Nightmare on the 101

The tragic chain-reaction accident that left an LAPD officer dead on the 101 also caused a traffic nightmare of epic proportions. The 101 south was closed for more than 11 hours. The Times' Ari Bloomekatz and Scott Glover report that "the 3:20 a.m. accident, captured on video by a nearby photographer, resulted in a 13-vehicle pileup that spread debris over 2,000 feet and shut down the freeway for 11 hours."

-- Amazing video of the chain-reaction crash, which is already being replayed on a.m. network news shows.

-- How bad was the traffic backup? The Daily News says: "One report had it stretched all the way to Reseda Boulevard some 15 miles away. Others more conservatively estimated the backup to a few miles past the 101/134 split. Either way, the herd inched along at a slow jog of 4 mph, CHP Officer Patrick Kimball said. "This is significantly worse than typical Los Angeles traffic," he said.

-- A witness was quoted on ABC-7 as saying one reason the accident was so bad was that it occurred at a crest of the freeway where visibility was an issue.

Comments

[m]

I saw plenty of stories on this accident and I saw the resulting traffic mess around my home, at least 6 miles away from the accident. It took me 12 minutes to drive the last .7 miles to my home (all on surface streets) at 1:30pm after running errands because of the insane amount of cars on surface streets. Why did no one suggest to the resulting traffic creating/pollution spewing/lost drivers that didn't understand what a turn lane was for that they should take public transportation, stay at home or walk? I don't even want to try to guess how many cars I saw drive by the Universal City Red Line station slower than a casual walking pace. I KNOW at least some of those people driving by the station could have parked their car at the Metro station and hopped on a bus or train to their final destination. This would get them out of traffic, probably save money on parking and gas and save time. I saw a news van sitting on a freeway overpass near the train station and watched the news and did anyone suggest this? No.

[C Kim]

First I feel sorry for the police officers involved in this accident.

I was stuck in 101 FWY going south Sunday morning around 9 AM. Then, I came back around 4PM north. I am not sure why it takes so long to clean up and investigate accident. I am sure that it is important to collect all evidence materials and clean up. But why it takes more than 11 hours?