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Most days people will cruise along at 10mph under the speed limit. On a "good" day people are actually going the speed limit. There will almost always be one idiot in the passing lane going 50mph in a 60mph zone. People will refuse to get over even if they are in the passing lane and you have caught up to them very quickly. People do not use their turn signals. People barely even hit 40mph on the on-ramp. I've never seen so many terrible parkers in my life (Subaru outbacks taking up two parking spaces? Really?).
There's the problem. You see - to these fine people it is not a limit. No!! It is an ASPIRATION!!! Something to be acheived after much tentative toe-dipping. One day.. god willing... they will acheive the speed aspiration! And then there will be much rejoicing!!
Those who choose to go under the speed limit on the freeway are a major part of the problem. This just increases road rage. So, putting this all together, those who try to make a point about speed, (there are not many, but enough to make it a problem), are just increasing the problem as much as they are trying to cure. What they don't understand is that their behavior just increases road rage, and they are at fault. So, yeah, let's drive slow to make other drivers drive slow. Except, all it does is increase tempers, and that is not a good thing. The Washington State Patrol should immediately crack down on these slow pokes in the left lane if they want to improve traffic flow.
Hate to break it to everyone, but the bad habits of Seattle drivers you're complaining about are not unique to Seattle. Everyone complains about "the local drivers," but it's the same wherever you go. Seriously. Somebody on page 1 was griping about the jerks who can plainly see their lane is closed ahead but zoom right up to the blockade and then expect to be let over, slowing everyone down -- that's one of my biggest pet peeves with drivers, but it happens everywhere. East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and points in between. Same with the morons who think the center left-turn lane is something you use to pull onto the street and then merge into traffic. It's a LEFT TURN lane, not a MERGE INTO TRAFFIC lane.
A lot of drivers are actually more polite here than in other parts of the country -- that was one of the first things I noticed coming out here. When we came here on vacation the first time, we stepped out into a crosswalk and didn't see a car coming around the corner. Just about anywhere else, the driver would honk at you, stick his head out the window and curse at you, and flip you off as he whizzed by you at full speed. Instead, this car actually rolled to a stop and waved us across. If that's what you get with "passive aggressive," I'll deal with pokey left-lane drivers and four-way stops where nobody wants to go first! Beats getting run over on a place like I-696 in Detroit, aka the Michigan Autobahn, where the 70 MPH speed limit is pretty much considered an absolute minimum and the cops won't pull you over until you hit triple digits. I kid you not.
And for the person who complained that it's like rush hour here all the time -- well, I guess it's all relative. I lived in metro D.C. for six years. Traffic in Seattle is a comparative breeze.
Hate to break it to everyone, but the bad habits of Seattle drivers you're complaining about are not unique to Seattle. Everyone complains about "the local drivers," but it's the same wherever you go. Seriously. Somebody on page 1 was griping about the jerks who can plainly see their lane is closed ahead but zoom right up to the blockade and then expect to be let over, slowing everyone down -- that's one of my biggest pet peeves with drivers, but it happens everywhere. East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and points in between. Same with the morons who think the center left-turn lane is something you use to pull onto the street and then merge into traffic. It's a LEFT TURN lane, not a MERGE INTO TRAFFIC lane.
A lot of drivers are actually more polite here than in other parts of the country -- that was one of the first things I noticed coming out here. When we came here on vacation the first time, we stepped out into a crosswalk and didn't see a car coming around the corner. Just about anywhere else, the driver would honk at you, stick his head out the window and curse at you, and flip you off as he whizzed by you at full speed. Instead, this car actually rolled to a stop and waved us across. If that's what you get with "passive aggressive," I'll deal with pokey left-lane drivers and four-way stops where nobody wants to go first! Beats getting run over on a place like I-696 in Detroit, aka the Michigan Autobahn, where the 70 MPH speed limit is pretty much considered an absolute minimum and the cops won't pull you over until you hit triple digits. I kid you not.
And for the person who complained that it's like rush hour here all the time -- well, I guess it's all relative. I lived in metro D.C. for six years. Traffic in Seattle is a comparative breeze.
If you say so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by XNYKR58
Hi All,
Just moved here from Central NY and boy oh boy is it beautiful. The driving here is crazy and I thought I would never find a place worse than NYC. Man was I wrong. Gas Prices in WA
Hate to break it to everyone, but the bad habits of Seattle drivers you're complaining about are not unique to Seattle. Everyone complains about "the local drivers," but it's the same wherever you go. Seriously. Somebody on page 1 was griping about the jerks who can plainly see their lane is closed ahead but zoom right up to the blockade and then expect to be let over, slowing everyone down -- that's one of my biggest pet peeves with drivers, but it happens everywhere. East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and points in between. Same with the morons who think the center left-turn lane is something you use to pull onto the street and then merge into traffic. It's a LEFT TURN lane, not a MERGE INTO TRAFFIC lane.
A lot of drivers are actually more polite here than in other parts of the country -- that was one of the first things I noticed coming out here. When we came here on vacation the first time, we stepped out into a crosswalk and didn't see a car coming around the corner. Just about anywhere else, the driver would honk at you, stick his head out the window and curse at you, and flip you off as he whizzed by you at full speed. Instead, this car actually rolled to a stop and waved us across. If that's what you get with "passive aggressive," I'll deal with pokey left-lane drivers and four-way stops where nobody wants to go first! Beats getting run over on a place like I-696 in Detroit, aka the Michigan Autobahn, where the 70 MPH speed limit is pretty much considered an absolute minimum and the cops won't pull you over until you hit triple digits. I kid you not.
And for the person who complained that it's like rush hour here all the time -- well, I guess it's all relative. I lived in metro D.C. for six years. Traffic in Seattle is a comparative breeze.
Wrong top to bottom. A lot of the problems faced here are uniquely Seattle. And I have a much easier time driving in DC than I do here, mainly because in DC people will actually move. You kind of come off as the exact type we're tlaking about here who think that doing the speed limit entitles you to be in the left lane and that it's perfectly OK for a car to just stop in the middle of the street to let a jaywalker go across even though it causes a 30 car backup.
Wrong top to bottom. A lot of the problems faced here are uniquely Seattle. And I have a much easier time driving in DC than I do here, mainly because in DC people will actually move. You kind of come off as the exact type we're tlaking about here who think that doing the speed limit entitles you to be in the left lane and that it's perfectly OK for a car to just stop in the middle of the street to let a jaywalker go across even though it causes a 30 car backup.
One important rule to re-establish here. It is completely legal in WA State to use the turn lane as a merge lane, as it is in many states. Move into the center lane when possible to merge into traffic, doing it safely, and it is completely legal in WA State.
Agreed, though I don't see too many irritating BMW's or Mercs. Usually on the luxury vehicle front, it's Lexi's manned by some 21-48 year old Asian woman that's either completely oblivious to everything going on around her or terrified that she's in a moving object.
I think I dated her, actually... her name is Min. She drives an RX330.
It always cracked me up when I was screaming down the 5 through Downtown at night, top down, music up, flyyyyyying past everyone, having a grand old time, and then I'd go, "man, I'd better slow down. I'm gonna get pulled over..." only to realize I was doing 64 mph.
The day I moved back to CA, I was on the 280, over to the far right, going 75, and still had a line of cars behind me. Took me a few months to get back into the swing of things
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