Is it me or is it hard for people to drive on the freeways? (Seattle: gated, statistics)

[jinj]

Originally Posted by Djpuma

I put in my address in bellevue to my work in bothell and it took 2 hours. Id have to leave at 550am to get to work by 8am.

Can you give me info on where those locations are, thanks.

Yep, thats why most people can not use the Metro bus system, its a failure for long distances.

[Freebird2007]

the roads suck on the freeway.

i have wide sport tires on my car and the grooves in the road make my car swerve from side to side sometimes freaking out the car in the next lane

[toughguy]

Originally Posted by jinj

Yep, thats why most people can not use the Metro bus system, its a failure for long distances.

Fail. I found a much better route for him that took an hour.

[Djpuma]

Yup, about an hour to work, but I have to compare it to how quick I could get there in my own car.

[toughguy]

Usually you have to give your self a little more time when you ride the bus. In some instances, you can gain time, especially if you would normally be stuck in a non-HOV lane if you had driven by yourself. But, you still need to give your self time to get to teh stop and if you have to transfer, there could be a little wait between routes. This is is the trade off for being able to let someone else deal with the traffic.

[70Ford]

Originally Posted by kanhawk

I have heard on the German autobahn they actually give tickets for driving slow in the fast lanes and not moving over for faster approaching cars. I actually agree with that. People should not dawdle in the left lanes....

Another problem is a big truck moving into a left lane to pass another truck but only goes about 1 mile an hour faster, taking forever to pass the other truck and backing up traffic with a line of cars. That's especially a problem on I-5 where there is only one passing lane, outside the Seattle area.

In England, it's illegal to pass on the inside, as it is considered dangerous. It's also illegal to impede faster moving traffic. You have to move over, like, Now. Normally the guy will just flash his lights...clicky...clicky..click.
Driving in England was pretty fun. Just zipping around in that little car and eating kidney pie. (Not at the same time, of course.) Then I found out about mad cow disease. And yeah...it was during that time....

Moo? Moo to you!

TravelFurther - Driving in England

You don't 'Pass' cars in England you 'overtake' them.

The only real difference for this in practice is: On American highways where there is a slowpoke in the middle lane of a 3-lane highway and you'd pass on either side of him to get around, you're not allowed to do this here.

You're only allowed to 'overtake' from the lane closest to the median, so when driving on the left in England, that means the farthest right, or 'fast' lane is the only one allowed for passing.

[tada]

Originally Posted by jinj

Yep, thats why most people can not use the Metro bus system, its a failure for long distances.

Truth. It's okay for short distances (i.e. somewhere in Seattle to somewhere else in Seattle) but not as a sole mode of transport.

[vnodak]

I agree that driving on the roads can be frustrating whether it be the freeways or not. I was stuck behind a person driving 20mph in a 35--go figure. I try to keep my mind on my driving so as not to inconvenience someone else but the aggressive driving that people have been referring to is just dangerous and stupid. Talking about thinking of only yourself. You could kill someone or be killed. Please think of your family. I have seen many near misses and as others have said, at the end, they end up a car length ahead. Why are people not paying attention to what is going on around them----talking on the phone, texting,putting on make up, reading something, smoking and drinking at the sametime, looking at and visiting with the person next to them,too old to drive,etc. Read the studies--you can not multitask--your mind can only do one thing at a time.

[mikec34]

Originally Posted by Djpuma

I have been to Seattle twice in the last few months and I've noticed that there are no aggressive drivers on the roads. It seems like everyone just follows the slow guy for miles and miles.

I don't mean weaving in and out of traffic like a LA high speed chase. I mean just driving faster than 55.

I had one guy driving fast near me and I just guessed that he was from CA cause of his driving, not erratic, but didn't follow behind everyone. I was right, his plates said CA.

So, my question is, is it hard for people to drive in Seattle?

I moved from Phoenix to Bellevue last year (back in godforsaken phoenix again, though) and I thought the driving was unbelievably slow in Bellevue and pretty much anywhere in WA state.

I got used to it and by the time I moved back to Arizona I really missed the safe driving. I'v seen freeways closed (due to traffic death on the freeway), cars on fire, etc etc since I've been back (10 months).

The slow driving is something you'll learn to appreciate as you will feel far safer driving there than CA, AZ, TX, etc.

Good luck on your move.

[wildmaven]

Wow, I'm amazed at the number of people who admit to driving so much faster than the posted speed limits, being aggressive, and frustrated.

Now, repeat after me:

*Slow deep breath in.....slowly let it out...* Repeat as needed.