The Southern California Association of Governments [SCAG] just released an annual report card on different aspects of living in Southern California that shows the trend that growing urban and suburban areas face daily. The association researches regional issues and then lobbies for funding and plans to improve these situations locally. The report they released included a report card that addresses multiple issues such as employment, public safety, education and housing. Transportation is also one of the categories, and in 2004 it received a grade of D-minus. That’s bad, right? It’s not, compared to the grade it received for 2005: F.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a 10-year agenda yesterday to improve life in California through an ideal 10-year plan. Ideals are good; long term ideal goals are even better. Reality is different, however. Transportation in Orange County is bad on many levels, as you may have read in many of my articles. I’ve spent hours stuck in traffic going to places that were only 20 miles away. The freeways in the state and in this county have been going through ‘construction-for-improvements’ for years. However, things are getting worse everyday, even though the county is getting more business.

Orange County is home to more companies and businesses than most of the other counties in the country, and is quickly becoming a name common to everyone around the country. Orange County is one of the richest counties in the country and also has the safest cities in the country. People are somehow said to be also more aware of laws in Orange County. More people in Orange County wear seat belts than the national average; however, the percentage of people who die in Orange County traffic accidents, wearing a seat belt, is also higher than the national average. Transportation in this county is good only if you’ve a personal jet to fly from one airport to another. Even then, you’ll need to drive from the airport to your destination. Either way and anyway, you’re screwed.

According to the report, California is ranked number 8 in the country when it comes to reported pedestrian fatalities; that’s the number of pedestrians who die because of automobile accidents or impacts. The number of road accidents has increased on the freeways also. On average, people last year spent 93 hours a year stuck in traffic in Orange County and Los Angeles areas. That includes me. Riverside and San Bernardino people spent around 55 hours last year stuck in traffic. To all the Riverside and San Bernardino people, people in Orange County have one message for you: GRRR. Southern California is now the most congested place in the country when it comes to transportation and the freeways. Fewer people use public transportation, apparently, even though buses go short distances and most of them rarely get on the freeways.

We need a solution that fixes the issues from the ground up. Transportation in this county and all the places needs a complete overhaul. Small improvements over the course of several years is not going to help things. After 10 years, any improvements will be overshadowed by the growing population, and it will be back to square one again. We need a new system of freeways and wider lanes on all the freeways that we already have. We need subways and more train stops, and we need them fast. We need more frequent buses, and we need more frequent trains. That’s how we’ll get more people to use alternate means of transportation than using their own personal cars. In Northern California, it’s a headache to use your own car. In Southern California, it’s a sin to use public transportation.

I’ve to go meet a friend about 20 miles away, and it’s 5:03 pm right now. I’m reluctant to start driving, since traffic may be good or bad, and always justified. Either way, I’ve to leave now, and I have to hope that there’s no traffic on the local road up to the freeway, no traffic on the 91 freeway, no traffic on the 57 freeway, and no traffic on the 5 freeway. And that’s going one way only. When I’m coming back, I’ll have to hope these hopeless hopes again.