LEAVING EARLY MAY LEAVE YOU WITH TIME ON YOUR HANDS.

Byline: SUE DOYLE

Hours after two motorcycles crashed at dawn Tuesday on the southbound 405 Freeway near Sepulveda Boulevard, traffic was still backed up for miles.

On any given day, collisions like this are responsible for about a quarter of the bottlenecks that frustrate Southern California commuters, Caltrans officials say.

Like other clever species, seasoned L.A. commuters have adapted to their environment. Drivers often add 10 to 30 minutes to each trip, knowing that a highway headache is likely.

"We have to imagine it and give ourselves extra time before going anywhere," said Rabia Kahraman, 25, of Northridge, who gives herself an extra half-hour to get downtown on Friday afternoons.

Getting on the road earlier than your neighbor gives many of us a buffer in coping with unpredictable traffic. But when your neighbor catches on -- and more and more are -- the buffer simply evaporates.

That's one of the reasons Los Angeles commuters spend a total of 623,796,000 hours a year sitting in traffic, says Tim Lomax, research engineer for the Texas Transportation Institute.

In other words, all this leaving-early stuff can wind up making you late anyway.

"It doesn't necessarily sound like a huge problem, but it certainly affects how society works -- how many things you can do, how many meetings you can get to," Lomax said.

Say you have a 4 p.m. doctor's appointment in Culver City and leave your Woodland Hills home at 3, figuring the 101/405 interchange will be a nightmare.

But traffic is unexpectedly light that day and you get there by 3:45 p.m. That gives you at least 15 extra minutes of magazine-reading time in the doctor's office, and probably even longer because doctors often add in some buffer time to appointments anticipating that people will be late.

But for many, that 15-minute windfall is a wasted quarter of an hour if they can't bank on it day in and day out.

So to deal with the uncertainty, philosophy Professor C. Jacob Hale has turned the leave-early trend on its head. His leave-late philosophy gives him peace of mind after he finishes his work at 5 p.m. at California State University, Northridge. Rather than rushing into rush-hour, he waits 15 minutes and uses the time wisely.

"There's a micro-local traffic jam here," Hale said. "It saves a lot of aggravation to know traffic patterns."

Traffic delays not only affect commuters, they hurt businesses.

Just ask Carrie Tippens, who works in sales at Lee's Hair Salon in Burbank. Ten years ago the majority of clients were on time to their hair appointments. But congestion in downtown Burbank has grown over time as more businesses come in and take up more parking.

Now, the hair salon does not expect people to arrive on time.

"We assume people will be late," Tippens said. "Some people leave very early to get here on time, and then they're caught on the freeway anyway."

Every year or so a wreck on the freeway can cause such profound traffic problems that even curtain times are delayed at the Ahmanson Theatre, said Jim Royce, director of marketing.

However the theater encourages people to show up on time. Along with their tickets, guests get driving instructions, maps and a restaurant guide.

"That helps them essentially get to the church on time," Royce said.

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

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