Your Commute

Drag-racing on 101 -- such a bad idea, even if you don't kill members of the Tongan royal family. Grieving Tongans have left so many mementos at the site of last Wednesday's accident that CHP determined the area was a traffic hazard and removed everything that had been left. When the reporter was there, six vehicles pulled off by the side of the road to pay their respects, which CHP says isn't the safest thing to do on 101 North.

Fires on the road! A huge fire by the Altamont Pass closed down 580 near Tracy yesterday, after it jumped the highway and caught a big rig on fire. Meanwhile, a pickup truck skidded off the 280 10th Street offramp in San Jose, went airborne, and then slammed into a sign, a crosswalk signal (note to self: do not cross this intersection by foot), and three cars, at least one of which burst into flame. Two people were killed.

And finally (third item's always the hardest to find): gas prices are rising again after a brief fall a few weeks ago, with the current Bay Area average back to $3.26/gallon. Cheapest gas is in Pleasanton and Vallejo (no price given, mysteriously), and most expensive is South Lake Tahoe, at $3.40.