Oh, the delight of a California commute, as seen from a lane other than the "commuter lane". The Bay Area has the fascinating ability to spawn traffic jams, any time, anywhere, day or night. Pair this with the scariest drivers you can find (who despite the numerous freeways here have yet to learn how to merge into a moving freeway without bringing traffic to a grinding halt, are happy to make cars back up for several miles to get their daily dose of gawking, and just in general are the kings and queens of causing dangerous traffic situations for no good reason), and you've got yourself some of the worst traffic ever.
On a more serious side note, I wish there was better public transport to get all these people off the streets -- while I realize it's somewhat of a chicken-egg problem (only well-frequented public transport is good, and only good public transport will be well-frequented) but urban sprawl throws a serious monkey wrench into those plans if driving, including heavy traffic, still only takes half as long a the train, even if you live virtually next to the train stop. Can we redesign the Bay Area real quick, please?