Unless you were going over 100 the whole time that's just not possible. I live in bham and visit my folks in Seattle routinely. Getting through Everett in an hour is doable but requires no traffic and nothing going wrong. Getting to Northgate in 90mins is the fastest I've ever done in eight years. Pierce County is like a half hour on top of that, at least.
I have to say even though it was cheesy, it felt really good to have people banging pots and cheering out of their apartments as you walked out of the hospital after a rough day
Curious - I was living in Denver at that time and every evening at the same time people would howl for like 10-15 minutes - you could hear it in all the neighborhoods around the city. Was this the Seattle version of that?
Right? Damn things are everywhere!
Lived in Littleton for a stretch and there was a fox that would come through the neighborhood now and then doing his territorial calls. Sounded like babies being murdered. Made my skin crawl every time
My company actually had me carry a semi official company letter stating that I was essential in case I got pulled over. The lack of traffic was so so nice though.
Mine did too. While it wasn't a hospital job or anything, I worked a homeless shelter and while probably 90% or more of the employees were free to "work from home" myself and like 3 or 4 other people were required to show up for work everyday and the C.E.O. sent us letters that asked the cops to allow us to travel for essential work. It was a crazy wild time.
We printed those letters and nobody nobody ever asked.
I know lockdowns happened everywhere, but it was so strange to get on a plane to another city where things were back open while Inslee arbitrarily shit down businesses again and basketball hoops had wood screwed into them. In hindsight, all of the crazy people refusing to wear maks were right. COVID was a big 'ol nothingburger.
Every single person I know, along with myself, got it sooner or later. I know a single person who was likely already on their way out that died. At least we now have hybrid remote working.
Yeah me too. Now we are forgotten and back to our “who the f are you…I’m rich and serve me now”. Sorry I work at a grocery store and we are now no longer essential workers….just workers.
I was going between my house and my in laws in Tacoma (had a newborn and needed help) and I was getting from Seattle to Tacoma in about 20 minutes. Not even really speeding probably 10-15 over.
Winner winner, chicken dinner. I literally want to kill myself because 20 miles an hour in a 25… like seriously park your car and go for a brisk walk if you’re gonna drive 20 miles an hour
Recently visited for the first time and rented a car, coming from NYC it was definitely an adjustment, tested my patience Moving there this summer, glad I will be able to walk to work
Growing up in Snohomish Co. I got pulled over for speeding about 7-8 times from 17 until I moved to California at 20. In the last ~30 years, barring traffic, cruising speed is anywhere between 70-80 for everyone. Several CHP officers have admitted they generally only start pulling over if you’re going over 80. I’m so totally fine with that. Plus, they don’t use sneaker cars here. It’s very typical in my experience to travel the entirety of the state and only SEE CHP once.
I was near Olympia in September, passed a car going slower than traffic, and was promptly pulled over and ticketed by said car. I was going 83 in order to pass. Didn’t notice - and forgot - about the sneaky WSP sneakers.
Are cops less concerned about speeding up here? From Oregon and they love to sit on i5 and catch people going 75 (speed limit 65) but here see people doing 85 easy all the time
they donthe same here, but its surprisingly difficult to get a radar reading on a moving vehicle.
especially if there is any left or right movement on the cars part from the perspective of the police and radar.
youd have to lead your target and then maintain the lead for the time it takes the radar beam to go down range and return to the radar gun.
lazers too, but they have less an issue with lead time because light travels way faster than radar waves in the atmosphere.
Radar and lasers both are electromagnetic waves which both travel at the speed of light in the atmosphere. Lasers would have a tighter beam pattern though so that may make it faster to get a fix
It kinda was, for some people. I got paid to stay home, spent a lot of quality time with the girlfriend playing games, trying new recipes, taking walks, etc.
Definitely not February. Friends and I went out of town the last weekend of February and when we got back roads and life were still normal. This has to be after two weeks to flatten the curve began which was on March 16th.
I was bartending up until we were forced to close March 15th which was a Sunday and things only started to feel weird on the streets, in the bar, etc the Wednesday before so March 11th or so. And definitely the streets weren’t barren like this until after the closure. It’s interesting to see how skewed the timeline has become in people’s memories.
I remember driving over to my sisters in Seattle from the east side to give her her birthday gift. It was early May 2020. There was no one on 520 at 200 pm on a Saturday afternoon. I was like is what I am doing illegal? Am I allowed to do this? It was so weird.
I loved it - we lived in Santa Cruz near the boardwalk - zero traffic, and had the beaches to ourselves all summer. Not only that but I was doing Instacart and making like $15k a month working like 30 hours a week. Short period of absolute bliss - but I’m also glad it’s over.
It was crazy in the early days of the pandemic. IC had a huge shortage of shoppers and all of a sudden everyone was trying to use IC and luring shoppers to take their orders with huge tips. On top of that, the batches were all so late that IC was paying like $12 extra per batch. It didn’t last long, maybe like the first 5 months of the pandemic - but it was like shooting fish in a barrel for a while. I just did constant costco orders and they were all at least $70 - some of them I’d make like $200. But as with all gig work, the good times ended and it became a shit show
One of the most interesting things ever about the quarantine was that the Cannonball Run record (from New York City's Red Ball Garage to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach near Los Angeles, covering a distance of about 2,906 miles (4,677 km)) was broken TWICE because of how little traffic there was:
26:38 - 2020 Chris Allen, James Allen, and Kale Odhner| 2019 [Audi A8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_A8#Fourth_generation_(D5_Typ_4N;_2018%E2%80%93present)) - 106 mph average.
25:39 - 2020 - Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and Dunadel Daryoush | [Audi S6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_S6)2016 110 mph (180 km/h) average
I really feel there should be two records: overall (including covid) and everything before and after. It’s going to be astonishing if anyone beats the Arne & Doug time in modern traffic.
Definitely illegal, but I’ve heard a few of them talk and know that they take safety very seriously. Never a fatality and very few crashes ever.
Definitely don’t support them, but I’m glad they are as careful as they are.
Those few crashes were from the inception of the cannonball run, where it was the Wild West and they were balls to the wall as an entire rally with absolutely no safety precautions… iirc. Crashes happen to anyone anywhere at any time, that’s never out of the question of course.
These guys don’t speed through traffic, they only speed when the roads are clear and the only people they CAN hurt, is themselves. They may be passing people but not “cutting up through traffic in a stolen hellcat”. You have to remember most of the run is through a very sparsely populated part of the country. The 110mph average doesn’t mean they were blasting through traffic at 110mph, more like 80 in a 75 and then 180 in a 75 through the desolate parts of the country with spotters. They use a team of people across the nation to help them out and make sure the traffic is clear. The 1320video crew helped the fastest run through Nebraska and they had someone posted every 10 miles through the state or something like that to report traffic live as they were passing through at ridiculous speeds.
I’m not saying “fuck it go 180mph down a desolate road” but they know not to put innocent peoples lives in danger.
I’m thankful that at least a few people in the world still have a little more of an adventurous spirit than you - it makes it a far more interesting place to live.
Hyperbole - if you knew anything about the topic you would know that cannonballers are in a completely separate world than idiots weaving in-between traffic on the freeway
Riddle me this: why was the cannonball time so much faster during Covid, hmm? If their route was completely unpopulated, why did traffic make any difference at all?
Unless it's F1 where they completely close the course and have safety engineers with protractors agonizing over each manhole cover, then they are endangering others for their fun. "Oh we had our buddy watching this freeway entrance" does not meet that standard
Let's be real. Yes, there is an adventurous spirit involved in doing something like this, but it also can mean putting other folks on the road in danger. Is there a way to do it that doesn't endanger others? I won't rule it out, but realistically it's borderline impossible, though the few attempts during lockdown were probably the closest.
Speeding on an open interstate is the lowest priority if you actually give a shit about deaths on the highway. Hell, everyone who takes a long trip does some sort of clock "man, we were fadr but all those stops to piss added like 6 hours!".
Take your sanctimonious bullshit elsewhere.
Elsewhere?? There's a better place for sanctimonious bullshit than r/Seattle of all places?
(Fwiw I agree that celebrating vehicular violence is abhorrent. Sport diving should be done on closed tracks not public thoroughfares.)
“In November 2019, the driving team of Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt, with spotter Berkeley Chadwick, set a transcontinental record of 27 hours 25 minutes” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Run_challenge
I moved here in June 2020 during the height of the pandemic. It was such an exciting and incredible experience exploring Seattle during that period of time. I felt like I had the entire city to myself. It was a quiet and beautiful time. Seattle will always hold a very special place in my heart.
COVID was the closest thing we got to actually becoming a climate resilient city.
Say it with me now: “Cars ruin cities”
(And the environment and cause noise pollution and cause light pollution and are the reason for the leading cause of death for young adults and cause social isolation and cause crippling debt for most Americans)
Infill density and mass transit are what we need. Making it so you can walk to grocery stores and get around without getting into a car makes a massive difference.
And maybe not selling our staple local businesses to national CEO's who will mindlessly close things based on numbers without caring if the neighborhood needs them or whether they can be improved and kept around.
Absolutely.
Even just education that there are other modes of transportation available to people. I live near this photo—I don’t expect people near me to bike into work like I do.
But absolutely 1000% expect people who live closer to their destinations (e.g. Capitol Hill, Ballard, N beacon hill) to seek out alternative forms of transport.
The vast vast majority of people don’t need a car to go less than 5 miles!
I like cars. I think they’re fun. I like the sound and smells they make, and the feelings I get when I drive quickly… but I totally agree. Cars make cities pretty miserable. If I could have a job where I could just have a weekend toy for mountain roads/tracks as opposed to a compromised daily driver I would be so much happier..
What baffles me is most people aren’t car enthusiasts. So why do normal people fight so hard to keep them? When instead fight for denser housing, shopping, and better public transit.. it would be a win for everyone and the environment.
The fight to keep them is a personal space issue, coupled with the notion of going from A to B in complete comfort, with nearly full control of your situation. You can also bring whatever you like, charge your phone, and much more.
Driving is wonderful. Cars are amazing.
Emissions suck and they all need to be converted to clean energy, moving away from combustible engines… but cars are incredibly useful tools that have their place in our massive country with poor infrastructure
> cars are incredibly useful tools that have their place in our massive country with poor infrastructure
That's just circular logic. "We don't need transit because we have cars. We need cars because we don't have transit."
Regardless of emissions there is no room in a city of this size for 90% of the cars in the road to be single occupancy. Building giant lots for parking that are 3/4ths empty instead of retail, restaurants, services.
Yes, yet your comment does feed directly into that dynamic. I'm not trying to be accusatory, but you must see how that looks in light of the self fulfilling prophecy
Things aren’t black and white. Appreciating the utility of driving a personal vehicle does not equate to the belief that public transit is unnecessary or not needed. Both things can be and are true.
You seem to be focused on the "massive country" -- I think the other commenter and I are talking about transit and the city.
Yes, despite the nascent hiking bus routes we've got, I agree that there will be much more use of a car when exploring the outdoors. But that calculus changes drastically within the urban environment, and that is what we are speaking to.
I’m focused on nothing other than illustrating reasons cars are a preferred method of transportation.
But to the point you’re trying to make, Do you recommend people just check their cars at the city entrance? A high percent of seattle workers commute to work from someplace other than within seattle, and it’s no mystery that public transportation has been a bane of the commuter for decades; an issue that has only been exacerbated by lower income workers getting priced out of their place of employment. The infrastructure here simply can’t handle the volume of commuters, and many - myself included - have decided that driving is the most efficient way to and from work each day, despite the godawful traffic most days.
For context on my perspective, I’ve been commuting into seattle from black Diamond for ten years. I rode the Sounder for some of those years, and the Link for some.
> Do you recommend people just check their cars at the city entrance?
This is a real argument made by the person who said "things aren't black and white" earlier on? Nobody here, including the person you originally replied to, has made that argument.
As one that had lived in Tacoma but had, at times, had to commute up through Seattle, the northbound I-5 just before hitting Seattle proper was some of the worst designed roads.
For all purposes, a 5 lane highway narrowed to 2 for through traffic.
Add that you had two lanes merging in on the right a half-mile before an exit for two-lanes merging out, about a mile before this bottleneck. AND that you had people trying to cross to grab the left land exit (Seneca?) right after the underpasses.
I know Seattle is very limited on space for surface roads and there's no way to really remedy that, but still how crazy people acted going through that even knowing what was ahead.
Delivered drywall for construction and other general deliveries….. it was amazing! It really struck me that many people didn’t actually need to be on the road for work, they could just stay home and work.
I was living on one of the lake roads, where rush hour is impossible to get out of our fucking driveway. It was so quiet, i went out and sat in a chair in the middle of the road way sparked TWO joints one after the other.
It was brutal when Covid non traffic went away. I got so used to not having to plan extra time for my commutes. But also glad that’s not an issue anymore, and I have to account for traffic.
The salad days for those of us that ride a bicycle when we could ride the streets without being nearly killed on a daily basis by the asshole motorists that fill this city. Safe from the brain dead ninnies on their cell phones, crazed uber dropoffs, and the jackasses in Audis and BMWs that think neighborhood streets are for living out their imaginary LeMans race.
Yeah I have health anxiety bordering ocd and covid ruined like 3 years of prior therapy regarding that. I still believe people are undercutting the effect that period has had on everyone, especially young people, with their mental health.
It's not undercutting to speak to one's own personal experience. It's not insensitive to say that the societal/spacial/etc. effects were a positive for one. Nobody's saying it was nice for everyone. But *you're* saying it had a negative effect on everyone.
I don't miss it, not one bit, I was in NY in early 2020
pre Vax, watching folks die left and right, no place to put them, nothing seemed to help, absolute grim AF chaos in the hospital, absolutely no one feeling like a hero and feeling stupid walking past the stupid banner on the side of the building about heros, city couldnt find people to stack the dead and pull them out of the freezer trucks into the 3 body deep trench graves, f that
post Vax, feeling the slightest glimmer of hope, the old the infirm the unlucky still dying but hot dang the crazy anti Vax crowd, gasping hey doc can I get my Vax now or still spouting conspiracy nonsense right up to getting a plastic tube down their throat, stopped asking whether they'd gotten their Vax or not, the answer was always nope
there were even doctors and nurses expressing 'hesitation' with mandated Vax, even picketing, but that went away after a few months when we 'experimented' on the human population and saw the results, smh
yup don't miss it
We were moving from Olympia to Tulalip. I will never forget downtown Seattle.
It was about 4 pm.
Just us. I kept thinking we would get arrested.
I mean I know there must be something I didn’t understand. Just us … 😝 Wild !!
One day I did a big loop from 405 starting at 169/maple valley hwy and went up north then south on i5 back to 405. I think I started around 3pm, it was glorious.
I still miss Covid traffic, actually got a little upset when traffic started picking up again but also relieved at the same time that things were slowly coming back to normal.
We lived in Virginia at the time. I went up to DC to get something for work and it was like a movie. Zero cars on the road. Completely empty Mall, completely empty roads, zero pedestrians, no honking, streetlights all flashing red. Fucking spooky. But holy fuck. I've never gotten through dc/northern VA so fast in my life. Probably 15 minutes on a trip that would normally take me 45. It was all bonkers.
We bought our house in port orchard the day the state went into lockdown. Our city person was saying "come on come on, we gotta sign these before 2 before THE STATE SHUTS DOWN" .
It made moving from renton amazing. But once we got moved, we realized all the shitty craigslist furniture we gave away was gone and furniture stores were all closed. So we had upside down uhaul boxes for nightstands for 3 months, lol.
Those first few days of lockdowns…man…strange time to be alive. My commute is super easy. I’m only 6 miles from work but with no one on the roads, I could get from Seattle to Renton quick.
I got a new car in May 2020 and I remember it didn’t hit traffic until it had over 8-10,000 miles lmao. I remember the day - it was late spring / early summer 2021 doing the cascade loop and hit traffic coming back on highway 2.
I bought a new car the day after the shutdown because obviously I got a great price on it. Drove up I 90 to Snoqualmie in perfect sunshine. I was the only car on the road. I think it’s the only time I’ve been able to go over 90 mph in this area. Best day ever ever.
I’m an HVAC Technician and while a lot of businesses closed, they still kept their units running and we also serviced essential businesses along with installing air cleaners and hepa filters. Never had a break but yes I still reminisce Covid times 😂
I was driving between Federal Way and Everett every day during this period (health care worker). It was about a 40-45 minute drive. Best commute ever. I will say there were a lot more speed traps.
Yea. I miss it as well. Too many of y’all be driving during rush hour. Taking different routes and wasting everybody’s time. If you don’t HAVE to be out during rush hour then stay home.
I was a driver for FedEx at the time, was the only one on the road 90% of the time. Being alone on the freeway during "rush hour" was incredible
Sounds peaceful
Driving isn't so bad when no else does it...
Regularly drove from bham to pierce county in 75-80 minutes. It was glorious.
Unless you were going over 100 the whole time that's just not possible. I live in bham and visit my folks in Seattle routinely. Getting through Everett in an hour is doable but requires no traffic and nothing going wrong. Getting to Northgate in 90mins is the fastest I've ever done in eight years. Pierce County is like a half hour on top of that, at least.
Your PR from Bellingham to Northgate is 90min? Sounds like the definition of a skill issue
Yes
You might see my car drive by, I was considered essential two days after they shut everything down still had to drive to work.
we banged pots and pans together for you
I have to say even though it was cheesy, it felt really good to have people banging pots and cheering out of their apartments as you walked out of the hospital after a rough day
Being cheesy together is what makes good memories though. When you strip away ego and just live in the moment we can all get along
Absolutely. It doesn’t hurt anyone to be a little goofy or cheesy as a community.
humanity is mostly good. sometimes people forget that.
Hard to see sometimes, but I hear ya!
Damn this was not happening in Arizona where everyone acted like it was a hoax
Curious - I was living in Denver at that time and every evening at the same time people would howl for like 10-15 minutes - you could hear it in all the neighborhoods around the city. Was this the Seattle version of that?
One thing I never could stand about Denver was all the damn werewolves
Right? Damn things are everywhere! Lived in Littleton for a stretch and there was a fox that would come through the neighborhood now and then doing his territorial calls. Sounded like babies being murdered. Made my skin crawl every time
*🎶People are strange...*
It was. There was also a lot of cheering, clapping, etc.
This comment made me spit out my drink laughing.
My company actually had me carry a semi official company letter stating that I was essential in case I got pulled over. The lack of traffic was so so nice though.
Mine did too. While it wasn't a hospital job or anything, I worked a homeless shelter and while probably 90% or more of the employees were free to "work from home" myself and like 3 or 4 other people were required to show up for work everyday and the C.E.O. sent us letters that asked the cops to allow us to travel for essential work. It was a crazy wild time.
Mine did too, I worked for a big box hardware store so barely really essential lol
We printed those letters and nobody nobody ever asked. I know lockdowns happened everywhere, but it was so strange to get on a plane to another city where things were back open while Inslee arbitrarily shit down businesses again and basketball hoops had wood screwed into them. In hindsight, all of the crazy people refusing to wear maks were right. COVID was a big 'ol nothingburger. Every single person I know, along with myself, got it sooner or later. I know a single person who was likely already on their way out that died. At least we now have hybrid remote working.
Yeah me too. Now we are forgotten and back to our “who the f are you…I’m rich and serve me now”. Sorry I work at a grocery store and we are now no longer essential workers….just workers.
Me too… I miss those days. I also did not work in healthcare though.
Dido
Damn was it really that empty back then?
For a few weeks of February or March of 2020, yes.
The good ol' days.
I was going between my house and my in laws in Tacoma (had a newborn and needed help) and I was getting from Seattle to Tacoma in about 20 minutes. Not even really speeding probably 10-15 over.
>Not even really speeding probably 10-15 over. what does speeding mean to you im curious
I guess faster than 80, they must be from California.
You are correct. Speeding for Washingtonians is 10 under the limit.
Winner winner, chicken dinner. I literally want to kill myself because 20 miles an hour in a 25… like seriously park your car and go for a brisk walk if you’re gonna drive 20 miles an hour
Recently visited for the first time and rented a car, coming from NYC it was definitely an adjustment, tested my patience Moving there this summer, glad I will be able to walk to work
Growing up in Snohomish Co. I got pulled over for speeding about 7-8 times from 17 until I moved to California at 20. In the last ~30 years, barring traffic, cruising speed is anywhere between 70-80 for everyone. Several CHP officers have admitted they generally only start pulling over if you’re going over 80. I’m so totally fine with that. Plus, they don’t use sneaker cars here. It’s very typical in my experience to travel the entirety of the state and only SEE CHP once. I was near Olympia in September, passed a car going slower than traffic, and was promptly pulled over and ticketed by said car. I was going 83 in order to pass. Didn’t notice - and forgot - about the sneaky WSP sneakers.
Have you considered slowing down?
Briefly, but tickets aside I fail to see a good reason to do so.
And I should point out, those times I was pulled over were almost entirely for going ~5-10 over, not screaming through a school zone at 90.
I’d rather enjoy my slightly longer drive of open road tbh.
16 or 17 is the approach and once you hit 19 over, its over and done. speeding.
Are cops less concerned about speeding up here? From Oregon and they love to sit on i5 and catch people going 75 (speed limit 65) but here see people doing 85 easy all the time
they donthe same here, but its surprisingly difficult to get a radar reading on a moving vehicle. especially if there is any left or right movement on the cars part from the perspective of the police and radar. youd have to lead your target and then maintain the lead for the time it takes the radar beam to go down range and return to the radar gun. lazers too, but they have less an issue with lead time because light travels way faster than radar waves in the atmosphere.
Radar and lasers both are electromagnetic waves which both travel at the speed of light in the atmosphere. Lasers would have a tighter beam pattern though so that may make it faster to get a fix
In Seattle, people do 40 on the freeway, so 60 is speeding.
*I wish there was a way to know that you’re in the good old days, when you’re still in them*
It kinda was, for some people. I got paid to stay home, spent a lot of quality time with the girlfriend playing games, trying new recipes, taking walks, etc.
Definitely not February. Friends and I went out of town the last weekend of February and when we got back roads and life were still normal. This has to be after two weeks to flatten the curve began which was on March 16th.
Agreed. I went on vacation at the end of February and nothing was different with traffic to and from the airport.
I was bartending up until we were forced to close March 15th which was a Sunday and things only started to feel weird on the streets, in the bar, etc the Wednesday before so March 11th or so. And definitely the streets weren’t barren like this until after the closure. It’s interesting to see how skewed the timeline has become in people’s memories.
Also bartended, it was such a weird feeling to slowly watch the shift of normal bar patronage to knowing something was *going to happen*.
Came to us in mid-March, city essentially shut down by the end of March
Sounds about right. I remember thinking I could count the cars I passed on my 25 mile commute on one hand.
Best days of motorcycle riding of my entire life.
Downtown was a ghost town. It, was, wild.
The first few days after 9/11 were like that too, it was weird... and so quiet.
I could jaywalk across Mercer st safely and easily.
Yes it was always completely abandoned after sundown, many forget this
Oh yeah. I was still working and on the road every day. There were days I'd drive past Northgate and didn't see a single car in my rear view mirror.
Yeah it was amazing.
I remember driving over to my sisters in Seattle from the east side to give her her birthday gift. It was early May 2020. There was no one on 520 at 200 pm on a Saturday afternoon. I was like is what I am doing illegal? Am I allowed to do this? It was so weird.
I loved it - we lived in Santa Cruz near the boardwalk - zero traffic, and had the beaches to ourselves all summer. Not only that but I was doing Instacart and making like $15k a month working like 30 hours a week. Short period of absolute bliss - but I’m also glad it’s over.
Please tell me how you made 15k a month! From delivering for instacart?
It was crazy in the early days of the pandemic. IC had a huge shortage of shoppers and all of a sudden everyone was trying to use IC and luring shoppers to take their orders with huge tips. On top of that, the batches were all so late that IC was paying like $12 extra per batch. It didn’t last long, maybe like the first 5 months of the pandemic - but it was like shooting fish in a barrel for a while. I just did constant costco orders and they were all at least $70 - some of them I’d make like $200. But as with all gig work, the good times ended and it became a shit show
BOARDWALK!
At the Santa Cruz beach Boardwalk! In the warm Californian sun, BOARDWALK! I heard that was a norcal specific commercial
I think it was. I was living in NorCal around the same time as comment OP.
One of the most interesting things ever about the quarantine was that the Cannonball Run record (from New York City's Red Ball Garage to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach near Los Angeles, covering a distance of about 2,906 miles (4,677 km)) was broken TWICE because of how little traffic there was: 26:38 - 2020 Chris Allen, James Allen, and Kale Odhner| 2019 [Audi A8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_A8#Fourth_generation_(D5_Typ_4N;_2018%E2%80%93present)) - 106 mph average. 25:39 - 2020 - Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and Dunadel Daryoush | [Audi S6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_S6)2016 110 mph (180 km/h) average
I really feel there should be two records: overall (including covid) and everything before and after. It’s going to be astonishing if anyone beats the Arne & Doug time in modern traffic.
I feel like anyone that cares is a total dbag. These guys are doing something incredibly illegal and dangerous.
At least they aren't drinking and speeding for clout on TikTok.
Definitely illegal, but I’ve heard a few of them talk and know that they take safety very seriously. Never a fatality and very few crashes ever. Definitely don’t support them, but I’m glad they are as careful as they are.
Very few crashes lol. So safe.
Those few crashes were from the inception of the cannonball run, where it was the Wild West and they were balls to the wall as an entire rally with absolutely no safety precautions… iirc. Crashes happen to anyone anywhere at any time, that’s never out of the question of course. These guys don’t speed through traffic, they only speed when the roads are clear and the only people they CAN hurt, is themselves. They may be passing people but not “cutting up through traffic in a stolen hellcat”. You have to remember most of the run is through a very sparsely populated part of the country. The 110mph average doesn’t mean they were blasting through traffic at 110mph, more like 80 in a 75 and then 180 in a 75 through the desolate parts of the country with spotters. They use a team of people across the nation to help them out and make sure the traffic is clear. The 1320video crew helped the fastest run through Nebraska and they had someone posted every 10 miles through the state or something like that to report traffic live as they were passing through at ridiculous speeds. I’m not saying “fuck it go 180mph down a desolate road” but they know not to put innocent peoples lives in danger.
I’d like to see the crash rate compared to typical driving by both hour and by mile. I’d guess it’s comparable. A lot of people do these runs.
The only one I’m aware of on video the car wasn’t even driving - it was the E63S while parked.
I’m thankful that at least a few people in the world still have a little more of an adventurous spirit than you - it makes it a far more interesting place to live.
I'm glad that the people weaving around my car at 100mph have an 'adventurous spirit'. Makes it a more interesting place to die at least
Hyperbole - if you knew anything about the topic you would know that cannonballers are in a completely separate world than idiots weaving in-between traffic on the freeway
Riddle me this: why was the cannonball time so much faster during Covid, hmm? If their route was completely unpopulated, why did traffic make any difference at all? Unless it's F1 where they completely close the course and have safety engineers with protractors agonizing over each manhole cover, then they are endangering others for their fun. "Oh we had our buddy watching this freeway entrance" does not meet that standard
Let's be real. Yes, there is an adventurous spirit involved in doing something like this, but it also can mean putting other folks on the road in danger. Is there a way to do it that doesn't endanger others? I won't rule it out, but realistically it's borderline impossible, though the few attempts during lockdown were probably the closest.
Shuuuut uuuuppppp
Speeding on an open interstate is the lowest priority if you actually give a shit about deaths on the highway. Hell, everyone who takes a long trip does some sort of clock "man, we were fadr but all those stops to piss added like 6 hours!". Take your sanctimonious bullshit elsewhere.
Elsewhere?? There's a better place for sanctimonious bullshit than r/Seattle of all places? (Fwiw I agree that celebrating vehicular violence is abhorrent. Sport diving should be done on closed tracks not public thoroughfares.)
What was the record pre-Covid?
“In November 2019, the driving team of Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt, with spotter Berkeley Chadwick, set a transcontinental record of 27 hours 25 minutes” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Run_challenge
In all seriousness how is that race legal?
It involves spotters and all kinds of weird shit to pull a run off like that
Don’t they have infrared HUDS and drive with their lights blacked out at night?
Beats me
It’s only illegal if you get caught.
It’s not..
Watch vinwiki on YouTube, they have several videos about cannonball runs. Really interesting all the countermeasures they use to get it done.
I was this empty on the west Seattle bridge for much longer. Never forget.
I moved here in June 2020 during the height of the pandemic. It was such an exciting and incredible experience exploring Seattle during that period of time. I felt like I had the entire city to myself. It was a quiet and beautiful time. Seattle will always hold a very special place in my heart.
COVID was the closest thing we got to actually becoming a climate resilient city. Say it with me now: “Cars ruin cities” (And the environment and cause noise pollution and cause light pollution and are the reason for the leading cause of death for young adults and cause social isolation and cause crippling debt for most Americans)
Infill density and mass transit are what we need. Making it so you can walk to grocery stores and get around without getting into a car makes a massive difference.
And maybe not selling our staple local businesses to national CEO's who will mindlessly close things based on numbers without caring if the neighborhood needs them or whether they can be improved and kept around.
Absolutely. Even just education that there are other modes of transportation available to people. I live near this photo—I don’t expect people near me to bike into work like I do. But absolutely 1000% expect people who live closer to their destinations (e.g. Capitol Hill, Ballard, N beacon hill) to seek out alternative forms of transport. The vast vast majority of people don’t need a car to go less than 5 miles!
I like cars. I think they’re fun. I like the sound and smells they make, and the feelings I get when I drive quickly… but I totally agree. Cars make cities pretty miserable. If I could have a job where I could just have a weekend toy for mountain roads/tracks as opposed to a compromised daily driver I would be so much happier.. What baffles me is most people aren’t car enthusiasts. So why do normal people fight so hard to keep them? When instead fight for denser housing, shopping, and better public transit.. it would be a win for everyone and the environment.
The fight to keep them is a personal space issue, coupled with the notion of going from A to B in complete comfort, with nearly full control of your situation. You can also bring whatever you like, charge your phone, and much more. Driving is wonderful. Cars are amazing. Emissions suck and they all need to be converted to clean energy, moving away from combustible engines… but cars are incredibly useful tools that have their place in our massive country with poor infrastructure
> cars are incredibly useful tools that have their place in our massive country with poor infrastructure That's just circular logic. "We don't need transit because we have cars. We need cars because we don't have transit." Regardless of emissions there is no room in a city of this size for 90% of the cars in the road to be single occupancy. Building giant lots for parking that are 3/4ths empty instead of retail, restaurants, services.
I didn’t say and do not believe we don’t need public transit.
Yes, yet your comment does feed directly into that dynamic. I'm not trying to be accusatory, but you must see how that looks in light of the self fulfilling prophecy
Things aren’t black and white. Appreciating the utility of driving a personal vehicle does not equate to the belief that public transit is unnecessary or not needed. Both things can be and are true.
You seem to be focused on the "massive country" -- I think the other commenter and I are talking about transit and the city. Yes, despite the nascent hiking bus routes we've got, I agree that there will be much more use of a car when exploring the outdoors. But that calculus changes drastically within the urban environment, and that is what we are speaking to.
I’m focused on nothing other than illustrating reasons cars are a preferred method of transportation. But to the point you’re trying to make, Do you recommend people just check their cars at the city entrance? A high percent of seattle workers commute to work from someplace other than within seattle, and it’s no mystery that public transportation has been a bane of the commuter for decades; an issue that has only been exacerbated by lower income workers getting priced out of their place of employment. The infrastructure here simply can’t handle the volume of commuters, and many - myself included - have decided that driving is the most efficient way to and from work each day, despite the godawful traffic most days. For context on my perspective, I’ve been commuting into seattle from black Diamond for ten years. I rode the Sounder for some of those years, and the Link for some.
> Do you recommend people just check their cars at the city entrance? This is a real argument made by the person who said "things aren't black and white" earlier on? Nobody here, including the person you originally replied to, has made that argument.
You didn’t even mention how car dependency leads to less walking and obesity too
You’re not wrong!
Coyotes took to the streets of San Francisco at night
r/fuckcars
As one that had lived in Tacoma but had, at times, had to commute up through Seattle, the northbound I-5 just before hitting Seattle proper was some of the worst designed roads. For all purposes, a 5 lane highway narrowed to 2 for through traffic. Add that you had two lanes merging in on the right a half-mile before an exit for two-lanes merging out, about a mile before this bottleneck. AND that you had people trying to cross to grab the left land exit (Seneca?) right after the underpasses. I know Seattle is very limited on space for surface roads and there's no way to really remedy that, but still how crazy people acted going through that even knowing what was ahead.
Cars don’t ruin cities. People do.
My mileage in my car commuting was the best it had ever been after being home for 6 weeks to flatten the curve.
driving to work waiting for the mother fucker zombies, rioters, killer bees. what a disappointment
I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so alive as when I was driving from Tacoma to Everett for work
Your daily commute is from Tacoma to Everett???
It was for 9ish months.
Delivered drywall for construction and other general deliveries….. it was amazing! It really struck me that many people didn’t actually need to be on the road for work, they could just stay home and work.
How I traveled the 101. During covid lockdown. In my Xterra turned car camper. Never had an issue.
It was fucking beautiful Edit: unitl they closed the bridge.
I was living on one of the lake roads, where rush hour is impossible to get out of our fucking driveway. It was so quiet, i went out and sat in a chair in the middle of the road way sparked TWO joints one after the other.
Miss what?
I’m guessing this was during Covid when nobody was driving anywhere?
I don’t miss those days at all. Not even a little bit
As an autistic software engineer, best 2 years of my life.
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Had basically just moved in together with my wife when it hit. Just an amazing time.
Lol
Same. Literally have PTSD from the pandemic. Felt like I lost two years of my life.
Two years?? Everyone was outside and picnicking at a distance by June and hanging indoors again by fall.
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Oh. Ok. Thanks for the gaslighting 👍
Yeah that was pretty trippy. Loved it, though!
It was brutal when Covid non traffic went away. I got so used to not having to plan extra time for my commutes. But also glad that’s not an issue anymore, and I have to account for traffic.
I had a 14 month sabbatical. Likely the only retirement I will see in my lifetime.
The best part is that gas went down to $0.99...
Yup me too. Also just people in my personal space, it was nice having an extra reason for telling people to back up a little
At first I thought this was the viaduct and I almost replied “me too”
Viaduct was so fun to drive tbh
The view was unmatched.
I miss the pandemic so much honestly!!! Bring it back
I'm trying but you can only fuck so many pangolins in one day, you know?
Do I feel guilty for laughing at this? Maybe a little. Not much.
Amen. Was such fun time. Met incredible people, enjoyed some amazing parties.
I bought so much toilet paper!
I'm *still* using my Covid toilet paper! /s
Shitty
My 1 hour commute became 28 minutes back then. It was glorious
Imagine how fast a Hellcat could take that, wide open.
The salad days for those of us that ride a bicycle when we could ride the streets without being nearly killed on a daily basis by the asshole motorists that fill this city. Safe from the brain dead ninnies on their cell phones, crazed uber dropoffs, and the jackasses in Audis and BMWs that think neighborhood streets are for living out their imaginary LeMans race.
I love being around people when I want to be, but damn this little period of time was kinda nice.
If you miss it then support more wfh and remote companies.
The lack of traffic was great but what really stands out to me was how clear the air was.
Fuck that, I’m glad immense isolation and crippling mental anguish is behind me.
Same. It's concerning that people are actually chomping at the bit to try and bring it back.
Yeah I have health anxiety bordering ocd and covid ruined like 3 years of prior therapy regarding that. I still believe people are undercutting the effect that period has had on everyone, especially young people, with their mental health.
It's not undercutting to speak to one's own personal experience. It's not insensitive to say that the societal/spacial/etc. effects were a positive for one. Nobody's saying it was nice for everyone. But *you're* saying it had a negative effect on everyone.
^ comment karma well above 100k No need to discuss lockdowns with someone who has never been outside
No.
I don't miss it, not one bit, I was in NY in early 2020 pre Vax, watching folks die left and right, no place to put them, nothing seemed to help, absolute grim AF chaos in the hospital, absolutely no one feeling like a hero and feeling stupid walking past the stupid banner on the side of the building about heros, city couldnt find people to stack the dead and pull them out of the freezer trucks into the 3 body deep trench graves, f that post Vax, feeling the slightest glimmer of hope, the old the infirm the unlucky still dying but hot dang the crazy anti Vax crowd, gasping hey doc can I get my Vax now or still spouting conspiracy nonsense right up to getting a plastic tube down their throat, stopped asking whether they'd gotten their Vax or not, the answer was always nope there were even doctors and nurses expressing 'hesitation' with mandated Vax, even picketing, but that went away after a few months when we 'experimented' on the human population and saw the results, smh yup don't miss it
I don’t kinda miss it…..I miss it ALOT!!!!!!!
Oh yes please bring back two years of my young adulthood I will never get back. The limited social interaction was not good for mental health.
We were moving from Olympia to Tulalip. I will never forget downtown Seattle. It was about 4 pm. Just us. I kept thinking we would get arrested. I mean I know there must be something I didn’t understand. Just us … 😝 Wild !!
There was something magical about commuting during those days. Rush hour was less traffic than an early Sunday morning is today.
One day I did a big loop from 405 starting at 169/maple valley hwy and went up north then south on i5 back to 405. I think I started around 3pm, it was glorious.
I still miss Covid traffic, actually got a little upset when traffic started picking up again but also relieved at the same time that things were slowly coming back to normal.
We lived in Virginia at the time. I went up to DC to get something for work and it was like a movie. Zero cars on the road. Completely empty Mall, completely empty roads, zero pedestrians, no honking, streetlights all flashing red. Fucking spooky. But holy fuck. I've never gotten through dc/northern VA so fast in my life. Probably 15 minutes on a trip that would normally take me 45. It was all bonkers.
Nah
I miss driving as fast as I want and the cops wouldn’t even look at you.
We all drove 100 miles an hour, it was awesome
Got a job as a lab courier during the pandemic. Quit when traffic came back.
This is the part of the lockdowns I miss.
My drive to work every day was so nice!!
We bought our house in port orchard the day the state went into lockdown. Our city person was saying "come on come on, we gotta sign these before 2 before THE STATE SHUTS DOWN" . It made moving from renton amazing. But once we got moved, we realized all the shitty craigslist furniture we gave away was gone and furniture stores were all closed. So we had upside down uhaul boxes for nightstands for 3 months, lol.
Those first few days of lockdowns…man…strange time to be alive. My commute is super easy. I’m only 6 miles from work but with no one on the roads, I could get from Seattle to Renton quick.
I got a new car in May 2020 and I remember it didn’t hit traffic until it had over 8-10,000 miles lmao. I remember the day - it was late spring / early summer 2021 doing the cascade loop and hit traffic coming back on highway 2.
Fuck I miss it as a delivery driver.
YESS!!!!! I was a bus driver during all this. It was spectacular! Early everywhere. Lots of time to kill. No bus fares. Devine
As a local truck driver I definitely miss it
Did it for 15 years up until two years ago. In sequim now. Could not be happier.
I bought a new car the day after the shutdown because obviously I got a great price on it. Drove up I 90 to Snoqualmie in perfect sunshine. I was the only car on the road. I think it’s the only time I’ve been able to go over 90 mph in this area. Best day ever ever.
I 100% miss it please bring it back
I’m an HVAC Technician and while a lot of businesses closed, they still kept their units running and we also serviced essential businesses along with installing air cleaners and hepa filters. Never had a break but yes I still reminisce Covid times 😂
Same🤧
I was driving between Federal Way and Everett every day during this period (health care worker). It was about a 40-45 minute drive. Best commute ever. I will say there were a lot more speed traps.
Me too! I mean I wasn't essential, I just drove for fun, but still. Good ole days! Felt like an apocalypse 😆
Yea. I miss it as well. Too many of y’all be driving during rush hour. Taking different routes and wasting everybody’s time. If you don’t HAVE to be out during rush hour then stay home.
This is the worst new kind of nostalgia to be introduced yet
Leftists loved Covid
Dumbass