t n c, you know if you travel that corridor regularly that massive pileups do occur on the "5" most every year and it can happen anywhere along the length of it from the Southern border to Oregon. Tule fog in the central valley gets 'em every winter it seems, Ice up north by Shasta/Weed, Snow on the Grapevine, and too many folks in the LA basin. I'm guessing it's not much different on the east coast and central US n/s freeways at holiday time.
I 5 is one of my least favorite roads to travel on in the US. Holidays are extremely bad. I went to school in N cal and all my siblings are down in the SD area. It's positively scary to try to drive that road anywhere near the speed limit and for me it's too scary to get out in the fast lane at 80 with untrained drivers runnin my bumper. I used to use 99 or 101 but traffic on those has gotten worse now too. too many drivers unwilling to put in the effort to actually drive. They don't look ahead for the truck pulling out to pass or for their exit. They do expect to be able to pass people on the right if they want to. They are on their phones. Some have been driving since Washington or San D trying to get south/north for Christmas. I'd hate to see the speed limit upped to 80 on that road, all those yahoos would be going 90-100 then. I now generally avoid holiday driving, the wife and I stay home then and visit at other times of the year.
I'm down with the wife in the "Sucktomento" area right now and hate driving around this town for all the reason mentioned already, especially running red lights. Can't wait to get back up to E WA where traffic jams are caused by combines driving between grain fields.
Higher speed limits in rural areas = yes, especially Oregon as I have to pass through there a few times a year.
