Anger at Clinton & La Brea

Michael Krikorian has found what he calls the most expensive intersection in L.A. Not because of the upscale real estate. At the corner of Clinton Street and La Brea Avenue south of Hollywood, you cannot turn RIGHT during certain hours. And there is a $159 ticket if you do:

IT’S 1:30 P.M. ON FRIDAY and a blue-gray 2007 750Li BMW tooling along Clinton Street in the Hollywood flatlands pulls up to the southwest corner of Clinton and La Brea Avenue. Suddenly, three children from the nearby Bais Yaakov school begin frantically knocking on the Beemer’s passenger window — startling the driver as other children, aided by a crossing guard, walk in front of his car and cross La Brea. Kids or no kids, two cars waiting behind the BMW begin honking at the luxury car to get going. With the crosswalk now free of kids, the hassled driver turns right onto La Brea. He’ll pay for it — $159, in fact. About 80 yards ahead of him on La Brea, an LAPD officer steps into the slow lane and gives the approaching BMW the “Stop! In the name of the law!” gesture. The officer, Regina Smith, informs the driver that he has just made an illegal right turn and will be ticketed. He’s clearly fuming.

Comments

[traffique]

save time - use shortcuts and stay off the main freeway grid - get home faster!

www.mytrafficshortcuts.com

[MRS-MAN]

Tim K.,

In LA, there are many turn restrictions that are designed to prevent people from using residential streets to "cut the corner." E.g. No right turn from Pico (large street) to Roxbury (small street, shortcut to Beverwil); No left turn from Beverly Glen (relatively large street) to small streets between Wilshire and Santa Monica (shortcut to Club View Drive which leads to Century City), etc.

At Clinton / La Brea, the turn restriction is from a small street to a large street. If they were so concerned about traffic, why didn't they restrict the turn from the large street to the small street (like in the other examples)? Why didn't they restrict traffic from entering the neighborhood in the first place (like from Melrose), as opposed to preventing traffic that's already there from leaving?

Also, the hours in place are different. In the other corners, the restrictions are usually in place during rush hour times: 6-10 am, 3-7 pm or thereabouts. The turn restriction in the afternoon at Clinton/La Brea is from 1-5 pm. It is meant more for the nearby school's operating hours, rather than real rush hour. The Jewish schools in the area tend to finish late M-Th, but dismiss early on Fridays.

I really believe that the push for the restriction was really the school. (In actuality, many of the parents of that school live in the nearby neighborhood, so maybe it is splitting hairs). I lived in this neighborhood for many years (currently living out of town) and I remember when the traffic light came in and I remember when the turn restrictions came in. My own father even got a ticket at the corner a few years ago. All of this was done with the school children in mind.

What is particularly bad about the restriction, is that the block on Clinton just beyond La Brea (betwn La Brea and Sycamore) is jammed with parents dropping off / picking up students. Drivers only option to avoid the jam is to make a left on La Brea, since the right turn is prohibited.

I feel that if they were really serioius about safety, that they would put in a pedestrian lead phase in the signal and allow cars to make all turns on the green light.

[Tim K.]

FYI - the no right turn rule was not designed with safety in mind, it was put in place at the request of the people who live on the other streets that feed onto Clinton. They were finding that too many drivers were taking a shortcut through Clinton to get to La Brea, and asked that something be done about it.

Pasadena has similar signs up, but most of them are no left-turn signs. Again, not for safety. They are there because the homeowners didn't want their precious public street driven on as a through-way.

[Tom A.]

Regardless of whether or not this rule is a revenuing scheme (my personal B.S.-ometer says it is), the idea of people honking at the car in front when the sidewalk the front car is trying to turn across has people in it is just stupid. If it didn't make local governments such obscene amounts of money there would probably be public service ads saying how it's illegal to drive through a crosswalk with people in it.

[Tim K.]

Seriously people, grow up. There is a sign that says No Right Turn. Obey it.

Geez, I'll bet these are the same people that put cell phones in their sweaty pockets and are surprised when they short out and explode...

[MRS-MAN]

I fully support the officers enforcing the law to their fullest ability. What I object to is the turn restriction itself.

LA has plenty of left turn restrictions, in order to keep traffic from being blocked by left turners where there is no special left turn lane. Right turns are usually allowed, which is what makes this restriction so much of a surprise, despite the presence of large signs indicating no turn.

I believe this restriction was put in place in the name of the safety of the school children crossing the street. But there is already a traffic light in place to aid the crossing of La Brea. The turn restriction is clearly overkill. It will encourage more traffic on neighboring residential streets like Sycamore and Detroit. It will probably be better to put in a pedestrian lead phase and a no turn on red restriction, rather than prohibiting the turn altogether.

I hope that we do not see more of these restrictions at intersections near other schools. It will make it that much harder to get around here.

[MRS-MAN]

The officers should of course enforce the law, but I think the right turn restriction at that corner is terrible.

In most of LA, you have left turn restrictions at certain streets to prevent traffic from being blocked by somebody turning. You also have a few intersections where turns are prohibited to discourage commuter shortcuts through residential neighborhoods, from a large street to a small street (e.g. Pico at Roxbury near Century City). But this is the only corner that I know of that prohibits a turn from a small street onto a large street, in the name of pedestrian safety (the crossing school children at the nearby religious schools). The restriction actually would result in more traffic on the residential streets. It is the uniqueness of the restriction that is a surprise and a gotcha, despite the presence of very large signs.

I think a better result would be a no turn on red restriction and a pedestrian lead phase. I.e. the cars on Clinton can only turn on green lights and the pedestrians can get a small jump start on crossing so that the turning vehicles can yield to the pedestrians when making their turn on La Brea.

I fear that this may become a trend. Other schools will push to put in more turning restrictions at nearby intersections and make it more difficult for everybody to get around.