Driving in Los Angeles: Rules, Freeways and Parking

Driving in Los Angeles is easier than its reputation suggests, and the reasons are practical rather than reassuring: traffic moves in lanes instead of weaving, speed limits are lower than in Europe and widely obeyed, and you can overtake on either side. The things that genuinely catch visiting drivers out are the parking rules, not the driving. Coloured kerbs, street-sweeping signs and time-limited private car parks produce far more tickets than freeways produce accidents. This guide covers what surprised us on our first trip, the rules that differ from European ones, and how parking in LA actually works.

Is driving in Los Angeles hard?

Driving in Los Angeles is not hard, and the anxiety most visitors arrive with is about the size of the roads rather than about anything that happens on them. We rented a car for 12 days in Los Angeles, expecting six-lane chaos, and found the opposite.

Four things made it easier than driving at home in Belgium.

1. People drive calmly. The general temperature on an LA freeway is lower than on a Belgian motorway, even when nothing is moving.
2. Everyone stays in their lane. Constant lane-switching is a European habit. In LA, drivers pick a lane for their direction and stay in it.
3. Speed limits are lower and are respected, because the fines are high and traffic police are visibly present. We saw cars pulled over more than once.
4. You can overtake on either side. In Belgium you must pass on the left, which means crossing two lanes to get past someone in the middle and then crossing back. In California you simply go round.

Part of the reason is habit. Angelenos are used to long distances and to being stuck occasionally. Belgians get their share of traffic jams but are not used to daily long drives: we can usually find everything we need within a 30 km (18.6 mi) radius, so half an hour behind the wheel already feels like an imposition.

Finding your way when driving in LA

Use satellite navigation and enter a full address rather than a street name. That is the single most useful piece of advice on this page, because LA streets are long enough that the street name alone is close to meaningless.

Typing “Santa Monica Blvd” into a navigation app can put you kilometres from Santa Monica beach, because the boulevard runs a long way inland. Plan around this before you leave: when we planned our trip, we found a specific address for every place we wanted to visit. Sometimes that was exact, such as 701 Stone Canyon Rd for the Hotel Bel-Air. Sometimes we knew only the street, such as the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and we picked the nearest useful junction on the map instead.

Navigation also solves the roadworks problem for you and gives you a realistic journey time, which is the number you actually need when deciding whether to set off before or after rush hour.

Traffic in LA: when and where it is worst

LA traffic is at its worst in the evening peak, which starts around 5 p.m., and downtown is the place to avoid during it. We drove through the evening rush fairly often and were surprised how rarely we were properly stuck.

The routes that were reliably slow for us were downtown LA in either peak, the run from West Hollywood to North Hollywood, and Fairfax Avenue at most times of day. We never drove in the morning peak, so this is not a complete picture, and the evening peak is the one most visitors will meet anyway.

The practical rule is to aim your longer drives at the middle of the day or after 7 p.m., and to treat any journey that crosses downtown in the peak as taking twice as long as the app first suggests.

What the freeways are actually like

LA freeways are wide rather than difficult, and the width is what intimidates people who have never seen it. Six lanes side by side sounds like chaos and does not behave like it.

The technique is simple. Work out which direction you need, note that often only two of those six lanes carry it, get into them and stay there. The lane discipline that makes European motorways stressful is largely absent, so you are not defending your position against constant merging.

Two features have no European equivalent and are worth knowing before you meet them.

• Carpool lanes, marked with a diamond, are reserved for vehicles carrying more than one person during their posted hours. Signs at the entry point state the minimum occupancy and the times, and some are 2-plus while others are 3-plus. Read the sign rather than assuming.
• Exits on both sides. An exit can leave from the left-hand lane as well as the right, so the navigation instruction to “keep left” for an exit is not a mistake.

Merging onto a freeway uses an acceleration lane, and the expectation is that you get up to the speed of the traffic before you join rather than easing in slowly.

Los Angeles driving rules that differ from European ones

Four California rules differ enough from European practice to be worth learning before you collect the car.

1. You may turn right on a red light, after stopping, unless a sign says otherwise and if the way is clear. This is legal, normal, and the thing most European drivers hesitate over while the car behind waits.
2. A stop sign means a full stop, every time. At a four-way stop, whoever arrived first goes first, and cars take turns. You stop even when the junction is completely empty, which feels absurd and is not optional.
3. Coloured kerbs carry parking rules. They are covered in the parking section below, and they are the source of most visitor tickets.
4. Speed limits are enforced hard. California treats speeding as a serious offence with fines to match. We were told it can eventually carry more than a fine, though we never confirmed that, and the practical point stands either way: nobody speeds much, so matching the traffic is both the legal and the natural thing to do.

The rules that match European ones are worth stating too, because they remove three things to worry about. Traffic keeps to the right. Seatbelts are compulsory in private vehicles. And using a handheld phone while driving is illegal in California: you may use a phone hands-free, but holding it, including to text or send a message, is not allowed.

Parking in Los Angeles

Parking is the hard part of driving in LA, and it is where a visitor is most likely to be fined. Two things work in your favour: it is cheaper than in most European cities, and there is far more of it than the city’s reputation implies. Off-street parking was around $10 a day when we visited, against more than €20 for a comparable day in Belgium.

Despite the number of cars, we almost never struggled to find a space, including on the street, where we parked often. The only place we really had to search was around the Disney Concert Hall downtown.

Coloured kerbs: what each colour means

The colour of the kerb is the parking rule, and it applies whether or not there is a sign. These are the Los Angeles meanings.

The yellow kerb has the detail people miss: outside its posted hours, which means Sundays and between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. on other days, anyone may park there unless a sign says otherwise. That is a large amount of free overnight parking hiding in plain sight.

Signs override kerb colours. If a sign and a kerb disagree, read the sign.

Street parking and meters

Metered street parking in LA gives each bay its own meter, which makes finding a space unusually easy: a meter with no car beside it is an empty bay. The meter states the hourly rate and the maximum stay, and it counts down the time you have paid for, so you will occasionally inherit a few minutes from someone who left early.

Modern meters take cards and app payments as well as coins. Rates vary widely by neighbourhood and by demand, so read the meter rather than budgeting from a single figure.

Two things to check every single time you park on the street.

• The signs above the bay, which set the days and hours you may park there. These are separate from the meter and from the kerb colour.
• Street sweeping hours, posted on their own signs. A car left in a sweeping window is ticketed as a matter of routine, and this is the most common way visitors get fined.

Car parks and private lots

Public car parks in LA are often cheap, and some offer the first one to three hours free, which is worth looking up while you are still planning rather than while you are circling the block.

Private lots have their own trap. Supermarkets such as Whole Foods usually have a car park, and some of them impose time limits: the one we used allowed a maximum of two hours. Using a shop’s car park to go elsewhere is what those limits exist to stop.

Two useful cases from our own trip. Our hostel in West Hollywood had its own free car park, which is worth asking about before booking anywhere in LA. And in Laguna Beach, down the coast in the United States‘ Orange County, we parked free in the streets near the beach.

Should you rent a car in Los Angeles?

Rent a car if you want to see more than one part of LA, because public transport takes two to three times as long on most journeys. We compared the options while planning, using a route planner and the Metro network, and driving won on every comparison we ran.

That comparison has a caveat we should state plainly: it was ours, on our routes, in our travel year. Metro has extended its rail network since, and for a trip built around downtown, Hollywood, Santa Monica and the airport corridor the answer may now be different. If your itinerary sits on a rail line, check it before assuming you need a car.

Where driving still wins clearly is flexibility. We were in LA for 12 days and wanted to leave places when we felt like leaving, not when a timetable allowed it. For day trips out of the city, to Laguna Beach, out to the Getty Center, or along the coast, a car is not really optional.

When you are comparing rental prices, DiscoverCars searches the local suppliers at LAX and the city depots in one go, which is the quickest way to see whether the airport or a neighbourhood branch works out cheaper.

Don’t forget travel insurance

Travel insurance matters more on a driving trip than on a city break, because the things that go wrong are more expensive. A cancelled prepaid booking, an illness a long way from your own health system, or a theft from a parked car are all covered by a decent policy, and none of them is covered by the rental company’s damage waiver.

Don’t have travel insurance yet? Check out SafetyWing. Their plans are flexible enough to sign up for once you are already travelling. They were the first travel insurance to cover COVID, and when Sofie caught it they reimbursed her related bills without arguing about it.

One thing insurance does not cover: read what the rental company’s own excess and damage terms say before you decline their cover at the desk, because that is a separate question from your travel policy.

Frequently asked questions

Can you turn right on red in Los Angeles?

Yes, after coming to a complete stop and when the way is clear, unless a sign prohibits it. It is standard practice in California and drivers behind you will expect it.

Do you need a car in Los Angeles?

You need one for most itineraries that cross the city, because public transport journeys typically take two to three times as long. A trip confined to downtown, Hollywood and Santa Monica can work on Metro rail, so check your own route before deciding.

What does a red kerb mean in Los Angeles?

No stopping, standing or parking at any time, 24 hours a day, unless a sign says otherwise. It is the strictest of the colours and it is enforced.

Is it legal to use a phone while driving in California?

Only hands-free. Holding a phone while driving is illegal in California, texting included, so mount it or leave it alone.

How much does parking cost in Los Angeles?

Off-street parking ran to about $10 a day when we visited, and metered street rates vary by neighbourhood and demand. Some public car parks give the first one to three hours free, which is worth checking in advance.

What is a carpool lane?

A diamond-marked freeway lane reserved for vehicles carrying more than one occupant during posted hours. The minimum number of occupants and the hours are on the sign at the lane entry, and they differ between freeways.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Four tips come out of driving here for 12 days rather than from a rule book.

1. Enter a full street address, never a street name. “Santa Monica Blvd” in a navigation app can drop you kilometres inland of Santa Monica beach. We planned the whole trip around specific addresses, such as 701 Stone Canyon Rd for the Hotel Bel-Air, and picked junctions on the map where we only knew the street.
2. Yellow kerbs are free parking on Sundays and after 6 p.m. The commercial loading restriction runs Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Outside those hours, and unless a sign says otherwise, anyone can park there, including overnight.
3. Ask whether your accommodation has its own car park before you book. Ours in West Hollywood did, and it was free, which removed the single most tedious daily decision of the trip.
4. Budget extra time for downtown and Fairfax Avenue specifically. Those two, plus the West Hollywood to North Hollywood run, were the only places we were reliably slowed down. The evening peak starts around 5 p.m. and everything else moved better than we expected.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her 12-day trip to Los Angeles with a rental car, driving it daily from West Hollywood to the coast and downtown. The team covers the United States for independent travellers, including the car rental, parking rules and road-trip routes worth planning around, and updates this page when rules and prices change.