Seattle Driving Rules

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by 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.

The first rule of driving in Seattle is, "horns are not to be used", period...end of discussion! Having said that, I have found that I've been using my horn more than I would have dreamt just a few years ago...

[aeroz]

Originally Posted by RoughRider

You forgot to mention two of my favorites... the one about driving more slowly when it rains and braking when you exit a tunnel and see light. I n all honesty though I lived there for 9 years and the drivers did drive me crazy until I landed in Houston where I live now. Here they make the Seattle drivers seem almost sane. Everyone here is in NASCAR - drive 80 then brake, drive 85 then hit the brakes and a signal light is taken as a sign that your car must be broken (why else would a light be blinking - a local actually said this to me) so know one uses them as they weave in and out of 80 mph traffic on the highways... and getting into the exit lanes is for whimps here - you can cut over across all lines at the last second and people will let you in, not because they are polite but because they are in fear for their lives and want to live.

How do car insurance rates in Houston compare?

[Redline]

If there is bumper to bumper traffic then fine but is it really that hard to gauge how fast people are driving?

[got_rain?]

Originally Posted by ira500

but Almost Every City Has Their Own Brand Of Driving Idiot.
In Boston, A Four Way Stop Means That You Slow Down To 40 Mph And Give The Other Three Drivers The Finger As You Fly Through.
In Seattle, A Four Way Stop Means You Stops Seemingly Forever, And Each Driver Signals To The Other" No, You Go."

Lmao!!!!:d

[CityGirl72]

I complained about this one before and got harassed about it- so let's see...

If you are in a left hand turn lane and you need to turn left and wait for the on coming traffic to cross - MOVE UP INTO THE INTERSECTION, so that more than just you can go once the yellow light comes on

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by CityGirl72

I complained about this one before and got harassed about it- so let's see...

If you are in a left hand turn lane and you need to turn left and wait for the on coming traffic to cross - MOVE UP INTO THE INTERSECTION, so that more than just you can go once the yellow light comes on

Not harassing you, however I'm guessing that the legality of this varies from state to state. That might be why some people do it, and some people don't. At any rate, that is one of my pet peeves too...

One of the things that irks me is the number of people who when turning left swing wide and immediately turn into the right lane, or when turning right, turn into the left lane. The legality of this probably varies from state to state too, but here in WA I'm reasonable sure that the law states that you must turn into the lane closest to you.

[seattlerain]

Just read an article on komo.com about left lane drivers.

komotv.com|Poking along in the left lane? Prepare to pay

"State troopers are on a mission to make sure the left lane on area freeways is used for its indented purpose: passing."

[Freebird2007]

#1) drive 15 mph UNDER the speed limit in the fast lane? Are you friggin serious? talka bout rude and obnoxious. No wonder people drive like maniacs around you

#2) cars that come within 6inches of you? its called poor WA roads where our tires get caught in the grooves causing us to swerve.