If there's anything we missed, let us know, or better yet drop it in the comments section below.......

It's one of those annoying things you have to love about Los Angeles. Freeway directionals that confuse the hell out of newbies and out-of-towners alike. Your internet map directions say take the 110 South (or maybe West), yet the signs on freeway just say 110 Harbor or 110 Pasadena. Great, now the guy in front if us is slowing down because they are freaking out over which is what. In the Valley, many complain......

In case you missed the banners on every major street in town and the commercials on KNBC, it's time for the LA Marathon. Even if your idea of a workout is walking to the TV when the batteries in your remote die, this event is likely to have an impact on your life. About 26,000 runners will pound 26.2 miles of pavement on Sunday morning. That's right, 26.2 miles of street closures for just the......

（Or too geeky. Or too broke. Or too old. Or drunk.) As long as you've got access to a computer, you needn't leave the house or spend another dime to get some university enrichment.Your friend the Internet is here to provide the ultimate in affirmative action at the click of a mouse. Here are 5 choice picks to enrich your commute, impress your friends, inspire hallucinations, or maybe even help you get smart: 1) Sci-Fi......

If you drive, you've probably been in one of these or at least seen it in ongoing traffic: the California Highway Patrol (CHP) puts their lights on and weaves across all lanes, slowing traffic down. "This is called a traffic break. Officers are first trained in our academy how to initiate these because they are so heavily used...especially in Southern California," Officer Joe Zizi told LAist. "Traffic Breaks are utilized to 1) warn motorists......

The 93rd Rose Bowl kicks off just after 2pm on Monday, and anybody with tickets (or hope of scalping them) had better be prepared for more than just traffic. It's bad enough that almost 100,000 people will attempt to cram into a small area, but additional street closures and crowds from one of the world's most famous parades creates a formula for disaster. When USC and UCLA played on December 2, Pasadena Police blocked......

Before there was gold, there was traffic... Gold Line construction has made it out of the tunnel boring phase and onto the streets. Watch out on Third Street, between Herbert and Eastern avenues and on the south side of First Street, between Utah and Gless. This is the kind of traffic we like. Cheer for Gold! Oceanbound For about 8 weeks in Marina Del Rey, the Culver Blvd. on-ramp to eastbound 90 will close......

If you have ever tried to travel the 405 or 5 northward the day before Thanksgiving, or southbound on the Sunday after, just walk -- it's faster. When you drive this weekend, you must think like life on a Hollywood set: hurry up and wait. Except CalTrans has adopted the didactic "leave early and anticipate delays" slogan. Here are some tips and facts for traveling this weekend: HAR (Highway Advisory Radio): When in LA,......

"We cannot talk about urban transport until we know what kind of city we want, and to talk about the kind of city we want, we have to know how we want to live." Honestly, the event tonight is worth 10 categories. Crime, transportation, traffic, your commute, green printing, sustainability...Los Angeles, listen up. We don't have to live in a city plagued by traffic woes! Imagine real solutions and ideas and a room full......

For the divorced lady with four cats We love getting comments here at LAist, especially when we can do a follow up. For Laurie of Crazy Aunt Purl (who gets an average of around 70-some comments per post), who commented this yesterday: I just want the Mayor to try to get on the 101 at White Oak each morning for an entire week, and then we can talk about traffic light timing. If you......

You see these everyday. The little dashed lines that tell you the lane is going somewhere else. Well, those are called Elephant Tracks. Not officially, but that's the CalTrans lingo. The official term is somewhat pedantic: dashed white channelizing lines. According to CalTrans spokesperson, Jeanne Bonfilio, Elephant Tracks are there to communicate to you that your lane will be "channeling" off your current path onto an exit or an interchange. On city streets, these......

Lotus Festival Congratulations to team blogging.la for winning in the media category at the Lotus Festival's dragon boat race! They beat the wussies over at KTLA. In the end, all of that doesn't matter 'cause LAist is going to kick everyone's ass next year (that means you too Mack Reed). It's on! Your Commute If there is one article you read in the news today, read Gridlock, schmidlock: When it comes to automobile travel,......

Tomorrow, the Immigration Debate gets a lot more complicated. Being called "A Day Without An Immigrant" in some cities across the country, expect Immigrant Rights Monday to look a lot less Latino and a little more like a Benneton ad. Daniel B. Wood in the Christian Science Monitor quotes Chung Wha Hong in New York who says, "This is America's civil rights battle for the 21st century." With the addition of so many more......

LA native Josh Kun demolishes the myth of the tweed jacket wearing, Euro-centric cannon defending, Ivory Tower clinging English professor. As an intellectual jack-of-all-trades, Kun’s interest in mainstream and far-flung aspects of pop culture ensures he’ll never succumb to the latter component of the "publish or perish" maxim. In addition to his position as Associate Professor of English at UC Riverside, Kun contributes to numerous periodicals and is the author of numerous essays, such......