Seattle ranked 173 out of 200 for safe driving.

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

And yet there never seems to be any actual "improvement" since all the streets in Seattle are so chewed up that it looks like a war had been recently fought within city limits.

I feel like I'm galloping on a horse as I ride my bike to work from Cap Hill to downtown given how potholed and bumpy our streets are. We might as well just have dirt streets, especially since the paint on nearly every street has already faded away, leaving only faint hints at where lanes could even be. This city is in such desperate need of newly paved streets, but I guess the city has other crippling infrastructure issues that our taxes have to get diverted to.

Meanwhile, the Eastside cities generally have streets so smoothly paved you'd think that no one ever drives over them.

Bad drivers and bad roads are one of the more common complaints on C-D.

I was in Boston a few weeks back, both the roads and the drivers are much worse than Seattle.

Infrastructure issues are a nationwide problem, again not exclusive to Seattle.



Inf

[Adrian71]

Grain of salt. That study was only of Allstate-insured drivers and recorded the length of time between their accidents. It's a snapshot of one sub-segment of drivers.

Not to argue against the ranking, but I've driven in the East Coast, New England, the Midwest, and the South, and I don't see what's so much worse about driving habits in the PNW. People are pretty much the same wherever you go. If anything, drivers around here are much less aggressive and more courteous than in other places I've lived and visited, so you'd think there would actually be fewer accidents.

[thatguy950]

Originally Posted by seattlerain

Bad drivers and bad roads are one of the more common complaints on C-D.

I was in Boston a few weeks back, both the roads and the drivers are much worse than Seattle.

Infrastructure issues are a nationwide problem, again not exclusive to Seattle.



Inf

Roads in Boston may be a little worse, presumably due to the more extreme weather, and while the drivers may be more aggressive, I certainly would not call them "worse" than what Seattle has. I feel Seattle drivers are far less skilled and far more confused, but not "better" than Boston drivers.

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by thatguy950

Roads in Boston may be a little worse, presumably due to the more extreme weather, and while the drivers may be more aggressive, I certainly would not call them "worse" than what Seattle has. I feel Seattle drivers are far less skilled and far more confused, but not "better" than Boston drivers.

Sixty percent of the population of Seattle are transplants from elsewhere. They brought all of those bad habits with them. I'm not saying that natives don't have bad habits, just saying that the city is full of people that have brought the driving habits of cities and towns across the country with them.

[thatguy950]

Originally Posted by seattlerain

Sixty percent of the population of Seattle are transplants from elsewhere. They brought all of those bad habits with them. I'm not saying that natives don't have bad habits, just saying that the city is full of people that have brought the driving habits of cities and towns across the country with them.

Agreed, I am a transplant myself. I have to say it seems like an awful mix up here, you get a ton of the frantic passive drivers who are just utterly confused by the "laborious" act of driving, as well as a lot of the hot rods "without a second to spare" on the roads with them at the same time.

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

Meanwhile, the Eastside cities generally have streets so smoothly paved you'd think that no one ever drives over them.

not only the eastside, but snohomish county too. Actually Seattle has the worst roads in the state (including the freeway).

[wutitiz]

Originally Posted by seattlerain

Sixty percent of the population of Seattle are transplants from elsewhere. They brought all of those bad habits with them. I'm not saying that natives don't have bad habits, just saying that the city is full of people that have brought the driving habits of cities and towns across the country with them.

The one variable that would remain in effect regardless of whether drivers are native or transplant is road design. I do see a lot of problems w/ road design around here. The classic is getting on I-5 at 45th in Wallingford. If you want to take 520 East to Bellevue/Kirkland, you have to move over something like 4 lanes in less than one mile, usually in heavy traffic. I think the HOV layout also induces many lane changes. More lane changes=more accidents.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

The one variable that would remain in effect regardless of whether drivers are native or transplant is road design. I do see a lot of problems w/ road design around here. The classic is getting on I-5 at 45th in Wallingford. If you want to take 520 East to Bellevue/Kirkland, you have to move over something like 4 lanes in less than one mile, usually in heavy traffic. I think the HOV layout also induces many lane changes. More lane changes=more accidents.

The same with getting from 520 to I5 South and getting off at Eastlake/Denny. We have actually changed to getting off of 520 at Harvard, the cross the freeway at Roanoke and take Boylston to get back onto I5 south in the right lane.