ACR B737 STARTS A TURN INTO A ROADWAY INSTEAD OF THE TXWY AT LAX DURING A NIGHT OP. PIC STOPS ACFT AND IS ABLE TO RESUME TAXIING ON CLRED RTE.

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ACFT WAS TAXIED ONTO A GND VEHICLE ROAD SANDWICHED BTWN 2 ACFT TXWYS B AND C; NEAR 'C-10' AND TXWY P. NEITHER I NOR THE FAA OBSERVER IN JUMPSEAT NOTICED THE ERROR. I WAS UNAWARE OF THE MISTAKE UNTIL INFORMED OF IT MUCH LATER. CAPT WAS COGNIZANT OF ERROR UPON REVIEW OF GND VEHICLE BEHAVIOR BUT HAD ALREADY COMMITTED JET'S NOSE. ONLY RESULT WAS MINOR CONFUSION BY GND; MAINT/LUGGAGE VEHICLES. I CITE POOR ROAD MARKINGS AND TXWY LIGHTING AT TXWY P; ALL OF US WERE BUSY WATCHING XING GND VEHICLES/ACFT. WX THAT NIGHT HAD CAUSED SYS-WIDE DELAYS RESULTING IN CONGESTED TXWYS. I RECOMMEND AN IMPROVEMENT IN WAY WE DISTINGUISH LAX'S TXWYS AND GND VEHICLE ROADS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE BASIC CAUSE OF THE FLC DEV; ACCORDING TO THE FO; WAS THE LACK OF WHAT HE TERMED 'CLR AND CONCISE' TXWY MARKINGS THAT WOULD DEFINE TXWY C-10 AND TXWY P FROM THE NBOUND ROADWAY BTWN THOSE 2 TXWYS. HE FELT THAT HE WAS NOT OF MUCH HELP TO THE CAPT AS HE WAS BUSY WITH CHKLIST USE; WT AND BAL DATA; CLRING OTHER TFC; GETTING READY FOR A FREQ CHANGE ON GND CTL AND TRYING TO STAY ORIENTED ON THE ARPT. HE FELT THAT THIS WAS EXACERBATED BY THE FACT THAT HE WAS A NEW HIRE WITH ONLY 1 MONTH WITH THE ACR. THE PRESENCE OF AN ACR INSPECTOR WHO WAS CONVERSING WITH THE CAPT ABOUT 'AVIATION ISSUES' WAS MOST LIKELY PARTLY CONTRIBUTORY TO THIS EVENT. HE WOULD LIKE; HOWEVER; TO HAVE THE AREA CHKED OUT BY ARPT OFFICIALS FOR A POSSIBLE SIGNING OR MARKING PROB. THE GND MARKINGS WERE DEFINITELY VERY HARD TO SEE.