+1

Quick Joke:
What's the difference between L.A.'s I-10 and Washington D.C.'s Beltway?
One is a parking lot that runs from Hell to the Beach, and the other is a parking lot that endlessly circles Purgatory!

Seriously, L.A.'s freeways are fine with a little pre-planning...

1) Don't plan on lots of freeway driving during commuting hours. If you can avoid them from 7-9 a.m. & 4-7 p.m.; you will save yourself a world of aggravation.

2) If you've got to travel a significant distance in the greater L.A. area, be prepared with maps (or GPS) and your car radio tuned to a news station that does frequent traffic reports. (KNX AM 1070)

3) Ask a local for alternative routes. Unlike places like the SFO bay area where all traffic seems to funnel into a single bridge or pass through the hills, most routings through the LA basin have multiple options....and if one is gridlocked by traffic, another route may be flowing freely. Sometimes it's a routing that goes slightly further (but a freeway speeds rather than stop-start) and sometimes its a surface-street alternative to freeway travel.
But you'll never know if you don't ask (or hit the maps).