Seattle Driving Rules (Rainier: car insurance, live, law)

[seakid]

I hate driving in Seattle, I moved in like 3 days ago. It's crazy, way too many one-way's, and too many signs and things to consider. For example, on Pike St going towards capitol hill the left most lane becomes an express lane to the highway wtf!?!??!!

I wanted pizza and was going to capitol hill using google directions, and suddenly i'm going somewhere far, crazy stuff.

[Destructoman!]

Originally Posted by LaGozadora

I haven't had a car for long, so I'm not sure if this is a very Seattle thing or not: What is the deal with not paying attention to your lane? It's so scary to be driving and having someone meander over their line into your lane...even if it's just 6 inches. I see this daily on city streets (not so much on the freeway). Keep it between the lines, people!

Thanks for mentioning this one, I totally forgot! This indeed is a driving behavior that seems very peculiar to the Seattle region. I've encountered people deliberately weaving in and out of the lanes in other cities, but unless the driver is either really old or really intoxicated; even in Bumf#ck, Midwest they don't weave in and out of the lanes with their heads in the clouds the way the do here. I encounter this at least once a week driving in Seattle. Unbelievable...

[Redline]

Originally Posted by seakid

I hate driving in Seattle, I moved in like 3 days ago. It's crazy, way too many one-way's, and too many signs and things to consider. For example, on Pike St going towards capitol hill the left most lane becomes an express lane to the highway wtf!?!??!!

That is typical Seattle DOT planning. They put all the buildings in first and THEN they put the streets in and then they keep on trying to shove more streets in! In places like California at least they build the roads first.

Ever notice how the highways around here merge into other highways like crap? 5 lanes going into 3 lanes on major interstates??

Anyways, my pet peeves:

- people driving slow in the passing (inside) lane especially when there are no cars in the middle or right lanes. I love it when someone gets in front of me in the passing lane then proceeds to leave a gap a mile long between him/herself and the car ahead. I'm not for tailgating, but c'mon.

- people driving only a little bit faster in the passing lane and just under speeding ticket speeds. They should at least move out of the way when they see someone behind them wanting to go faster.

- drivers who jump on a highway and IMMEDIATELY get into the passing lane, drive the speed limit all the way to their exit and then exit at the last possible minute.

- drivers who do not understand the concept of merging

- cell phone talkers that do any of the above and/or like to change lanes on a whim

[ElektroDragon]

Coming from NY state, I had a wonderful time driving in Seattle, and I mean wonderful. Easiest big city to drive in that I have EVER seen. People seem to go plenty fast, and I love those high speed limits as soon as you leave the urban area proper.

[c_kid]

Um, people probably didn't feel as "free" to flip people off in California for fear they'd be shot for it.

[Redline]

Originally Posted by c_kid

Um, people probably didn't feel as "free" to flip people off in California for fear they'd be shot for it.

Definitely. Here the cops would actually do something though.

[MichaelinWA]

Sad but all too true.

Sons watch as dad is shot dead on I-280

I'll take the minor WA complaints any day, over California.

Originally Posted by c_kid

Um, people probably didn't feel as "free" to flip people off in California for fear they'd be shot for it.

[MichaelinWA]

In WA, we're smarter than most states' drivers, according to this study.

GMAC Auto Insurance National Drivers Test - we're no. 9

But those Oregonians have us beat by a couple of spots.

[vnodak]

Originally Posted by MichaelinWA

In WA, we're smarter than most states' drivers, according to this study.

GMAC Auto Insurance National Drivers Test - we're no. 9

But those Oregonians have us beat by a couple of spots.

I lived in Oregon for over 25 years and I would much rather drive here except downtown Seattle. True the roads here are much more congested but people in Portland would rather run you down than let you lane change in heavy traffic or move over to let you merge. Anyway, that has been my experience.

[jenlion]

I've been seeing the lane-weaving too. We're trying to prove the theory that it's mostly on nice days -- Ooooh, look, mountains! Can you see Rainier today? -- but it happens sometimes on cloudy days too, so who knows. There was one day on Bel-Red for a few miles that I had three different people drift nearly right smack into me. My poor one-year-old is learning some choice words. :-(

The other problem I have here that I haven't living other places is people turning right SMACK in front of me. Sometimes they are just turning into a lane they shouldn't, like a left turn lane (THAT I AM TRYING TO GET INTO LEGALLY, ****hole), or sometimes they are just turning to where I am. They look, then they go, smack into my lane. I have NO idea what they're thinking -- that I'm going slower than I am? That I'll stop for them when I see they want to turn? Maybe I'M the one screwing things up by braking so I don't plow into them... they were going slower than I thought and were going to whip in behind me? Like I said, 1-year-old in the car, and I don't want your dumb BMW plowing into him.

And everyone here needs to get off their stupid phones. People everywhere are reasonably bad at driving and talking at the same time, but here it's a nightmare. You have a mix of people who are already.. um... inexperienced drivers moving here and trying to become minivan soccer moms, kids driving cars far too powerful for them, and people coming from parts of the country where driving rules are a little different. You need every ounce of concentration you have to just NOT GET HIT over here. I don't know why some people think that they are the exception to the cell phone thing. I remember following my husband home one night in Dallas and suddenly he started driving stupid, stupid, stupid. Really slow, really weird, looked like he was going to exit all the time. When we got home I asked him what was wrong, and he said, what? Nothing. I asked then why drive slow? Turned out he was on the phone. Seriously eye-opening to watch someone go from driving well to driving like they're 90 years old and can't see over the hood. HANG UP already. I've started using my horn. I want the person on the other end of the phone to realize that the person they are talking to is about to kill somebody with their reckless driving.
[/rant]

Seriously, the cell-problem seems FAR worse here, east side, than it was in Dallas. I can deal much better with bat-out-of-hell driving (I kinda like it, it's more predictable) than I can with distracted-dazed-lane-drifting-random-turning-slow-moving- can't-count-to-four-at-a-four-way-stop driving. Speeds might be slower, but this crap is just dangerous.

We used to joke that in TX you don't drive stupid because there really is a vague possibilty that you'll get shot. Then a guy on a house-hunting trip - down from London - WAS shot and killed in a nearby town for taking too long to turn right on red (or something minor like that). Not so funny. But I do hope to get into the rhythm here, if there is one, because I hate feeling like driving is combat all the time.