- 17 things to know before driving in Los Angeles.
I'm Chris, this is Yellow Productions.
I do travel guides that are fun, informative, entertaining.
And in this video, I'm gonna to be telling you
the ropes about how to drive in LA.
This video is part of my series on Los Angeles.
You'll find more videos on Los Angeles
in the description below or at the end of this video,
but I've got more neat videos like Cheap Eats in LA.
Things to Do in LA, What to See in Downtown Los Angeles.
So make sure to check those out
after you've watched this video.
But for many visitors coming to Los Angeles,
driving in LA can be overwhelming.
Huge freeways, lots of traffic, different rules of the road.
Well, in this video, I'm gonna teach you some things
you need to know that might not be readily apparent
to help take that edge off.
So when you get to LA and you hop in your rental car,
you're ready to hit the road.
The first thing to know about driving in Los Angeles
is about traffic.
And if you've spent any length of time in Los Angeles,
you will come understand that there's traffic
like all the time, at every hour of the night.
I mean maybe between like 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.
there's no traffic, but there's traffic all the time.
We typically don't measure things in distance in LA,
we typically measure things in time.
Because the fact that something is 10 miles away
isn't particularly meaningful, because the traffic is so bad
we'll say things like, that is about an hour away.
'Cause that's about how long is gonna take you in traffic.
People often quote times in,
well, it takes 10 minutes if there's no traffic
but an hour if there is.
People who live in Los Angeles have learned
to plan their life around traffic,
as a visitor you should do the same.
Morning rush hour is typically Monday through Friday,
from six to 9 a.m.
And then evening rush hour is typically four to 7 p.m.
That's when traffic is gonna be the worst.
That's not to say that there isn't traffic
throughout the rest of the day.
Fridays are a notoriously bad day for traffic.
In that case, the evening rush hour starts
about 1 p.m and goes till about 8 p.m.
If you're in Los Angeles during the holidays,
often the day before the holiday is particularly awful.
The worst day to drive in Los Angeles
is the day before Thanksgiving.
If you're in LA in November,
the day before Thanksgiving,
don't be planning to go anywhere quickly.
In general, the traffic pattern in Los Angeles
is that traffic flows into downtown Los Angeles
in the morning and away from downtown Los Angeles
in the afternoon.
It's not that simple because not everything
is in downtown LA.
But you can sort of draw a 10 mile circle
around downtown Los Angeles and say
that's the general area people are commuting into.
The second thing to know is Los Angeles
has a ton of freeways and we typically call them by the,
the five, the 10, the 110.
Many other parts of the United States
they put like I in front of it like interstate 10
or route five, we don't we call it the 10,
the five, the 110.
Typically the left lanes are the fastest driving lanes,
the right lanes are the slowest lanes.
Most exits off the freeway or on the right.
Sometimes there are exits on the left
but they've been getting rid of those left exits.
The left lane or left lanes may often be the diamond lanes.
They're known as the HOV lanes,
or the high occupancy vehicle lanes,
sometimes known as carpool.
Those are typically reserved for vehicles
that have two or three passengers in them.
Sometimes those lanes can also be toll lanes,
meaning that you can pay to drive in those lanes.
But you will need a fast track transponder
in your car to drive in those lanes on certain freeways.
Even if you're carpooling and not paying
on some roads like the 110,
you'll still need that fast track transponder
that has a little switch that tells the freeway
they are carpooling.
Otherwise, you'll get sent a nasty ticket.
And yes, if you're renting a rental car
and you don't have a fast track transponder,
and your rental car service doesn't offer tolling,
you might end up with a nasty ticket sent in the mail
sometime after your trip to LA.
The third thing to know is about speed limits.
On freeways, the general speed limit is 65 miles per hour.
Sometimes the freeways go down to 55
in the center of the city.
General residential streets, the speed is 25 miles per hour.
So if you're on some street and it's unmarked,
typically 25 miles per hour is the unmarked limit.
If you're on a road that has multiple lanes,
typically slower traffic is on the right
and faster traffic is on the left.
Probably the best thing to do
is just go with the flow of traffic.
If you're going with the flow of traffic,
which is often slightly higher than the speed limit.
If there's no traffic, then you're usually pretty okay.
I mean, don't quote me, if you get pulled over by the cops.
They said, why were you going 80?
And you say, well, I was just going
with the flow of traffic.
They might be like that is still too fast.
But I will tell you don't be
the person driving exactly 65 miles an hour
in the left most lane.
You will get a lot of angry people passing you
as they rev their engine, wondering why you're driving
so slow all the way on the left.
When you're off the freeway and driving around the city
pay extra attention to school zones or senior center zones.
These will be areas where you might be on a road
the speed limit is 50 miles per hour.
But in front of the school, it's 25 miles per hour.
Police love to hang out in those areas
and write tickets all day, don't be one of those suckers.
The fourth thing to know is about changing lanes.
If you are expecting to put on your turn signal
and have people cordially wait for you to change lanes,
you're out of your mind.
That's not how it works in Los Angeles.
If you're on the freeway, and you put on your turn signal,
what typically happens is people go,
oh, I don't want this person to get in front of me,
and they speed up.
The general etiquette, not very nice
so I don't know why it's called etiquette.
But the general practice that most people do
is they put on their turn signal
just right before they're going to come in.
And so it's less of a, hey, I'm putting this on
so that everybody can notice and I can come.
It's more of the, I'm putting this on and I'm coming.
I'm letting you know I am moving right now.
The fifth thing to know is about right turn on red.
In Los Angeles if you're at an intersection
that has a traffic light, and the light is red,
if there are no cars coming,
you can make a right turn
from the right most lane on a red light.
That is of course unless the intersection
actually says no right turn on red.
Some of them do say that.
You can also if you're on two one-way streets,
you could make a left turn as well on red
if you're going from a one-way street
to another one-way street that would be a left turn
from the left most lane to the left most lane.
When you're doing this though,
please pay special attention to people
who are making U-turns because that's when
a lot of accidents happen in LA.
Somebody's making a right turn on red,
somebody's making a U-turn, they don't seen each other
and they have some stupid 10 mile per hour accident.
The sixth thing to know is about red light cameras.
Some cities within Los Angeles have red light cameras.
How do these work?
Well, if you run a red light, they send you a ticket.
If you block an intersection when the light turns red,
they send you a ticket.
But as I mentioned before, this is only in certain cities,
they're not all over Los Angeles.
Typically, the intersections that have the red light cameras
will have a sign on the intersection
that says it has a red light camera.
It's also worthwhile to note that while LA
has red light cameras, it does not have speed cameras.
The seventh thing to know is about pedestrians.
Pedestrians can cross the street legally
at intersections and in crosswalks.
Legally, if somebody is in the crosswalk
in any part of it and you're a car you are supposed to stop.
The general behavior you find is that when the pedestrian
is sort of well away from where you are, then cars go.
If you wanna follow the law, you should wait
till they're completely out of the crosswalk.
But don't be surprised if people are honking at you
or driving around you because they're like,
dude, that pedestrian is like halfway across the street,
what are you doing?
In Japan, people would wait the whole time calmly,
in Los Angeles, not so much.
As a driver You should also pay attention
for pedestrians illegally crossing the street
whenever and wherever they want to.
At night wearing all black, pay attention.
Just because there isn't an intersection
or a crosswalk doesn't mean a pedestrian
won't be lunging out in front of you at any given time.
The eighth thing to know is about bicycles.
Bicycles can legally be ridden on any street
in Los Angeles, except for freeways.
Anywhere on any street, in the bike lane
in the right lane in the middle lane in the left lane.
Typically bicycles, if they have their head on correctly,
they'll be riding to the right in the bicycle lane.
But you should pay attention for them.
And you should give them plenty of space.
You'll also find the Los Angeles
has tons of these electric scooters.
You'll find people riding them on the street
because technically, that's the only place
that's legal to ride them.
Electric scooters are not legal to ride on sidewalks.
So do expect electric scooters.
And by that I don't mean things like motorcycles.
I mean, these things that you put like two feet on
and you got a handlebar and they just kind of go,
those things will be riding in the street too.
The ninth thing to know is about motorcycles.
Motorcycles in the state of California
can legally split the lanes.
What does that mean?
It means they don't actually have to drive in a lane
it means they can drive between lanes.
On the freeway, you will often find them
driving between the HOV lane and the fast lane.
Why? 'Cause there's kind of a lot of room there.
Legally, the motorcycles can only go 10 miles faster
than the speed of the rest of the traffic.
But you will often find them going much faster.
Pay attention for motorcycles coming in between cars,
particularly if there's a lot of traffic.
The 10th thing to know is about emergency vehicles.
Emergency vehicles, police, ambulance and fire engines
will have lights and sirens.
If you see lights and sirens pull to your right,
whether they're behind you
or whether they're in front of you the etiquette
is you move to the right.
The exception to this rule is if you are on a divided street
and they are on the other side of the vider
then you don't actually have to do anything.
Now if you keep moving to the right,
and they continue to stay right behind you
well, then they're probably trying to get you to pull over.
So at that point, pull over where it's safe to do.
But if you're on the freeway,
always make sure to pull over on the right hand side,
not on the left hand side.
You pull over on the left hand side,
they're gonna give you another ticket
for pulling over where you're not supposed to.
The 11th thing to know is about stop signs.
Stop signs are kind of a first come, first serve thing.
There is kind of this right of way concept
where if you've arrived at the stop sign
at the same time as one other person,
then if a person is to your right,
you're supposed to let them go.
It doesn't really always work out that way.
There's sometimes a little bit of jockeying.
My perspective is I would rather just kind of let them go.
So I try to make eye contact with them
if we got at the same time,
kind of give them that like, you go, you go.
Because don't assume you have the right of way.
If you floor it and they floor then again,
you're gonna have one of those
really stupid accidents in the intersection.
Also be aware of the California stop,
what do we call the California stop?
That's basically a rolling stop
or people who they don't actually stop,
they just kind of slow down a little bit
and then continue to accelerate through the stop sign.
The 12th thing to know is about traffic lights.
If you're ever at a traffic intersection
where all the lights are flashing red,
that means the intersection is a four way stop.
So come up to the intersection, stop,
take your turn and then go through.
Green means go, yellow means slow down,
red is about to come.
Yellow does not mean slam on your brakes.
If you are one of those people
who you see the yellow light and you slam on your brakes,
chances are the person behind you
is gonna be trying to hurry
through that intersection before it turns red.
And they're gonna rear end you.
So yellow comes up, continue to proceed
through the intersection, assuming you can,
before the light turns red.
One thing I really hate in downtown Los Angeles
is most of the intersections are left turn yield.
What does that mean?
That means that there will be often a special lane
for you to turn left from but there's no arrow to turn left.
It just means you need to turn left when there's no traffic.
But as I mentioned earlier, there's traffic all the time.
So on some of these roads, how do you ever turn left?
Well, what happened is your light turns green,
you can't go because cars coming in the opposite direction.
Sort of like two or three cars kind of proceed out
into the intersection and then wait
for the light to turn yellow.
Wait for the cars to stop coming from the other direction.
Wait for the light to turn red.
Then two or three cars make that left turn
and then the intersection continues to go.
It's probably one of the most stressful
and frustrating parts about driving in Los Angeles.
So it is good, I'd say to make right turns.
Make three, five, nine right turns
and try to avoid those left turn yields.
The 13th thing to know is about parking.
Los Angeles is the home of pay parking.
There's lots of parking in LA
but don't expect it to be free, pay for it.
street parking can be super confusing, it can be expensive.
You can't park on the road between this time til this time.
You can't park on these days.
You can't park if your car is a certain color.
My suggestion to you is find some kind of parking lot
or parking garage, park in there, pay for it.
You won't be worried about whether
your car is there or towed when you get back.
If you are parking on the street you should know
about some of the colors of the curbs.
A red curb means no parking.
A green curb mean it's 20-minute parking.
A yellow curb means commercial loading,
a white curb, and by that I mean painted white
means three minute passenger loading.
And a curb that has no color, meaning it's just cement
or something like that, that's a place you can park in.
I will say pay attention to how sketchy
the neighborhood is too.
There are a lot of car robberies and break-ins
in Los Angeles, so don't park in a place that's too sketchy.
There might be a reason why there's plenty
of parking in that neighborhood.
Because everybody's realized their cars come back
with broken windows when they park there.
The 14th thing to know is about gas stations.
And this particularly applies
if you are an international visitor.
International credit cards don't really work
at the pumps at the gas station.
In Los Angeles, the way you pay for gas
is when you pull up you have to pre-pay.
You can pre pay in one of two ways, one at the pump.
But if you prepay at the pump,
you need to have a credit card
that has a five digit zip code,
because the pump will ask you for the five digit zip code.
If you don't have a five digit zip code on your credit card,
then you'll need to go inside the store
and tell them how much money you wanna put on that pump
either on your credit card or from cash.
The other option at the pump is if you have a debit card,
international debit cards will typically work.
In that case, you just have to enter a PIN number.
The 15th thing to know is about GPS,
Google Maps, Waze, keep your GPS app on all the time.
Why? Traffic changes in an instant with an accident
or something like that.
So you'll wanna have that app up to be rerouted
in the case of a significant problem on the freeway,
the 16th thing to know and this is really important
if you're an international visitor,
we drive on the right in Los Angeles.
In all of the US we drive on the right.
If you're from a country where you drive on the left,
an easy way to remember is tight right, loose left,
that's how you'll remember kind of how to make that turn.
Because if you're making a right turn,
you wanna turn tight to the right.
And if you're making a left turn, you want to be loose.
Loose left, tight right.
And by the way, that idea and actually a lot of these ideas
was submitted by Dave James on Facebook.
He's from Australia, he was actually the impetus
for me creating this video because he was like,
"Chris, it is so frustrating for an international visitor
"to come to Los Angeles, it would really help
"if you could make a video on driving tips in LA."
So Dave, thank you for the tip.
My final tip number 17 is that you should watch
more videos on Los Angeles.
That way you won't be driving around aimlessly,
you'll be knowing where to go.
In particular, you'll wanna know some things to do
or perhaps some things to eat in Los Angeles.
You'll find the links description below
to my full Los Angeles playlist.
I won't say goodbye because I'll see you
in one of these videos.