Having just missed the bus this morning, P and I decided to count the number of cars with passengers to amuse ourselves. We initially predicted there should be 10% of cars with at least one passenger in it, based on two pump studies (i.e. we counted two traffic light's worth of vehicles and made an assumption). In the space of 15 minutes, there were:
- 207 cars with only the driver;
- 14 cars with one passenger;
- 3 cars with two passengers;
- 3 trucks (who we thought should be allowed to be driver-only..);
- 1 motorbike;
- and 1 cyclist.
The initial prediction of 10% was perhaps a little off the mark. With every traffic light's worth of vehicles, the percentage slowly dropped from just over 10 to well-below our initial prediction. Of course, this not being an actual proper survey, no conclusions can be drawn, and the numbers may not be indicative of overall traffic patterns in LA. But we're sure as hell going to quote this everytime we're in the pub!
Some notes/comments:
- We were so excited to see one SUV with two people in it that we both gasped out loud when it passed [note sarcasm].
- White vans were included under the car category because there were so few of them; a major difference between the traffic we counted this morning and the usual rush-hour traffic in the UK. Only 3 or 4 white vans passed us (exact figure unknown possibly because the counter was half-asleep), whereas in the UK, at least 10-20% of vehicles on the road would have been white vans.
- The count was conducted of one direction of traffic (east-bound) on Wilshire Blvd, with the counters situated on the corner with Brockton. Traffic flow in both directions appeared to be of equivalent volume, but that's a subjective estimate.
- Being west of the 405 (major freeway in our part of town), traffic was relatively light and free-flowing.
- This count was made possible by cinnamon buns from the West LA Farmers' Market, freshly-brewed coffee, and the joyous, daily event of just missing the bloody big blue bus.
