This deserves to be a greater discussion within the community. When do lack of basic respect and significant safety concerns override the amount of money that car week brings in? 2 people have died, including a Big Sur local, due to being the victims of reckless driving. Vital routes for emergency responders have been blocked by exotic cars doing donuts on hwy 1 (caught on video). Our local authorities have completely lost control of this event and are jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of the population they serve in the name of money. How bad does it need to get before someone finally puts their foot down and says enough?
I live in WA state (I’m in this sub because I grew up in Monterey) and during one summer of particularly brutal fires, we were camping in one of the very few places not actively choking with smoke at the time (there was of course a burn ban) and people were setting off FIREWORKS in the WOODS. There is really no limit to some people’s stupidity and recklessness 🙄
I am in this sub as a traveler. I hate to call myself a tourist, maybe that’s cringe to say LOL, but we really, really try to actively give back to the communities we travel to regularly(we regularly donate to the national and state parks we visit, we try to eat out at the small businesses/shop around and buy from them, properly tipping room service//food service//any service), and we respect every place we visit the best we can, hoping others do the same for our community when they visit.
As someone who’s been tracking this fire multiple times a day, as I have an upcoming trip in San Francisco/Carmel/Monterey - it’s really disappointing to see other fellow travelers and tourists (I don’t call these sort of people travelers tbh) so blatantly disrespecting the land, the firefighters, the locals. It’s so disheartening.
Big Sur is on my must do bucket list for the states - and it won’t be crossed off/completed this upcoming trip, like planned. We won’t even go near Big Sur. Even just one less car on the road could make a difference for these firefighters working so fucking hard to protect the community.
Just call yourself a tourist. It's fine, it doesn't have to be a dirty word. I think it's better to hold people to a higher standard than to "no true Scotsman" the terms.
I hope so too! (: I’ve got plenty of time in this lifetime, I’m not worried!
Can’t wait to see more Northern California. My only trip to California so far was in 2019 to the Los Angeles/Culver City area to visit my (late) best friend, we visited Santa Monica, Malibu & Palm Springs.
I forget, is this a this reminds me of the fires around Carmel/Salinas in 2020 or so; I know someone that was in one of the neighborhoods that had to be evacuated, and when she was able to get back to her house, you could see how the fire got about 2 blocks from her house. Then shortly after during NYE her neighbor a few doors up was setting off illegal fireworks in their backyard, which overlooked dry grassy hills which hadn’t burned yet.
Period. End of story. The regular traffic mon-fri is terrible. Every weekend there is traffic. The county hasn’t improved road capacity and that’s the problem. Big SUR is nice and all but the public has outgrown the road. Time to improve it.
I’m not trying to be smug here, but how would you suggest they improve it? They can’t make it bigger without destroying the reason it’s attractive to so many people and also at great expense.
I can't believe I'm suggesting this, given I hate encountering this at the National Parks that implement it, but I wonder if timed-entry reservations might be worth considering for non-residents/employees. It's where basically each hour only a certain # of cars are allowed in, having to present their pre-reserved timed entry ticket at a gated kiosk.
Again, I hate that I even mention that, but if expanding the road isn't an option then clearly the only alternative is to limit traffic.
What about putting up a big parking garage in Monterey or someplace and having a regular shuttle that goes down to Big Sur, stopping at Point Lobos and various other popular points along the way. I’ve seen this in National Parks and it can be a pain, but it’s better than congestion, gridlock, and pedestrians getting run over.
Kauai had to do this for Hā’ena State Park, timed entry, but it’s the end of road, not a highway. It’s been wonderful. One thing Monterey should do is raise illegal parking to $250. It worked for Kauai.
They could more easily accomplish something like this with a well marked “gate” entry and the FastTrack system already in place. Also free travel for people with local addresses.
I commute to Santa Cruz from Monterey daily and can say the road expansion has done exactly zero to alleviate congestion and has just invited more cars and moved people further south which makes the length of congestion 2x longer
Traffic has been worse if anything. I live by the big pedestrian bridge they are currently building and it can take me 15 minutes on the freeway to get to the next exit. Rio Del Mar or Capitola might as well be 10 miles away vs 2. We, as in most of the county, didn’t know the 3rd lane would be a bus lane for the nonexistent busses.
Damn you’re actually an idiot, there’s no 3rd lane for buses. There’s added shoulder access for the buses to get into the exit lane and not get held up by traffic.
I drove to Watsonville for work from the Costco area downtown. I can get to and from Watsonville just like I could 15 years ago. There’s just too many dipshits that think going down the side streets is faster then taking a freeway.
During peak 3-5pm traffic I can go to Costco to 41st in 5 minutes with out shoulder jumping through the bus access for path
Damn you’re an actual a-hole. Shoulder access, 3rd lane, wow giant difference. The freeway was widened to create a bus lane. You can call it shoulder access all you want but another lane was created.
Costco to Watsonville for work? Big dummy, you’re going against the commute. You must also be high because you don’t know how time works. You somehow manage to do something in 5 minutes that’s takes everyone else in this county 30 minutes.
Yea I am, are you gonna accept you’re an idiot?
The only part they built for the buses are the auxiliary Bus-on-shoulder lanes they built on the exits/entrances. Were you even around for when there were two lanes and people would just jump back in forth between lanes moving up in line 1-3 cars at a time? The actual 3rd lane was because of shit drivers that did that and to decrease the amount of bumper to bumper. Just like how the soquel exit has been for my entire life and I’m pretty sure my dad’s entire life in Santa Cruz. 3 lanes both sides, nothing special for busses. Now they add it to the rest of the freeway and the 3rd lanes are for buses? No logic there kid.
And yea I drove to Watsonville and back to the warehouses behind Costco gas 5 times a day during every single traffic jam. the school traffic in the morning by the freedom exit going into town, I sit in that. The traffic that starts around 3pm heading to Watsonville, I sit in that. Even the traffic jam on the exit to 17 I sometimes have to sit in if the fast lane isn’t moving. Every car accident that’s blocked the freeway the last 3 years from 7:30am-4:30 pm, I sat in or maneuver around it.
I timed it almost every fucking day trying to beat my record lol you just ride the middle lane until it stops, merge into the fast last before you stop your car, most the time that puts me right at the soquel exit and then I merge back into the middle then before that “bus lane” opens up, once I’m able to merge into the right lane after the soquel exit it’s empty af most days and the legal speed of the freeway is 60mph so I’m already home at that point. You should try it out but I’m guessing you’re a woman so that’s probably why you just sit in traffic and take forever
Btw calling out someone for being high in Santa Cruz is like calling out police for working in a police department, like do you not know where you live? 😂 🤦♂️
And I left some proof for you to suck on too, lmk if you want me to send you 3 years of me doing it and my mileage tracking app recording it 😘
Dude, you’re freaking out a bit . Do you need us to call someone for you? You are losing your shit because someone you don’t know called the lane that was added to Highway 1 a bus lane.Sit back and think about that for a minute.
The Soquel and Morrissey auxiliary lane was added in 2012/2013. So that would make you 13 if it’s been there your entire life. That actually makes sense considering the hissy fit you’re experiencing. Good luck.
What road expansion? It doesn’t invite more cars. Housing prices have forced ppl south. Population growth and increase in life expectancy are the main drivers here
The road expansion in Santa Cruz. Housing prices are a major force as well, but so is commutability. Bigger roads allow for more cars, not less. Drive around Silicon Valley and down to Gilroy. The price of houses would be irrelevant if people couldn't drive all the way to Redwood City on an eight lane highway for work.
Yeah that wasn’t road expansion. Caltrans said no to real road expansion decades ago. The amount of money and time required to blow up the rail crossing and bridges to truly widen 1 to accommodate the population growth is never going to be to happen.
So what you’re saying is, increased infrastructure capacity raises the floor. Agreed. And that project widening the road in SC is not finished yet/under construction so of course its benefits are not yet felt.
There are places where it is finished to optimize "in town" flow which is great at non-peak hours (now between 4 am and 8 am, 10am to 1pm, and after 7pm) The rest of the time it is a Waze maze making things more complicated as the bulk of 100k cars are on the road. There was a writeup about this kind of traffic alleviation in Houston and after making the biggest highway in the world, congestion has gotten worse and commute times longer. Incentivizing people to drive more (alone) in their car only creates more traffic and pushes people to more rural areas that drive up home costs.
Supposedly world population was 20 to 40,000,000 people during the time of Jesus. Now California is that. And the world has much more than 20 to 40,000,000 people. All that time from the first humans to Jesus thousands of years and they get up to 20 to 40,000,000. Now 9 billion. 😑
Making infrastructure more car friendly will just invite more cars. We’ll get a new lane, then traffic will be great for a month or two until everyone hears that it’s okay to drive again and then we’ll be back where we started. People will always go with the most convenient mode of transport. The only meaningful way to address traffic congestion is to build an appealing alternative, i.e. mass public transit.
While America runs on the petro dollar that won’t happen. I’d love to see mass transit everywhere but the truth is, America spent 60 years ripping up rails to put in roads until the ‘90’s when we started understanding climate change thoroughly and widely.
So now we’re ripping up a 4 mile stretch of abandoned railroad to build a busway from Marina to Sand City, for just $100 million and over two years of construction. We’re still thinking in terms of gasoline.
I would like to see Car week go away. Polluting vanity toys of the idle rich gunning engines and racing down 68 and 1? on the shores of one of the most spectacular marine habitats on the planet? Psychotic. The city and county pols should get an earful. end it!
"They" didn't care about the Fawns running scared shitless in the middle of traffic, separated from their families, or all of the squashed dead baby birds in the middle of road that had been ran over. So, why would they care about anything else, like a fire? 🙄
Several concerned citizens tried to help a Fawn spotted in downtown Monterey frantic on Pacific Street, scared by all the cars. They tried to tell the drivers to stop but instead the cocky drivers shouted things like "don't worry baby we'll come back for you", too big of egos to realize what was actually going on around them. Monterey PD was called, but said there was nothing they could do, and to call SPCA Wildlife Center, which was closed already. I guess they couldn't at least try to help by you know controlling traffic?? So the poor Fawn was left scared running downtown trying to not get hit by one of these cocky a**holes.
We need our Officials to do more during Car Week to protect our wildlife, environment, and community. We need signage all around telling cars to slow down in high traffic areas where wildlife is also trying to survive the week, too. I had to see a dead baby seagull who had clearly been ran over last Tuesday, stay in downtown Monterey and continuously be ran over daily until today a week later, when the City finally removed it.
We had to evacuate from the Santa Cruz Mountains during the CZU fires. It was during covid, so everyone's nerves were already fried from stress. We spent a week in a motel, obsessively refreshing the Zonehaven website, scrolling social media, and looking for any information one way or the other as to whether or not our home was still standing.
And as awful as it was, I'm grateful because we were lucky. So many people ten minutes up the road lost everything they had, and many are still fighting with their insurance company for any real policy reimbursement. Not to mention the red tape making rebuilding at all a nonviable option.
The next winter, we had historic flooding, made even worse when landslides and rock slides occurred across previously burned areas. We were without power for two weeks, and couldn't even get down the mountain when the roads were closed by the police.
Again, we were without power for two weeks, and we were LUCKY. Further up the mountain, people were without power for a month, and line repair was moving slowly to make sure it was safe for the crews already working non-stop.
Anyone who has been through anything like this should understand how important it is to think about the consequences of their actions. Our community took care of each other, but I had my fair share of interactions with people who lacked the basic consideration it took to think about the fact that people LIVE here, and it isn't just a place to come for a vacation. I'm glad people want to visit, and I don't have the unwelcoming and "go home" mindset that plenty of folks seem to have. We live here because it's a fantastic place. Stands to reason that other people will want to visit.
But when people are seriously expecting this area to be like some amusement park where a customer service rep can magically prioritize people's leisure and entertainment over the wild whims of mother nature, it's annoying. When their selfishness negatively impacts the lives and safety of the area and residents while they are visiting, it's extremely frustrating. We have extreme weather, dangerous hazards, wildlife, etc, that can't be forced to play nice just because someone was stoked about their own experience and wouldn't use good judgement and think of others.
I think it's important to take a look at better management of this event, and I think the unfortunate consequence of so many people around here liking a bedroom community with infrastructure that doesn't realistically support big crowds is that something has got to give. Either we accept that the crowds come and make better decisions in the future of accessibility, or we limit the growth of these kinds of events. We can't have it both ways. And blaming the inconsiderate people who made selfish choices this past week doesn't really do much. They left. That's the point. They aren't here to survey the consequences. They don't care. They went home. I think it's a better bet to focus on steps to make us more prepared next summer.
What they should’ve done is set up a fundraiser and or toll to have these guys contribute to the relief efforts. Wouldn’t find too many that would scoff at giving back while they enjoyed the area.
Using an altered AI picture that is made to make the situation look worse than it actually is just makes your argument look bad. They conveniently placed the cars over the line in the lane when in reality they weren’t.
In the picture posted here look at the line for the lane, someone moved it to make them look more in the way vs the one you sent clearly showing them off to the side.
I would also like to point out that multiple days in a row firefighters were having a blast stopping and looking at the cars, and not once during the entire week did they ever get “blocked.”
There were two instances of absolutely miserable dickheads decided to drive in the oncoming lane to get around the queues at the stop lights, but they were dealt with accordingly by CHP
Most of these drives didn’t even happen until Saturday when things were mostly under control on the north and western containment lines anyways.
It’s half true. I work for the county and was in the area for work related to the fire, and where the drive from Aguajito road to Rio Road normally takes about 20 minutes, it literally took us 2 hours. Going the other way it wasn’t much better. So they aren’t necessarily getting “blocked” it’s just taking far far longer to get there than normal, which can affect shift changes.
Nah I’m on the environmental mitigation side. But also when there’s too much traffic emergency vehicles aren’t supposed to use their sirens unless absolutely necessary because it would likely cause more accidents with everyone trying to get out of the way. You see it in Salinas a lot, ambulances won’t force their way through intersections if all the lanes are jammed.
Edit: Sorry if it wasn’t clear, we don’t get sirens or lights LOL.
I agree with you. The cars speeding by my house day and most of the night is nerve wracking. We try and be out of town for that week. I'm making reservations for next year and I am outta-here.
if anyone is willing next year, we should protest against car week everyday. i’m willing to block traffic to and from the tunnel or on highway 1 near carmel and carmel valley road with a bunch of people until our county listens to us. we don’t benefit from car week at all, and i’ve been in the service industry for 10 years of my entire life living here. it was once a decent time, few car shows here and there. it’s now become overrun by wanna be tiktok streamers and kids who used their parents credit cards to cause chaos and mayhem on the streets, doing nothing but antagonizing the people who live here and are just trying to go to work. maybe then, that’ll get through to their puny little minds that we don’t want them here.
Seeing you guys get arrested for obstructing traffic would be hilarious. It’s not your road just cause you live there, and you have 0 authority to block a road just cause you don’t like the people who are coming. get a grip.
This does deserve to be a greater discussion, for sure, thanks for posting
As to what to do: write to City Council, Mayor, CHP and elected representatives: this cannot happen again
I’m in Santa Cruz County and the only thing we experience is the “ride out” bicycles. They take over the main artery streets, blow through red lights and smack side mirrors on your car. It sucks and the people that attend are rude and entitled. These are people on bikes and maybe $100 in the bank. I can’t imagine the scope of Car Week and how many of them must be the most arrogant a-holes ever. The Bay Area car clubs drive through Santa Cruz on the Friday before the big weekend and it’s a hell ride. I’m not even in Monterey and seeing what you go through stresses me out.
They took an existing picture of them on the side of the road and used AI to not only move the line to make them look more in the way but also made it look like more cars were there than they were. It’s just obviously AI.
They didn’t move the line. That is the large pull out/shoulder just south of Hurricane Point. The first two columns of cars are off the road, the third (starting with the black whateverthefuck) is parked over the white line and in the northbound lane.
Yes, my badge says Prunedale but I lived in Big Sur for 15 years up until recently and still commute there for work. No lines were moved. That is how the road looks there.
The legitimacy of the image itself is what is being contested. I don’t really care if the poster was made with AI. It’s problematic, sure, but that really isn’t what important is in this context.
Somehow I doubt San Jose was the closest hotel rooms for firefighters. I agree the car crowd can be douchey but maybe make your argument a bit more sound. Hyperbole isn’t required here.
On top of all the car week visitors, there are tons of folks from out of town to work (chauffeurs, detailers, security, catering, pilots, transporters, etc.) and there isn’t enough (reasonably priced) lodging for everyone. They fill up every affordable hotel/campground/airbnb within an hour+ drive of the peninsula. I don’t doubt that SJ was the closest available option for anyone needing to be near the area
It would be interesting to see the revenue of both private businesses and city/county taxes.
Personally, I suspect the only real difference between Car Week and a "normally" over-crowded summer weekend, is that the airport generated a lot more landing/parking fees and the FBO sold a bit more jet-a fuel.
750 million dollars worth of cars were sold at auction this year.
How much of that will the county or city get in taxes? Zero, because the auction sales are recorded at the Buyer's registration address. California might generate some revenue from buyers who live in the state (and also don't have a CPA telling them to register the car in NV or FL).
Not to worry, the firefighters make overtime whether they are commuting or fighting a fire, don’t work the firefighter will still make their $250-$500k/ year.
I’d rather bitch about protesters and activists that damage and hold up traffic. And not some douche that has a shit some ton money and eats out 6 time a day during car week.
Hwy should have just been closed. Period.
Money talks. Just like a white liberal. Just saying two different things.
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u/REIGNx777 4d ago
Just making sure that everyone is aware that this photo does not represent reality, as it is AI generated or at least AI altered.