I lived in LA (admittedly 20 years ago) and the traffic was bad, but the one thing that made up for it was that people who drove like assholes also knew what they were doing. They don’t leave a cushion so if you want to get over, you have to force it, and you have to know exactly how much you can get away with. Don’t get me wrong, there were certainly accidents, but fewer than I would have expected given the population. No data though; this is just my memory. It’s probably different now.