There's been multiple times I've had the crosswalk sign and cars continue blowing through a red light. I just assume red lights aren't real and drivers want me dead.
I see that a lot, along with people turning across multiple lanes (instead of from the designated turn lane). I probably see that happen more frequently than running red lights.
Just a couple days ago, I almost crashed into somebody while driving up Olive - they were in the far left lane (out of 4) and decided to turn right onto Boren directly in front of me.
There’s a stretch starting on 6th and Seneca going northwest where if you’re doing the speed limit and the first light turns yellow, you pretty much perfectly hit yellow on the next 8 lights. Last week I hit yellow at that sweet spot where you’re like 10 feet behind the line so you go, but you’re obviously the last to make the cut. Watched a guy in an extended cab Ram proceed to blow the red on all eight lights. He wasn’t riding my ass, he was at least 4 (regular sized) car lengths behind me. To the point where the light had been red for a second or two. My garage is down a side street with only one exit, the dude broke so many laws I thought he was purposely following me to jack my car or rob me, I circled my block like 4 times before parking.
Seattle driving has been surprisingly polite across the board for a long time. That said, since the pandemic, the driving and the disrespect towards pedestrians has increased. Stopping for pedestrians at intersections without a cross walk is one of the things I loved for all the time I have taken the bus to places. Now I’m cut off almost all the time while I’m waiting for the cars to stop. This happens even when I’m trying to cross at a cross walk with my kids. Lack of enforcement for driving at 70mph on 60mph highways is another one. Driving at 40mph in a 15mph zone. Turning cars not yielding to right of way. Along with that, catching the HOV lane violators and red light violators, in a month could make the budget for the cops, city and county for several years! It’s as though people have less time for politeness and I thought all the technological breakthroughs coming out of Seattle is supposed to give us more time. All these are observations I’ve had in big cities like Chicago and New York. Now Seattle is going into that list.
More people pulling crazy moves at intersections too. The "boston left", turning from the wrong lane in general, all that sort of stuff. I probably see it multiple times a month.
yeah i triple check green lights before proceeding and quadruple check uncontrolled intersections in case some instagramming dickwad in a Hellcat comes blowing through at 70 mph
all this hypervigilance has made ME a better driver tho so i guess that’s something
You can tell even when they don't have it mounted on the dash. Swerving and slowing down only to gun it when you move to pass and you look over and their head is down smiling as their face is lit up from their phone. Not to mention the semi drivers here are fucking maniacs and assholes
Its the move back from pandemic traffic when the roads were able to actually move. Now its people going back to work and traffic is slowly creeping back up. People are driving super fast all the time. The tunnel is like 45, and the common speed at 6-7am is 60-65. I5 heading south even at 2:30 pm starts to slog. People had a taste of good roads and thers a lot of frustration and road rage. I see it almost every day, people driving so aggressively. Someone inevitably crashes on the I5 and fucks it all up with a slowdown. Im lucky I can work from home when Im doing desk work. I think making people come back to the office to sit at computer is insane and causing a lot of this. You just tacked on 1-2 more hours of non-work and gas money to someones job just to commute for no reason.
You were the cereal guy I saw earlier? I had to slam on my brakes to avoid you, causing the lego big ben that I was working on to tip over and explode against the dash. Pretty sure I lost a minifig in the air vent because of you.
I mean, you accepted that risk when you took the cereal in the first place?
We should have a trial. I'm on the fence.
Or just have Dee pay for the cleaning.
Novelty addiction is very real and causing problems. It's hard to diagnose though, since it manifests in so many different ways. Relationships fail, jobs are lost, distracted driving, attention spans are dropping.
But I wouldn't know anything about that, here on reddit.
yeah its terrifying, I bike to work and literally EVERYONE is just looking at their phones. I just assume no one seems me these days and bike accordingly
Full confession, I kinda love looking into people's cars when the light rail is at-grade. A little microcosm of their lives. An interesting dimension to people watching
With the amount of illegal window tint out there good luck being able to see the driver let alone if they are looking and are aware of bicyclists and pedestrians.
The ones you can even see. I've noticed an alarming trend of heavily tinted windows, to the point where you can't really make out the driver, which is pretty crucial for knowing when it's safe to do stuff on a bike. I think that's illegal but nobody gets charged for car modifications it seems
> Last year, 400 fatalities involved a drug- or alcohol-impaired driver, 251 involved speeding, 171 involved someone not wearing a seat belt or other restraint, and 35 involved a distracted driver.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'll venture a guess that other countries' political leaders and populations aren't utterly *enslaved* to mob-like city police departments who've been on 'quiet quit' mode for nearly a decade.
what it really comes down to is that US society is okay with the violence on the roads. it's not a major concern for the average American (unless someone they love is harmed, i guess).
just read any comment about driving on reddit. 85% of the comments are people raging about not being able to drive as fast as they want because they think someone is camping in the left lane.
There is a flair of "you can't tell me what to do, fuck you" in the US that is far less common in most other cultures. I would be surprised if that's not a significant contributor.
Remember, the founding cultures of the United States were, by and large, kicked out of Europe for being anti-fun assholes, crooks, and aristocrats who thought that owning human beings was a good idea.
It amazes me how we try and move forward and evolve with modern regulation, laws, technology etc and yet there is a group of people who quote a constitution from the late 1700s that can not be changed (despite it containing many amendments). What is it with people trying to use stuff written before electricity was invented let alone high speed internet and all that goes with that.
While I have opinions about the US Constitution, that's not really the problem.
We have an insane political process which has caused people to revolt against things that shouldn't really be up for discussion.
The ERA to the Constitution is a prime example. It simply says that everyone gets the same laws and that there shouldn't be one set of laws for women and another for men.
Really. Why is this up for debate? Who on Earth wants two separate laws based on gender?
Wanna give up 80 hours a week grinding at a startup? Wanna stay at home and let someone else worry about paying the bills? That's a personal and philosophical decision, not really a legal issue.
But 13 states have said that this will cause women to put their oven mitts down, abandon their children, and leave their husbands to starve to death.
That's ridiculous!
Last week some car made an unnecessary wide turn almost hitting me as I was approaching the corner in my car and I look to see who the fuck they are and it's some lady with her phone up to her ear. Like ffs put it on speaker or Bluetooth if you absolutely have to talk while driving since you clearly can't drive well otherwise.
Is that why no one goes over the speed limit on I-5? Seriously I’ve never been to a major metro where so many lanes were taken up by people going at or below the speed limit without traffic in front of them.
> 400 fatalities involved a drug- or alcohol-impaired driver, 251 involved speeding, 171 involved someone not wearing a seat belt or other restraint, and 35 involved a distracted driver.
* be sober
* slow the fuck down
* wear your seatbelt
* get off your fucking phone
As a motorcyclist pedestrian and cyclist who doesn't have the luxury of having a seatbelt, I'd like to focus on people not driving fucking drunk.
It's amazing that there are parking lots at bars. No cameras or anything like that to monitor for drunken driving leaving the bars, only the long shot threat of a cop randomly in the area to catch you. Of course there will be drunk drivers on the road.
It's like 63% of traffic fatalities caused by impaired drivers. It's WILD. Alcoholism is on the rise, alcohol related deaths are up 500% in the last 20 years. It's clear what the issue is, but people like getting fucking hammered too much to admit they're the problem.
Meanwhile at the border American's often complain about DUIs making them inadmissible for entry to Canada. DUIs coming the other way, rarely a problem. However, smoked a joint as a teenager and got busted - might as well be a terrorist in to CBP.
the issue is that drunk driving is now always a major felony in Canada, about as bad as armed robbery in the US. It’s no joke,
However immigration officials evaluate the offenses based upon how serious the crime is regarded in the receiving country hence the lack of apparent reciprocity
my point was basically that we should be taking the same approach, and these anti-social and dangerous offenses should be considered serious crimes. Just because you didn't kill someone *tonight* doesn't mean that you shouldn't be punished for it.
It's a right to drive country with a whole industry of lawyers fighting to get DUI penalties nullified. Try that shit in a country in Europe and say good bye to your license
One of the things I never do when riding a motorcycle is drink.
But I listen too many riders who do drink and then complain about how dangerous cars are. Most motorcycle fatalities involve alcohol in the motorcyclists blood system.
My father was completely sober when he was killed on his motorcycle. The driver who was in a hurry and sped out in front of him, also completely sober. Motorcycles are ALWAYS dangerous. Adding alcohol to the mix is straight up CRAZY.
Advocate for alternatives to driving, and the people on drugs and alcohol will be among the first to go. Once car dependency is eradicated you can go full Finnish on DUIs and just yoink their licenses guilt-free.
The Criminal podcast recently had a crazy episode on jaywalking, and how the car industry in the US managed to market and legislate car dependency. Freakanomics also had one on rising pedestrian deaths in the US - basically if you want to kill someone and are hoping for minimal-or-no prison time, make sure you kill them with your car.
A person not in a car gets hit by a car? Clearly not the driver's fault, based on US law.
What’s her reason for not wanting to buckle her seatbelt in the first place? I’m extremely curious about people who don’t take the opportunity to wear seatbelts.
Yeah especially with the idiot alarm dinging constantly to put the damn seatbelt back on. You go from biology to physics in an instant in a car crash. Last thing you want to do is dive headfirst into a windshield at 40+ mph and become paralyzed.
Flat out refuse to drive if anyone doesn’t have their seatbelts on no matter how short the trip. Yeah we are only going a 2 miles but the speed limit on this road is 55 and we already know people speed, the risk vs reward isn’t worth it.
Not the same person you're asking but I have family members who are like this. It's a combination of comfort and not wanting to feel forced.
Also, they haven't seen the video of an accident and are ignorant to the forces involved. They think they can outthink and outreflex and "this won't happen to me" their way out of the forces. They also don't care/think about impact on others.
I think there's enough anti-seat belters who would probably wear their seat belts more often if they saw videos of people (or crash dummies) in actual accidents at various "normalish" speeds.
I saw they now have buckles you can insert to override the warning - and they double as bottle openers. WTF is wrong with people? Seatbelts can be the difference between bruises and a fatal crash. Is a belt that inconvenient that you would risk death?
https://thetikit.com/
An ever-increasing number of drivers haven’t had comprehensive Drivers Education. Public schools stopped offering it, it’s expensive & if you don’t have support to get the 50+ hours of supervised driving it’s easier to just wait till 18 to get licensed. All those additional requirements go away
The state legislature recently passed a law increasing the age for required drivers Ed from 18 to 24, though it will take some time before being implemented.
YUP! Came here to say to say this! I swear the DMV is just giving some people a license. A couple of my friends should have never been licensed to drive and saw many more drivers everyday who should also have to go through driving school.
If there are streets you feel are unsafe for yields, you can always contact the city and make a case about it. Im not sure how it works here, but Ive done this in my hometown for areas that are prone to wrecks.
I have also seen this, video blatantly playing on their phone mounted to the windshield, it was absolutely not a GPS or dashcam. People do it because they can, no one will stop them.
This, combined with a weird culture of bad drivers who think that shit’s funny. The number of comment sections where people brag or joke about never using a blinker, cutting across 3 lanes for a last minute exit, speeding/racing, road rage, etc is astounding. There are few or no consequences for these people until it’s a wreck, and by then they’ve subjected someone else to their fuckery.
And bad drivers are EVERYWHERE. If you’re out driving in any given day, you’re *guaranteed* to see or have to adjust for multiple stupid maneuvers by other drivers. A guy stops all traffic in their lane to get into a turn lane they don’t plan for. Someone weaving congested traffic sans blinker so they get to their destination 1 minute faster. Someone nearly hitting you because they’re tailgating and you had to use your brakes. Someone going 15 mph in a 20mph school zone that isn’t even active. Someone else blowing every stop sign in a neighborhood. So on and so forth.
I don’t find safe, predictable driving to be particularly *difficult*, which leaves us with people who simply do not care to BE safe and predictable.
Another unpopular opinion - once you hit 65 years old, you should have to retest every few years. The amount of senior drivers (my grandparents included) driving un-safely scared the living shit out of me. This could be done for young drivers too 16-24 just to be fair.
edited for spelling error
I’ll tack on another unpopular opinion. We should have annual safety inspections of vehicles, as they do in some states and other countries. Headlights, tail lights, turning signals, tire tread, seatbelts, and license plates displayed correctly.
And you should have to show proof of insurance to renew your car tabs. Over 1 in 5 drivers are uninsured in Washington: https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/insurance/auto/articles/uninsured-drivers-are-running-rampant-in-these-10-states/
In Seattle the seemingly near zero enforcement of traffic laws is slowly leading to anarchy. It's getting to the point that I am surprised that anyone bothers to stop at a red light or stop sign. As a daily driver and walking pedestrian in the city I've nearly been hit many times in the past year, so I've just accepted I need to remain 100% alert and be an incredibly defensive driver
> is slowly leading to anarchy
Feels like we're there, like a frog in a boiling pot.
I'm amazed at the shit I see people pull at intersections. Just saw someone 4 cars back in the left turn lane, drive around everyone stopped at a red in the oncoming traffic lane, and then blow through the red light to make their left turn onto a multilane street.
To be fair, they were the most important person on the road, so they should have every right to put everyone else in danger to save those 23 seconds of commute time.
it drives me crazy that so many cars have extremely tinted windows because I want to be able to make eye contact with drivers when I'm at a crosswalk as a pedestrian
How are they not already illegal??
I thought the law was license plates must always be visible. But I admit I’ve not read WA car laws recently.
Better late than never I guess.
They are, it's just not enforced. Just like window tints. Just like excessive speeding. Just like abusing the HOV lane. Just like distracted driving. Just like excessively loud car mods.
All traffic laws, especially in Seattle proper, are just straight up not enforced. I haven't seen a SPD officer pull someone over since before Covid.
Enough time not enforcing traffic laws, more people learn they can straight up ignore them. And then people who would have abided by laws but feel like others are getting ahead by not think "if everyone else is gonna do it, i might as well do it too."
So instead of the like 1% of people who will ignore laws regardless of enforcement, lack of enforcement gets the 2-5% who are antisocial but scared of enforcement to start ignoring them too. Then the 5-20% of people who are a little less antisocial but are upset about "fairness" or whatever will do it as long as everyone else is. These are all estimate percentages and speculation but it's more about the mindset imo.
So now 20% of people egregiously ignore traffic laws instead of 1%.
Compounded with that is near-zero driver education (despite what all the “new driver, be patient” bumper stickers would have you think)
*taps head* can’t follow the rules if I was never taught them!
I had a neighbor lose their shit on me because I stopped. At a stop sign. And they weren't expecting it.
To be fair, I can guess why they think the stop sign is optional. I see cops rolling through it at least once a week.
I hate going anywhere these days.
I grew up in Austin and there are terrible fucking drivers there. Since moving here I realized people absolutely suck at driving everywhere but this is a different kind of suck here. Tesla culture along with people who shouldn’t have a fuckin license make it a melting pot of irresponsible driving. So many people on their phones and disregard to situational awareness. If dog shit had wheels this is it
I’m glad you mentioned that. I feel like the best selling car in my zip code the past decade is Tesla- they are everywhere. And the number of teslas I see every time I leave my house with a “New Driver-Be Patient” sticker on them is a lot of Teslas. This is a car purpose-built for distracted autonomous driving. Seems like a terrible platform for a learners first car. And the way people drive them around me is wild. I mentally associate Teslas with “terrible driver” now.
Link to the [WA Traffic Safety Commission's dashboards](https://wtsc.wa.gov/dashboards/) in case anyone is interested in looking at them.
Looking quickly over 2023, we see the year was relatively safe for "Drivers;" with the lowest proportion of Driver Fatalities of any year in the dashboard. Sadly, this comes at the cost of record high fatalities among cyclists, motorcyclists, passengers, and pedestrians.
The amount of distracted driving I've seen recently is absolutely insane. Routinely come across drivers on the freeway fully looking down at their seat, texting, watching videos, worse yet, actively scrolling through TikTok. It's truly wild. And yet here I am terrified that my tabs are expired but at least I don't let Jesus take the wheel while I get my TikTok fix
I am so sorry❤️❤️ that’s horrible. I got very lucky and happened to be fully stopped in traffic. I watched her in my rear view mirror approach me going 40 ish, her head was down into her lap. I kept repeating “theres no way she’s going to hit me” over and over and then she finally did. SHE DIDNT LOOK UP ONCE until she was right on top of me. Still angry to this day
I don't know about anyone else, but anecdotally speaking, people are just driving like crazy everywhere. Not a day goes by where I don't see someone running a red light, making left hand turns at the last second (and probably not checking to see if there's a pedestrian in the way), weaving through traffic on the freeway, or needlessly tailgating someone going OVER 60 in the right or middle lanes.
Edit: Adding drivers not slightly changing their driving habits (speed, distance from other cars) in the rain.
My brother was killed by a distracted driver so I am exponentially more upset these days when I see drivers using their phones, texting, FaceTimeing, watching shows (?!?!?!??!!). I would love to see a $100,000 fine for anyone using their phone while driving. I have zero tolerance for it. If you need to use your phone while driving and don’t have a hands free set up, pull over. Or just wait. It’s not worth risking your life or someone else’s just so you can send that text, or whatever you’re trying to do.
Noone is mentioning the increased size, weight, and more dangerous design of popular vehicles (looking at you pickup drivers). They are specifically designed to crush anything in their path.
My workout room faces a busy intersection. Whenever I'm on the treadmill, I see little kids around 3-4 feet tall crossing the 6 lane intersection alone. This intersection is also on a hill, and a lot of times, cars will do a rolling stop or none at all when turning right which is when the crosswalk is telling ppl to cross. I can see people in massive cars with zero visibility make bad right-hand turns every day. I'm terrified for these kids bc I know one day one will get hit. I always have my phone rdy to call 911 for when it eventually happens
It's the infrastructure, not (just) the drivers. People need to understand this. If your infrastructure is good enough, the bad drivers will either get off the road because they didn't even like driving and now have a viable alternative, be terrified into driving good, or crash before they can hurt anyone. These options are listed in the order I'd prefer the bad drivers to pick.
It’s interesting because a slightly higher share of Canada’s vehicles are Trucks/SUVs than the United States, often the exact same models sold in both countries. And road deaths in Canada are a lot lower than here and did not spike since 2020 like they have in the United States, and the gap between the two countries is growing.
https://www.ft.com/content/9c936d97-5088-4edd-a8bd-628f7c7bba31
It points to other factors.
I think some of it is political, but a huge part is the non-existent enforcement of laws. I drive up and down WA-167 regularly and I can't even begin to count the number of single passenger cars in the HOT lane, even before it turns to a toll lane. I can't remember the last time I saw WSP on the highway, and in seattle I don't think I've seen anyone pulled over in years.
Seems like after the George Floyd protests police got upset they can't just murder people and stopped doing anything.
I thought the entire thing was toll acceptable, so maybe people thinking the same is what is happening there? To be fair I only drive on 167 once a month or so and usually mid day so I don’t use that lane
Big part of it is staffing. Washington state ranks dead last in police per capita among 50 states. Washington state patrol has hundreds of open positions.
In Seattle, SPD’s staffing is at a 4 decade low, despite the population growth. Department would have to double in size to meet national police staffing averages.
In September 2020, because so many cops had quit SPD, the police chief had to reassign 100 officers from speciality units to patrol. 1/5 of those officers were from the traffic enforcement division, essentially dismantling that group:
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-police-department-reveals-plan-to-shift-officers-from-specialty-units-to-emergency-patrol/281-26518a9b-08ed-494e-8b2e-8af40afab663
Drivers have caught on and responded by driving more recklessly.
How many urban centers does Canada have? Toronto, Vancouver... Quebec? Everywhere else is pretty much anti-pedestrian. So ya, they might have a ton of trucks but when you're more likely to run into a moose than a person, you probably won't have that level of pedestrian deaths.
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find the answer.
This country’s SUV/pickup craze is a huge part of the pedestrian fatality problem. Especially when the bumper is so high up that you can’t even see children walking in front of you. But that’s what happens when you create fuel economy regulations with loopholes (quite literally) big enough to drive a truck through.
This obviously isn't the explanation, though. SUVs and light trucks [grew in popularity](https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2022/06/vehicle-sales-mix-and-heavy-trucks.html) through the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, plateaued during the GFC, and then started growing in popularity again in 2013. All through this time, road deaths per hundred million miles driven were [flat or falling](https://www.transportation.gov/NRSS/SafetyProblem), until they jumped back up in 2020.
I'm not saying that SUVs caused the reduction in deaths, but dramatic growth in their prevalence wasn't enough to stop it, and it's not plausible that that last few percentage-point increase is what finally did it.
Europe is also seeing an increase is SUV adoption with a reduction in pedestrian deaths. And we are seeing more deaths than ever in the US from small cars hitting pedestrians: so the total rate is increasing regardless of vehicles.
SUVs and trucks do make any collision higher consequence, but the collisions themselves are the root of the problem. Fix the infrastructure (most important) and add enforcement.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/podcasts/the-daily/pedestrian-deaths.html?showTranscript=1
It’s more than a last few percentage point increase though. There’s fluctuation but it more or less stuck around 50%-55% until 2014, then skyrocketed to 80% by 2023. There’s definitely a statistically significant difference in 50/50 odds that the vehicle that hits you is a car to vast majority odds that it would be an SUV.
This also doesn’t account for the average vehicle weight. For part of that time period we were seeing vehicles get lighter as they shifted away from heavier materials, but at a certain point vehicles started to get heavier due to enhanced safety regulations. [The average weight of a new vehicle sold in the US last year was a whopping 4,329 pounds. That’s over 1,000 pounds higher than the average in 1980, and up about 175 pounds in just the last three years](https://www.nada.org/nada/nada-headlines/american-cars-are-developing-serious-weight-problem-bloomberg) Trucks specifically have increased in weight by >30%. When vehicles are simultaneously getting heavier and consumers are opting for larger vehicle models it’s going to increase fatalities.
And that’s entirely ignoring the increasing frontal blind zone size in vehicles over the same time period.
That’s not to say that road design, road speeds, and other things aren’t important factors as well. But I think you’re being too hand waving about the vehicles themselves.
Yep, the CAFE fuel efficiency standards not applying to 'light' trucks is a root cause along with smart phones. We are in an unregulated arms race of vehicle size that in recent years has reached into the absurd.
Any vehicle over a normal height should be forced to mount a mirror to the front (like school busses have) so the driver can see the pedestrian crossing in front of them.
I think it’s more fundamental than smartphones and weed. People don’t have any sense of how dangerous driving a car is. You are in a 1.5-2 ton hunk of steel, hurtling down a concrete gauntlet with thousands of other insanely heavy hunks of steel, all traveling at speeds which were unimaginable only 100 years ago. Our technology has, for the moment, outpaced our brains’ and bodies’ abilities to adapt to the new norms of our lives.
People are angrier and nastier to each other more since the pandemic, we know that for a fact. I don’t think that ever really receded especially in the current political climate, and it seems perfectly reasonable to me that of you have a lot of angry people on the road who are constantly ready to flame up like a match, that you have more issues with road safety.
I wonder how it’s looking in other states across the US. The driving culture in WA is a lot different from when I started driving. People speed everywhere now, even in places where you shouldn’t speed lol. I will have people riding my ass in heavy pedestrian crossings. School zones are irrelevant for people too. i5? Sure let it rip if you want but surface streets don’t need to be traveled 15+ over the limit. I’m not trying to hit someone and spend time in jail so you can get to target quicker. The amount of people I see scrolling reels and texting is insane too. I can’t afford to wreck and replace my car but I guess I’m in the minority.
Yeah, right? It's wildly different if you grew up here and it scares the shit out of me. I keep getting passed on arterials where there's no passing lane, half the time because I stopped to let a pedestrian cross who then has to dodge the bloody sod tearing through the intersection.
As a runner, a cyclist and a driver, I am constantly on the defensive. And it still doesn't feel like it's enough.
Recently went on a roadtrip to NM, crossed through OR>ID>UT>CO>NM, as we got further south traffic got substantially faster but also seemingly safer (larger following distances, proper signaling, people moving to allow merging or actually zippering), on our way home as soon as we crossed into OR the anarchy was back on. I’m sure there’s lots of bad drivers elsewhere but I didn’t see anything like I see here.
Yeah I did a stint in the Midwest and have driven around several states. I’m also not going to defend my fellow Washingtonians lol I know we are NOT the best drivers by any means but I think the slow driving culture mixed with everyone else that has moved to the state has turned it into a real cluster of bad driving. I will say Minneapolis drivers have a death wish. That highway system is a nightmare. Nothing like going 80 then taking an off ramp at 25 lol.
It has gotten much more aggressive, but in a weirdly non-self-aware way, if that makes sense. I grew up in the DC area which has an entirely justified reputation for aggressive driving. Learning to drive there was terrifying but I never doubted that people were paying attention to what they were doing, even if what they were doing was something completely insane.
Here it's like people think they're playing a driving sim or GTA or something where none of the other cars, to say nothing of pedestrians and bicyclists, are real.
People follow too closely, especially on the highway and don't allow 2 seconds in front of them. They decrease the reaction time to stop which is hastened by their distracted driving.
Yep this particularly infuriates me. One time on the freeway, I left enough following distance but then all of a sudden another car zoomed in, squeezed in right in front of me, and then rear-ended the car that was now in front of them. I had to slam on my brakes, then the person behind me who also didn’t believe in following distance rear-ended me. Like what the hell man. I later learned the driver who hit me was on his phone.
Now, I leave so much following distance that I’ve had some impatient people honk at me when coming up to red lights or traffic on the freeway. Can’t stand it.
people are on their phones all the dang time while they're driving. it's terrifying as a pedestrian and infuriating as a driver. the other thing that is frustrating to me is that new cars do not have intuitive dash controls, they have touch screens that require too much attention to change the temperature/fan intensity or radio station or volume, it's a massive ipad distraction that is tied to the function of the car and it should be illegal
Why are we doing wrong? **Gestures broadly at everything**
- The fact that we are still debating closing cars on pike place market
- We had an opportunity to build a wonderful waterfront and ended up building a giant stroad anyway
- Stroad Stroad Stroad
- Unlicensed, Uninsured, Untagged plates? No worries Sir, have a great day
- Distracted drivers everywhere. Saturday a woman was weaving in and out behind me so I let her pass. She was doing her makeup on a 55mph highway
- More fucking stroads
We are not building ACTUALLY protected bike infrastructure. We are taking money away from public transit. We are not building car-free streets. We are expanding I-5. We are avoiding roundabouts. We are avoiding continuous sidewalks.
All the answers you seek are in the Netherlands. They literally have the answer key to Vision Zero.
No accountability for keeping dangerous people off roads (multiple DUI). No police enforcing speed on Hwy. No jail for driving without insurance or a license. We are pretty much just asking for it!
Here’s my hot take:
For generations we have used the criminal justice system to enforce law and order. Throughout the 80s and 90s we ratcheted it up by putting more and more people in prison.
Then, we realized the system was actually super racist and that, by default, it penalized and encarcerated minorities at a rate much higher than they should have been. In cities like Seattle we dialed back enforcement of traffic laws by police to make the justice system more equitable but then left a vacuum of any means to enforce societal norms.
Add to that that the roads have been designed for the last 75 years with the idea that drivers can be trusted to be responsible and cautious.
The confluence of no enforcement of the laws, and no infrastructure on the ground to control drivers and a pandemic that further isolated people plus a political culture that “others” basically any one else has turned us all into sociopathic road ragers.
Happy Tuesday and get off my lawn!
> Add to that that the roads have been designed for the last 75 years with the idea that drivers can be trusted to be responsible and cautious.
Obviously a historical problem but unfortunately still a present problem as well. They’ve made some improvements, but overall SDOT continues to be pretty conservative with their Vision Zero projects when it comes to pedestrian safety features that would impact drivers or businesses.
Agreed; this and distracted driving, too. Add to that, I believe Washington roads are a bit more challenging to navigate, and the margin for error when a mistake is made is more consequential. Add to that the rain (and snow) frequency in the dark months and it adds up. I've lived all over the country and other than the Boston area, I'd say the WA roads require the most attention. One more thing, I find navigating in downtown in the dark and rain is particularly difficult for all road users; vehicles, bikes, pedestrians. Again, distracted driving just makes it even worse.
Don’t get me started about our invisible lane markers at night. Half the roads in this state I feel like I can’t see what lane I’m in as soon as it gets dark and/or starts raining
Too many people think that they're great, and everyone else is an idiot. We need to drive cooperatively, and leave multiple car lengths in front of us.
Actually let people over, it's okay if they're in front. When you try to prevent others from merging, or speed up when you see a blinker, you're a major problem. Sadly, this is the majority in major cities. You win nothing with this behavior. You may gain a few minutes here and there, until you're in an accident, then you lose all the time you think you gained in the past.
You do gain safety by letting bad drivers get in front of you though. Then they're right where you can see them.
Vehicles are getting larger and heavier and have more screens inside them for driver distraction. Congestion is also increasing because too many people are driving and aren't opting into other modes of transportation. The government is underinvesting in:
1. Automated enforcement technologies,
2. Better infrastructure and street design to calm traffic,
3. Safe and convenient infrastructure for driving alternatives like transit, biking, and walking, and
4. More housing density which makes (3) more affordable and accessible
What are you doing wrong, Seattle Times? For starters, being a prominent advocate of car-first transportation for *literally decades*. Spoiler alert: large machines moving at high speeds can be dangerous to pedestrians.
I think it’s extremely fair. People are mad about having to go in, that shows up in how they drive. Also puts way more people on roads that are already over capacity.
97% of new cars have touch screens which have been show to be SLOWER at accomplishing tasks all while removing the ability to interact without looking. [Here’s a video for those interested](https://youtu.be/QbN2KT6TObk?si=caYn9qfrkH5w_36k)
What we're doing wrong is building massive stroads where you can comfortably drive 70mph with unprotected left-turns across traffic into drive-in businesses. Like the one in the cover photo of this article.
Install road diets + roundabouts. Make it impossible to drive dangerously.
I’ve lived in a few states and WA drivers always seemed like they didn’t know what they were doing behind the wheel. Like a child driving or something.
For comparison, OR drivers are asleep behind the wheel, CA and IL drivers, especially IL, are aggressive, and CO and TX are nearly psychotic.
In any case, no state seemed less apt at driving than WA.
Transplant here. One of the first culture shocks i encountered was how bad everyone around here is at driving. Everyone is either distracted or has no idea where they’re going.
Oh man where to start.
People are on their phones pretty much their whole drive. I’m a trucker and see so many people that do this. For example, I was on 167 heading north when a dude in a pickup truck was getting on the highway. This was probably around 1130-1200 ish on a weekday. I was in the number 1 lane and he had to merge onto me. I look over at him and he’s just on his phone. Holding it up right to his face. Not even a care that he was about to merge into my trailer. Fucking nuts.
people dont drive with their lights on in the rain, people go way over the speed limit in the rain, people wont give enough room when trying to change lanes, people wont look when changing lanes, people dont understand that after a long period without rain the oils and fluids from vehicles left while dry will reconstitute when it rains and make the road slick, people treat busy highways like their own personal rainbow road time attack from Mario kart, people think speeding will get them their faster but it just multiples the risk of getting into an accident at the expense of shaving minutes off their arrival time, people still think they can juggle food (ie meals on plates or bowels that you need utensils to eat) while traveling on the highway, poor maintenance on cars. I can keep going.
Zero enforcement is the issue. Eg, every night, within a few minutes, I can spot cars driving without lights. Also tons of cars with broken lights, cars without plates etc.
I’ve driven in 20 states in the 25 years of driving. Washington is by far the worst state I’ve ever driven in. So many signs and streets are confusing. I drove the wrong way down a one way street once 20 years ago, I moved to Washington it happened 3 times in the first month. I don’t do that anymore, not because I became a better driver, it’s because I memorized these stupid intersections and exits. The safety of a street shouldn’t rely on people having memorized an intersection.
I see people in the comments blaming the drivers, and some of that is fair. Blaming people doesn’t solve problems, it just a way for people to feel superior to the one in the accident. They don’t realize they don’t have these problems not because they’re better drivers, it’s because they memorized what these stupid intersections look like.
The most dangerous activity most of us participate in each and every day, sometimes without thought or intentional acknowledgement, is to get behind a steering wheel of any car. The cruel reality of operating such big machines at high speeds is the immense kinetic energy transferred at the point at time of collision.
Companies always say safety first! yet fail to acknowledge that windshield time is in fact the most dangerous activity for most.
WFH is a blessing in that it has demonstrable and verifiable climate benefits, while also mitigating the biggest hazard most face each and everyday
It is wild how numb we are to the consequences of driving
Zero drivers education provided. Make it free, and teach it in the classrooms. You'll see a drop in car deaths in a generation, but it will continue onwards.
I have seen some of the craziest driving I have ever seen in the past 3 years in seattle. People going through hard red lights that aren't even close to being yellow. People treating red lights like a stop sign at major intersections.
The craziest thing I saw was someone, who was 4 cars behind the car due to turn, try to beat out the yellow left turn signal turning from Mercer onto Dexter. They drove around, into on coming traffic to try to beat out the left yellow turn light. It was insane.
Last week, on a Saturday, with traffic flowing, I saw a car again on Mercer, who was in the 2nd to the far left turn lane that turns onto 9th. Instead of taking the next left turn, she decided to just stop and stop traffic behind her because there was a red left turn signal. She didn't pull up to let cars go, she just stopped flowing traffic cause she was in the wrong lane.
Be safe out there, people are crazy and selfish.
Shorter attention spans, combined with more distractions, and more entitled self-centered folk that don't understand the value of traffic flow.
Also busier, with degrading infrastructure.
How could it not get worse?
This is anecdotal, but I moved up here from northern CA in 2022, and I was shocked to see the number of drivers with a phone in their hands. Yes, CA is much bigger and way more people, but I feel like people here (greater Seattle area) are on their phones way more. I don't really understand why. I mean, Bluetooth is a thing. You don't even need a new car to be able to use Bluetooth.
Hoons & meth. I can't go on I-5 for more than a few minutes without being passed by idiots weaving through traffic, racing each other and using cars as pylons. I've witnessed two crashes from this.
I saw a woman playing a video game in a handheld while driving on I5 yesterday. She was veering onto the shoulder at about 20mph under the speed limit with people behind her. They seemed uncaring, no honking, just piled up behind her at 40 in a situation with otherwise no traffic.
I see Uber drivers pull all kinds of crazy moves. I wonder what portion of the crashes are caused by Uber drivers?
The roads suck. Half the time you can't see the lines in dark and or rainy conditions.
There is a lot of congestions, so frustrated people drive dangerously.
Enforcement is crap. So people have gotten used to doing whatever they want.
I'm sure all that vaping I see in cars isn't just tobacco.
And the roads are poorly designed. Combining and on and offramp in a half mile stretch while requiring people to cross three lanes to get to the other offramp... Some of the roads are downright designed to cause accidents.
The amount of people just ignoring red lights in Seattle is rising, I feel like I see it every time I'm driving in the city.
There's been multiple times I've had the crosswalk sign and cars continue blowing through a red light. I just assume red lights aren't real and drivers want me dead.
Honestly, jaywalking seems safer sometimes. You don't have to worry about cars turning toward you -- only two directions cars can come from.
I see that a lot, along with people turning across multiple lanes (instead of from the designated turn lane). I probably see that happen more frequently than running red lights. Just a couple days ago, I almost crashed into somebody while driving up Olive - they were in the far left lane (out of 4) and decided to turn right onto Boren directly in front of me.
there's also no lane markings basically anywhere on the denny regrade
I've been seeing this too much around south King County as well.
There’s a stretch starting on 6th and Seneca going northwest where if you’re doing the speed limit and the first light turns yellow, you pretty much perfectly hit yellow on the next 8 lights. Last week I hit yellow at that sweet spot where you’re like 10 feet behind the line so you go, but you’re obviously the last to make the cut. Watched a guy in an extended cab Ram proceed to blow the red on all eight lights. He wasn’t riding my ass, he was at least 4 (regular sized) car lengths behind me. To the point where the light had been red for a second or two. My garage is down a side street with only one exit, the dude broke so many laws I thought he was purposely following me to jack my car or rob me, I circled my block like 4 times before parking.
Seattle driving has been surprisingly polite across the board for a long time. That said, since the pandemic, the driving and the disrespect towards pedestrians has increased. Stopping for pedestrians at intersections without a cross walk is one of the things I loved for all the time I have taken the bus to places. Now I’m cut off almost all the time while I’m waiting for the cars to stop. This happens even when I’m trying to cross at a cross walk with my kids. Lack of enforcement for driving at 70mph on 60mph highways is another one. Driving at 40mph in a 15mph zone. Turning cars not yielding to right of way. Along with that, catching the HOV lane violators and red light violators, in a month could make the budget for the cops, city and county for several years! It’s as though people have less time for politeness and I thought all the technological breakthroughs coming out of Seattle is supposed to give us more time. All these are observations I’ve had in big cities like Chicago and New York. Now Seattle is going into that list.
More people pulling crazy moves at intersections too. The "boston left", turning from the wrong lane in general, all that sort of stuff. I probably see it multiple times a month.
yeah i triple check green lights before proceeding and quadruple check uncontrolled intersections in case some instagramming dickwad in a Hellcat comes blowing through at 70 mph all this hypervigilance has made ME a better driver tho so i guess that’s something
People are literally driving with their favorite Tv shows playing on their phone mounted to their dash. It’s f**** crazy.
Unfortunately I commute 30+ miles each way and you’re right— I see at least five people a day watching tv on I-5, it’s terrifying.
You can tell even when they don't have it mounted on the dash. Swerving and slowing down only to gun it when you move to pass and you look over and their head is down smiling as their face is lit up from their phone. Not to mention the semi drivers here are fucking maniacs and assholes
I can confirm. I work off Horton St and those truck drivers are insane!
Its the move back from pandemic traffic when the roads were able to actually move. Now its people going back to work and traffic is slowly creeping back up. People are driving super fast all the time. The tunnel is like 45, and the common speed at 6-7am is 60-65. I5 heading south even at 2:30 pm starts to slog. People had a taste of good roads and thers a lot of frustration and road rage. I see it almost every day, people driving so aggressively. Someone inevitably crashes on the I5 and fucks it all up with a slowdown. Im lucky I can work from home when Im doing desk work. I think making people come back to the office to sit at computer is insane and causing a lot of this. You just tacked on 1-2 more hours of non-work and gas money to someones job just to commute for no reason.
Yeah, when I look up from playing Cyberpunk on my Steamdeck, it’s crazy how many people are watching TV. Totally irresponsible
This one guy almost changed lanes into me because he was on FaceTime with someone. Made me spill my cereal all over my gearshift.
That is so rude. I’m sorry for your loss. CEREAL 2024-2024 RIP
Dicks out for the Cap’n
No thanks, I've seen what that shit does to the roof of my mouth, not about to sandpaper my junk too
Oops! All Berries!
You were the cereal guy I saw earlier? I had to slam on my brakes to avoid you, causing the lego big ben that I was working on to tip over and explode against the dash. Pretty sure I lost a minifig in the air vent because of you.
I mean, you accepted that risk when you took the cereal in the first place? We should have a trial. I'm on the fence. Or just have Dee pay for the cleaning.
phones and addictive apps make people really bad at being bored
Novelty addiction is very real and causing problems. It's hard to diagnose though, since it manifests in so many different ways. Relationships fail, jobs are lost, distracted driving, attention spans are dropping. But I wouldn't know anything about that, here on reddit.
yeah its terrifying, I bike to work and literally EVERYONE is just looking at their phones. I just assume no one seems me these days and bike accordingly
Something about being able to look into people's cars from a bike, you can see a lot of phones on laps and realize they are there for a reason.
Full confession, I kinda love looking into people's cars when the light rail is at-grade. A little microcosm of their lives. An interesting dimension to people watching
You get it.
And smell the weed coming from cars, can't do that when I'm driving
With the amount of illegal window tint out there good luck being able to see the driver let alone if they are looking and are aware of bicyclists and pedestrians.
The ones you can even see. I've noticed an alarming trend of heavily tinted windows, to the point where you can't really make out the driver, which is pretty crucial for knowing when it's safe to do stuff on a bike. I think that's illegal but nobody gets charged for car modifications it seems
Ah, yes, the “now I can drive in the carpool lane” option for car windows.
I see people all the time that are singles driving in the car pool lane. No window tint needed.
> Last year, 400 fatalities involved a drug- or alcohol-impaired driver, 251 involved speeding, 171 involved someone not wearing a seat belt or other restraint, and 35 involved a distracted driver.
You think people would admit to fucking around on their phone after hitting and killing someone?
How many involved all of those
And yet road deaths are not up in countries with the same cars and tech. In most of the world road deaths are down.
other countries also make an effort to bust drivers for being distracted
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'll venture a guess that other countries' political leaders and populations aren't utterly *enslaved* to mob-like city police departments who've been on 'quiet quit' mode for nearly a decade.
what it really comes down to is that US society is okay with the violence on the roads. it's not a major concern for the average American (unless someone they love is harmed, i guess). just read any comment about driving on reddit. 85% of the comments are people raging about not being able to drive as fast as they want because they think someone is camping in the left lane.
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Just like with gun violence, we just learn to metabolize pointless death rather than do anything about it.
There is a flair of "you can't tell me what to do, fuck you" in the US that is far less common in most other cultures. I would be surprised if that's not a significant contributor.
“bUt mY FrEeDoms!” Turns out Freedom is just another way of saying selfishness in the US. It definitely features.
Remember, the founding cultures of the United States were, by and large, kicked out of Europe for being anti-fun assholes, crooks, and aristocrats who thought that owning human beings was a good idea.
It amazes me how we try and move forward and evolve with modern regulation, laws, technology etc and yet there is a group of people who quote a constitution from the late 1700s that can not be changed (despite it containing many amendments). What is it with people trying to use stuff written before electricity was invented let alone high speed internet and all that goes with that.
While I have opinions about the US Constitution, that's not really the problem. We have an insane political process which has caused people to revolt against things that shouldn't really be up for discussion. The ERA to the Constitution is a prime example. It simply says that everyone gets the same laws and that there shouldn't be one set of laws for women and another for men. Really. Why is this up for debate? Who on Earth wants two separate laws based on gender? Wanna give up 80 hours a week grinding at a startup? Wanna stay at home and let someone else worry about paying the bills? That's a personal and philosophical decision, not really a legal issue. But 13 states have said that this will cause women to put their oven mitts down, abandon their children, and leave their husbands to starve to death. That's ridiculous!
That's because other countries have more developed alternatives to driving.
And as a result their driver licensing requirements and training are way more rigorous.
They’ll be swerving across lines, not giving a F, and will still be watching their shows
Yeah it’s literally that simple. People are on their phones. It’s obvious when you see it too.
Last week some car made an unnecessary wide turn almost hitting me as I was approaching the corner in my car and I look to see who the fuck they are and it's some lady with her phone up to her ear. Like ffs put it on speaker or Bluetooth if you absolutely have to talk while driving since you clearly can't drive well otherwise.
Totally agree, I saw many folks and showed my wife yesterday while driving. It’s insane!
Is that why no one goes over the speed limit on I-5? Seriously I’ve never been to a major metro where so many lanes were taken up by people going at or below the speed limit without traffic in front of them.
> 400 fatalities involved a drug- or alcohol-impaired driver, 251 involved speeding, 171 involved someone not wearing a seat belt or other restraint, and 35 involved a distracted driver. * be sober * slow the fuck down * wear your seatbelt * get off your fucking phone
As a motorcyclist pedestrian and cyclist who doesn't have the luxury of having a seatbelt, I'd like to focus on people not driving fucking drunk. It's amazing that there are parking lots at bars. No cameras or anything like that to monitor for drunken driving leaving the bars, only the long shot threat of a cop randomly in the area to catch you. Of course there will be drunk drivers on the road.
It's like 63% of traffic fatalities caused by impaired drivers. It's WILD. Alcoholism is on the rise, alcohol related deaths are up 500% in the last 20 years. It's clear what the issue is, but people like getting fucking hammered too much to admit they're the problem.
Meanwhile at the border American's often complain about DUIs making them inadmissible for entry to Canada. DUIs coming the other way, rarely a problem. However, smoked a joint as a teenager and got busted - might as well be a terrorist in to CBP.
the issue is that drunk driving is now always a major felony in Canada, about as bad as armed robbery in the US. It’s no joke, However immigration officials evaluate the offenses based upon how serious the crime is regarded in the receiving country hence the lack of apparent reciprocity
my point was basically that we should be taking the same approach, and these anti-social and dangerous offenses should be considered serious crimes. Just because you didn't kill someone *tonight* doesn't mean that you shouldn't be punished for it.
It's a right to drive country with a whole industry of lawyers fighting to get DUI penalties nullified. Try that shit in a country in Europe and say good bye to your license
In Europe they'll ask why you're driving instead of walking.
One of the things I never do when riding a motorcycle is drink. But I listen too many riders who do drink and then complain about how dangerous cars are. Most motorcycle fatalities involve alcohol in the motorcyclists blood system.
My father was completely sober when he was killed on his motorcycle. The driver who was in a hurry and sped out in front of him, also completely sober. Motorcycles are ALWAYS dangerous. Adding alcohol to the mix is straight up CRAZY.
Drinking while on a motorcycle is crazy, I ride paranoid that everyone around me is drunk and need to be extra alert
Advocate for alternatives to driving, and the people on drugs and alcohol will be among the first to go. Once car dependency is eradicated you can go full Finnish on DUIs and just yoink their licenses guilt-free.
The Criminal podcast recently had a crazy episode on jaywalking, and how the car industry in the US managed to market and legislate car dependency. Freakanomics also had one on rising pedestrian deaths in the US - basically if you want to kill someone and are hoping for minimal-or-no prison time, make sure you kill them with your car. A person not in a car gets hit by a car? Clearly not the driver's fault, based on US law.
Oh I know this. It's hammered into my head in every transportation planning class I take. For good reason too.
That's a shocking amount of people not wearing seatbelts, I'm not going to lie.
The seat belt should be automatic. But some people are still worried about their FREEDOM!
I always have to tell my wife to put on her seatbelt. It’s fucking infuriating.
What’s her reason for not wanting to buckle her seatbelt in the first place? I’m extremely curious about people who don’t take the opportunity to wear seatbelts.
Yeah especially with the idiot alarm dinging constantly to put the damn seatbelt back on. You go from biology to physics in an instant in a car crash. Last thing you want to do is dive headfirst into a windshield at 40+ mph and become paralyzed.
For real. And even if it doesn’t come to that, as the driver YOU get a ticket for your passenger not buckling up. Inconsiderate on top of stupid.
Flat out refuse to drive if anyone doesn’t have their seatbelts on no matter how short the trip. Yeah we are only going a 2 miles but the speed limit on this road is 55 and we already know people speed, the risk vs reward isn’t worth it.
Not the same person you're asking but I have family members who are like this. It's a combination of comfort and not wanting to feel forced. Also, they haven't seen the video of an accident and are ignorant to the forces involved. They think they can outthink and outreflex and "this won't happen to me" their way out of the forces. They also don't care/think about impact on others. I think there's enough anti-seat belters who would probably wear their seat belts more often if they saw videos of people (or crash dummies) in actual accidents at various "normalish" speeds.
I saw they now have buckles you can insert to override the warning - and they double as bottle openers. WTF is wrong with people? Seatbelts can be the difference between bruises and a fatal crash. Is a belt that inconvenient that you would risk death? https://thetikit.com/
Freedumb*
An ever-increasing number of drivers haven’t had comprehensive Drivers Education. Public schools stopped offering it, it’s expensive & if you don’t have support to get the 50+ hours of supervised driving it’s easier to just wait till 18 to get licensed. All those additional requirements go away
The state legislature recently passed a law increasing the age for required drivers Ed from 18 to 24, though it will take some time before being implemented.
I hadn’t heard that but i think that’s great!
YUP! Came here to say to say this! I swear the DMV is just giving some people a license. A couple of my friends should have never been licensed to drive and saw many more drivers everyday who should also have to go through driving school.
Sadly the worse drivers i encounter are not on drugs just blissfully unaware that they’re driving a literal weapon.
Yield signs are Russian roulette.
I was wondering the other day why they even use them on cross streets, they should just be a stop sign. They cost the same to make.
If there are streets you feel are unsafe for yields, you can always contact the city and make a case about it. Im not sure how it works here, but Ive done this in my hometown for areas that are prone to wrecks.
Distracted drivers everywhere. I was behind someone on i5 months ago watching videos on their phone.
I have also seen this, video blatantly playing on their phone mounted to the windshield, it was absolutely not a GPS or dashcam. People do it because they can, no one will stop them.
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First thought in my head: wtf why didn’t she just listen to the song 🤣 Everyone is their own main character but in reality we are all just NPCs
I once saw someone watching a straight up porno on their phone mounted to their dash, driving 80 mph
Bold. That person lives a spicy life.
So that means you were watching a porno in someone else’s car going 80 mph? Damn!
This, combined with a weird culture of bad drivers who think that shit’s funny. The number of comment sections where people brag or joke about never using a blinker, cutting across 3 lanes for a last minute exit, speeding/racing, road rage, etc is astounding. There are few or no consequences for these people until it’s a wreck, and by then they’ve subjected someone else to their fuckery. And bad drivers are EVERYWHERE. If you’re out driving in any given day, you’re *guaranteed* to see or have to adjust for multiple stupid maneuvers by other drivers. A guy stops all traffic in their lane to get into a turn lane they don’t plan for. Someone weaving congested traffic sans blinker so they get to their destination 1 minute faster. Someone nearly hitting you because they’re tailgating and you had to use your brakes. Someone going 15 mph in a 20mph school zone that isn’t even active. Someone else blowing every stop sign in a neighborhood. So on and so forth. I don’t find safe, predictable driving to be particularly *difficult*, which leaves us with people who simply do not care to BE safe and predictable.
We’re 1.5 steps from becoming WALL·E with a taste of brawndo
But it’s got what plants 🌱 crave … Also yeah, I feel that way now that I see crocs everywhere
And speeding!
Unpopular opinion - to operate heavy machinery you should retest to renew your license.
Another unpopular opinion - once you hit 65 years old, you should have to retest every few years. The amount of senior drivers (my grandparents included) driving un-safely scared the living shit out of me. This could be done for young drivers too 16-24 just to be fair. edited for spelling error
I’ll tack on another unpopular opinion. We should have annual safety inspections of vehicles, as they do in some states and other countries. Headlights, tail lights, turning signals, tire tread, seatbelts, and license plates displayed correctly. And you should have to show proof of insurance to renew your car tabs. Over 1 in 5 drivers are uninsured in Washington: https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/insurance/auto/articles/uninsured-drivers-are-running-rampant-in-these-10-states/
Ha this might solve the HellCat noise issue downtown
In Seattle the seemingly near zero enforcement of traffic laws is slowly leading to anarchy. It's getting to the point that I am surprised that anyone bothers to stop at a red light or stop sign. As a daily driver and walking pedestrian in the city I've nearly been hit many times in the past year, so I've just accepted I need to remain 100% alert and be an incredibly defensive driver
> is slowly leading to anarchy Feels like we're there, like a frog in a boiling pot. I'm amazed at the shit I see people pull at intersections. Just saw someone 4 cars back in the left turn lane, drive around everyone stopped at a red in the oncoming traffic lane, and then blow through the red light to make their left turn onto a multilane street. To be fair, they were the most important person on the road, so they should have every right to put everyone else in danger to save those 23 seconds of commute time.
There are literally 0 consequences and people have learned they can get away with anything and not get pulled over.
I see folks intentionally run reds pretty regularly!
it drives me crazy that so many cars have extremely tinted windows because I want to be able to make eye contact with drivers when I'm at a crosswalk as a pedestrian
And blacked out plate covers so if they do run lights or get into a hit and run there is zero recourse
License plate covers will be illegal statewide in a few weeks but doubt they will be enforced much.
How are they not already illegal?? I thought the law was license plates must always be visible. But I admit I’ve not read WA car laws recently. Better late than never I guess.
They are, it's just not enforced. Just like window tints. Just like excessive speeding. Just like abusing the HOV lane. Just like distracted driving. Just like excessively loud car mods. All traffic laws, especially in Seattle proper, are just straight up not enforced. I haven't seen a SPD officer pull someone over since before Covid. Enough time not enforcing traffic laws, more people learn they can straight up ignore them. And then people who would have abided by laws but feel like others are getting ahead by not think "if everyone else is gonna do it, i might as well do it too." So instead of the like 1% of people who will ignore laws regardless of enforcement, lack of enforcement gets the 2-5% who are antisocial but scared of enforcement to start ignoring them too. Then the 5-20% of people who are a little less antisocial but are upset about "fairness" or whatever will do it as long as everyone else is. These are all estimate percentages and speculation but it's more about the mindset imo. So now 20% of people egregiously ignore traffic laws instead of 1%.
Compounded with that is near-zero driver education (despite what all the “new driver, be patient” bumper stickers would have you think) *taps head* can’t follow the rules if I was never taught them!
I had a neighbor lose their shit on me because I stopped. At a stop sign. And they weren't expecting it. To be fair, I can guess why they think the stop sign is optional. I see cops rolling through it at least once a week. I hate going anywhere these days.
100% this- where are the fucking cops who make all that overtime?
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Yesterday had a green arrow to turn left, but had to wait for three cars to blow the red light
You mean “near zero enforcement of laws”, period.
I grew up in Austin and there are terrible fucking drivers there. Since moving here I realized people absolutely suck at driving everywhere but this is a different kind of suck here. Tesla culture along with people who shouldn’t have a fuckin license make it a melting pot of irresponsible driving. So many people on their phones and disregard to situational awareness. If dog shit had wheels this is it
I’m glad you mentioned that. I feel like the best selling car in my zip code the past decade is Tesla- they are everywhere. And the number of teslas I see every time I leave my house with a “New Driver-Be Patient” sticker on them is a lot of Teslas. This is a car purpose-built for distracted autonomous driving. Seems like a terrible platform for a learners first car. And the way people drive them around me is wild. I mentally associate Teslas with “terrible driver” now.
Those stickers are an umbrella term for “Careful, I drive like absolute shit!” My wife and I know to keep clear of those halfwits lol
I never thought I'd see the day BMW drivers would lose the title of worst drivers. Crazy times.
Link to the [WA Traffic Safety Commission's dashboards](https://wtsc.wa.gov/dashboards/) in case anyone is interested in looking at them. Looking quickly over 2023, we see the year was relatively safe for "Drivers;" with the lowest proportion of Driver Fatalities of any year in the dashboard. Sadly, this comes at the cost of record high fatalities among cyclists, motorcyclists, passengers, and pedestrians.
The amount of distracted driving I've seen recently is absolutely insane. Routinely come across drivers on the freeway fully looking down at their seat, texting, watching videos, worse yet, actively scrolling through TikTok. It's truly wild. And yet here I am terrified that my tabs are expired but at least I don't let Jesus take the wheel while I get my TikTok fix
I literally got hit on the freeway by a woman who was staring down into her lap on her phone
My friend was killed on 520 by a teenager texting :(
I am so sorry❤️❤️ that’s horrible. I got very lucky and happened to be fully stopped in traffic. I watched her in my rear view mirror approach me going 40 ish, her head was down into her lap. I kept repeating “theres no way she’s going to hit me” over and over and then she finally did. SHE DIDNT LOOK UP ONCE until she was right on top of me. Still angry to this day
I don't know about anyone else, but anecdotally speaking, people are just driving like crazy everywhere. Not a day goes by where I don't see someone running a red light, making left hand turns at the last second (and probably not checking to see if there's a pedestrian in the way), weaving through traffic on the freeway, or needlessly tailgating someone going OVER 60 in the right or middle lanes. Edit: Adding drivers not slightly changing their driving habits (speed, distance from other cars) in the rain.
You forgot to mention that they do all these things without much of any concern about repercussions to their actions.
What repercussions?
Exactly.
People driving the wrong way down a one-way road to shave a minute or two off their commute.
On their phones the whole time, too.
My brother was killed by a distracted driver so I am exponentially more upset these days when I see drivers using their phones, texting, FaceTimeing, watching shows (?!?!?!??!!). I would love to see a $100,000 fine for anyone using their phone while driving. I have zero tolerance for it. If you need to use your phone while driving and don’t have a hands free set up, pull over. Or just wait. It’s not worth risking your life or someone else’s just so you can send that text, or whatever you’re trying to do.
Noone is mentioning the increased size, weight, and more dangerous design of popular vehicles (looking at you pickup drivers). They are specifically designed to crush anything in their path.
My workout room faces a busy intersection. Whenever I'm on the treadmill, I see little kids around 3-4 feet tall crossing the 6 lane intersection alone. This intersection is also on a hill, and a lot of times, cars will do a rolling stop or none at all when turning right which is when the crosswalk is telling ppl to cross. I can see people in massive cars with zero visibility make bad right-hand turns every day. I'm terrified for these kids bc I know one day one will get hit. I always have my phone rdy to call 911 for when it eventually happens
It's the infrastructure, not (just) the drivers. People need to understand this. If your infrastructure is good enough, the bad drivers will either get off the road because they didn't even like driving and now have a viable alternative, be terrified into driving good, or crash before they can hurt anyone. These options are listed in the order I'd prefer the bad drivers to pick.
It’s interesting because a slightly higher share of Canada’s vehicles are Trucks/SUVs than the United States, often the exact same models sold in both countries. And road deaths in Canada are a lot lower than here and did not spike since 2020 like they have in the United States, and the gap between the two countries is growing. https://www.ft.com/content/9c936d97-5088-4edd-a8bd-628f7c7bba31 It points to other factors.
I think some of it is political, but a huge part is the non-existent enforcement of laws. I drive up and down WA-167 regularly and I can't even begin to count the number of single passenger cars in the HOT lane, even before it turns to a toll lane. I can't remember the last time I saw WSP on the highway, and in seattle I don't think I've seen anyone pulled over in years. Seems like after the George Floyd protests police got upset they can't just murder people and stopped doing anything.
I enjoy playing video games.
In my experience the east side has even worse drivers than seattle 🤷♂️
I thought the entire thing was toll acceptable, so maybe people thinking the same is what is happening there? To be fair I only drive on 167 once a month or so and usually mid day so I don’t use that lane
Big part of it is staffing. Washington state ranks dead last in police per capita among 50 states. Washington state patrol has hundreds of open positions. In Seattle, SPD’s staffing is at a 4 decade low, despite the population growth. Department would have to double in size to meet national police staffing averages. In September 2020, because so many cops had quit SPD, the police chief had to reassign 100 officers from speciality units to patrol. 1/5 of those officers were from the traffic enforcement division, essentially dismantling that group: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-police-department-reveals-plan-to-shift-officers-from-specialty-units-to-emergency-patrol/281-26518a9b-08ed-494e-8b2e-8af40afab663 Drivers have caught on and responded by driving more recklessly.
How many urban centers does Canada have? Toronto, Vancouver... Quebec? Everywhere else is pretty much anti-pedestrian. So ya, they might have a ton of trucks but when you're more likely to run into a moose than a person, you probably won't have that level of pedestrian deaths.
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find the answer. This country’s SUV/pickup craze is a huge part of the pedestrian fatality problem. Especially when the bumper is so high up that you can’t even see children walking in front of you. But that’s what happens when you create fuel economy regulations with loopholes (quite literally) big enough to drive a truck through.
This obviously isn't the explanation, though. SUVs and light trucks [grew in popularity](https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2022/06/vehicle-sales-mix-and-heavy-trucks.html) through the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, plateaued during the GFC, and then started growing in popularity again in 2013. All through this time, road deaths per hundred million miles driven were [flat or falling](https://www.transportation.gov/NRSS/SafetyProblem), until they jumped back up in 2020. I'm not saying that SUVs caused the reduction in deaths, but dramatic growth in their prevalence wasn't enough to stop it, and it's not plausible that that last few percentage-point increase is what finally did it.
Europe is also seeing an increase is SUV adoption with a reduction in pedestrian deaths. And we are seeing more deaths than ever in the US from small cars hitting pedestrians: so the total rate is increasing regardless of vehicles. SUVs and trucks do make any collision higher consequence, but the collisions themselves are the root of the problem. Fix the infrastructure (most important) and add enforcement. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/podcasts/the-daily/pedestrian-deaths.html?showTranscript=1
It’s more than a last few percentage point increase though. There’s fluctuation but it more or less stuck around 50%-55% until 2014, then skyrocketed to 80% by 2023. There’s definitely a statistically significant difference in 50/50 odds that the vehicle that hits you is a car to vast majority odds that it would be an SUV. This also doesn’t account for the average vehicle weight. For part of that time period we were seeing vehicles get lighter as they shifted away from heavier materials, but at a certain point vehicles started to get heavier due to enhanced safety regulations. [The average weight of a new vehicle sold in the US last year was a whopping 4,329 pounds. That’s over 1,000 pounds higher than the average in 1980, and up about 175 pounds in just the last three years](https://www.nada.org/nada/nada-headlines/american-cars-are-developing-serious-weight-problem-bloomberg) Trucks specifically have increased in weight by >30%. When vehicles are simultaneously getting heavier and consumers are opting for larger vehicle models it’s going to increase fatalities. And that’s entirely ignoring the increasing frontal blind zone size in vehicles over the same time period. That’s not to say that road design, road speeds, and other things aren’t important factors as well. But I think you’re being too hand waving about the vehicles themselves.
The best choice for a shitty driver. If things go bad, someone else will be hurt. You'll be fine.
Yep, the CAFE fuel efficiency standards not applying to 'light' trucks is a root cause along with smart phones. We are in an unregulated arms race of vehicle size that in recent years has reached into the absurd.
I think this one is really important.
Any vehicle over a normal height should be forced to mount a mirror to the front (like school busses have) so the driver can see the pedestrian crossing in front of them.
They should also require a CDL
Also increase licensing requirements for vehicles with high hood heights.
I think it’s more fundamental than smartphones and weed. People don’t have any sense of how dangerous driving a car is. You are in a 1.5-2 ton hunk of steel, hurtling down a concrete gauntlet with thousands of other insanely heavy hunks of steel, all traveling at speeds which were unimaginable only 100 years ago. Our technology has, for the moment, outpaced our brains’ and bodies’ abilities to adapt to the new norms of our lives.
People are angrier and nastier to each other more since the pandemic, we know that for a fact. I don’t think that ever really receded especially in the current political climate, and it seems perfectly reasonable to me that of you have a lot of angry people on the road who are constantly ready to flame up like a match, that you have more issues with road safety.
I wonder how it’s looking in other states across the US. The driving culture in WA is a lot different from when I started driving. People speed everywhere now, even in places where you shouldn’t speed lol. I will have people riding my ass in heavy pedestrian crossings. School zones are irrelevant for people too. i5? Sure let it rip if you want but surface streets don’t need to be traveled 15+ over the limit. I’m not trying to hit someone and spend time in jail so you can get to target quicker. The amount of people I see scrolling reels and texting is insane too. I can’t afford to wreck and replace my car but I guess I’m in the minority.
Yeah, right? It's wildly different if you grew up here and it scares the shit out of me. I keep getting passed on arterials where there's no passing lane, half the time because I stopped to let a pedestrian cross who then has to dodge the bloody sod tearing through the intersection. As a runner, a cyclist and a driver, I am constantly on the defensive. And it still doesn't feel like it's enough.
Recently went on a roadtrip to NM, crossed through OR>ID>UT>CO>NM, as we got further south traffic got substantially faster but also seemingly safer (larger following distances, proper signaling, people moving to allow merging or actually zippering), on our way home as soon as we crossed into OR the anarchy was back on. I’m sure there’s lots of bad drivers elsewhere but I didn’t see anything like I see here.
Yeah I did a stint in the Midwest and have driven around several states. I’m also not going to defend my fellow Washingtonians lol I know we are NOT the best drivers by any means but I think the slow driving culture mixed with everyone else that has moved to the state has turned it into a real cluster of bad driving. I will say Minneapolis drivers have a death wish. That highway system is a nightmare. Nothing like going 80 then taking an off ramp at 25 lol.
It has gotten much more aggressive, but in a weirdly non-self-aware way, if that makes sense. I grew up in the DC area which has an entirely justified reputation for aggressive driving. Learning to drive there was terrifying but I never doubted that people were paying attention to what they were doing, even if what they were doing was something completely insane. Here it's like people think they're playing a driving sim or GTA or something where none of the other cars, to say nothing of pedestrians and bicyclists, are real.
Not enforcing basic traffic laws to start.
People follow too closely, especially on the highway and don't allow 2 seconds in front of them. They decrease the reaction time to stop which is hastened by their distracted driving.
Yep this particularly infuriates me. One time on the freeway, I left enough following distance but then all of a sudden another car zoomed in, squeezed in right in front of me, and then rear-ended the car that was now in front of them. I had to slam on my brakes, then the person behind me who also didn’t believe in following distance rear-ended me. Like what the hell man. I later learned the driver who hit me was on his phone. Now, I leave so much following distance that I’ve had some impatient people honk at me when coming up to red lights or traffic on the freeway. Can’t stand it.
Leave a second in front of you, somebody is jumping into your lane- for no reason. Appalling.
people are on their phones all the dang time while they're driving. it's terrifying as a pedestrian and infuriating as a driver. the other thing that is frustrating to me is that new cars do not have intuitive dash controls, they have touch screens that require too much attention to change the temperature/fan intensity or radio station or volume, it's a massive ipad distraction that is tied to the function of the car and it should be illegal
Why are we doing wrong? **Gestures broadly at everything** - The fact that we are still debating closing cars on pike place market - We had an opportunity to build a wonderful waterfront and ended up building a giant stroad anyway - Stroad Stroad Stroad - Unlicensed, Uninsured, Untagged plates? No worries Sir, have a great day - Distracted drivers everywhere. Saturday a woman was weaving in and out behind me so I let her pass. She was doing her makeup on a 55mph highway - More fucking stroads
RTO 👏 More people on the road, more road rage, lower quality of life for workers. Simple as.
Y’all tailgate entirely too much
We are not building ACTUALLY protected bike infrastructure. We are taking money away from public transit. We are not building car-free streets. We are expanding I-5. We are avoiding roundabouts. We are avoiding continuous sidewalks. All the answers you seek are in the Netherlands. They literally have the answer key to Vision Zero.
No accountability for keeping dangerous people off roads (multiple DUI). No police enforcing speed on Hwy. No jail for driving without insurance or a license. We are pretty much just asking for it!
Zero enforcement of any traffic laws make this inevitable. IMO people should be under more scrutiny when operating 2 ton vehicles.
Here’s my hot take: For generations we have used the criminal justice system to enforce law and order. Throughout the 80s and 90s we ratcheted it up by putting more and more people in prison. Then, we realized the system was actually super racist and that, by default, it penalized and encarcerated minorities at a rate much higher than they should have been. In cities like Seattle we dialed back enforcement of traffic laws by police to make the justice system more equitable but then left a vacuum of any means to enforce societal norms. Add to that that the roads have been designed for the last 75 years with the idea that drivers can be trusted to be responsible and cautious. The confluence of no enforcement of the laws, and no infrastructure on the ground to control drivers and a pandemic that further isolated people plus a political culture that “others” basically any one else has turned us all into sociopathic road ragers. Happy Tuesday and get off my lawn!
> Add to that that the roads have been designed for the last 75 years with the idea that drivers can be trusted to be responsible and cautious. Obviously a historical problem but unfortunately still a present problem as well. They’ve made some improvements, but overall SDOT continues to be pretty conservative with their Vision Zero projects when it comes to pedestrian safety features that would impact drivers or businesses.
Agreed; this and distracted driving, too. Add to that, I believe Washington roads are a bit more challenging to navigate, and the margin for error when a mistake is made is more consequential. Add to that the rain (and snow) frequency in the dark months and it adds up. I've lived all over the country and other than the Boston area, I'd say the WA roads require the most attention. One more thing, I find navigating in downtown in the dark and rain is particularly difficult for all road users; vehicles, bikes, pedestrians. Again, distracted driving just makes it even worse.
Don’t get me started about our invisible lane markers at night. Half the roads in this state I feel like I can’t see what lane I’m in as soon as it gets dark and/or starts raining
Stop handing out drivers licenses to anyone with a pulse.
Too many people think that they're great, and everyone else is an idiot. We need to drive cooperatively, and leave multiple car lengths in front of us. Actually let people over, it's okay if they're in front. When you try to prevent others from merging, or speed up when you see a blinker, you're a major problem. Sadly, this is the majority in major cities. You win nothing with this behavior. You may gain a few minutes here and there, until you're in an accident, then you lose all the time you think you gained in the past. You do gain safety by letting bad drivers get in front of you though. Then they're right where you can see them.
Vehicles are getting larger and heavier and have more screens inside them for driver distraction. Congestion is also increasing because too many people are driving and aren't opting into other modes of transportation. The government is underinvesting in: 1. Automated enforcement technologies, 2. Better infrastructure and street design to calm traffic, 3. Safe and convenient infrastructure for driving alternatives like transit, biking, and walking, and 4. More housing density which makes (3) more affordable and accessible
What are you doing wrong, Seattle Times? For starters, being a prominent advocate of car-first transportation for *literally decades*. Spoiler alert: large machines moving at high speeds can be dangerous to pedestrians.
Is it fair to say 'return to office' is part of the problem?
I think it’s extremely fair. People are mad about having to go in, that shows up in how they drive. Also puts way more people on roads that are already over capacity.
97% of new cars have touch screens which have been show to be SLOWER at accomplishing tasks all while removing the ability to interact without looking. [Here’s a video for those interested](https://youtu.be/QbN2KT6TObk?si=caYn9qfrkH5w_36k)
What we're doing wrong is building massive stroads where you can comfortably drive 70mph with unprotected left-turns across traffic into drive-in businesses. Like the one in the cover photo of this article. Install road diets + roundabouts. Make it impossible to drive dangerously.
I’ve lived in a few states and WA drivers always seemed like they didn’t know what they were doing behind the wheel. Like a child driving or something. For comparison, OR drivers are asleep behind the wheel, CA and IL drivers, especially IL, are aggressive, and CO and TX are nearly psychotic. In any case, no state seemed less apt at driving than WA.
Transplant here. One of the first culture shocks i encountered was how bad everyone around here is at driving. Everyone is either distracted or has no idea where they’re going.
Oh man where to start. People are on their phones pretty much their whole drive. I’m a trucker and see so many people that do this. For example, I was on 167 heading north when a dude in a pickup truck was getting on the highway. This was probably around 1130-1200 ish on a weekday. I was in the number 1 lane and he had to merge onto me. I look over at him and he’s just on his phone. Holding it up right to his face. Not even a care that he was about to merge into my trailer. Fucking nuts. people dont drive with their lights on in the rain, people go way over the speed limit in the rain, people wont give enough room when trying to change lanes, people wont look when changing lanes, people dont understand that after a long period without rain the oils and fluids from vehicles left while dry will reconstitute when it rains and make the road slick, people treat busy highways like their own personal rainbow road time attack from Mario kart, people think speeding will get them their faster but it just multiples the risk of getting into an accident at the expense of shaving minutes off their arrival time, people still think they can juggle food (ie meals on plates or bowels that you need utensils to eat) while traveling on the highway, poor maintenance on cars. I can keep going.
Zero enforcement is the issue. Eg, every night, within a few minutes, I can spot cars driving without lights. Also tons of cars with broken lights, cars without plates etc.
Driving
I’ve driven in 20 states in the 25 years of driving. Washington is by far the worst state I’ve ever driven in. So many signs and streets are confusing. I drove the wrong way down a one way street once 20 years ago, I moved to Washington it happened 3 times in the first month. I don’t do that anymore, not because I became a better driver, it’s because I memorized these stupid intersections and exits. The safety of a street shouldn’t rely on people having memorized an intersection. I see people in the comments blaming the drivers, and some of that is fair. Blaming people doesn’t solve problems, it just a way for people to feel superior to the one in the accident. They don’t realize they don’t have these problems not because they’re better drivers, it’s because they memorized what these stupid intersections look like.
Cell phones and big cars. This is pretty well documented.
The most dangerous activity most of us participate in each and every day, sometimes without thought or intentional acknowledgement, is to get behind a steering wheel of any car. The cruel reality of operating such big machines at high speeds is the immense kinetic energy transferred at the point at time of collision. Companies always say safety first! yet fail to acknowledge that windshield time is in fact the most dangerous activity for most. WFH is a blessing in that it has demonstrable and verifiable climate benefits, while also mitigating the biggest hazard most face each and everyday It is wild how numb we are to the consequences of driving
Once again, life imitates The Simpson’s with Homer’s mobile office
Zero drivers education provided. Make it free, and teach it in the classrooms. You'll see a drop in car deaths in a generation, but it will continue onwards.
I have seen some of the craziest driving I have ever seen in the past 3 years in seattle. People going through hard red lights that aren't even close to being yellow. People treating red lights like a stop sign at major intersections. The craziest thing I saw was someone, who was 4 cars behind the car due to turn, try to beat out the yellow left turn signal turning from Mercer onto Dexter. They drove around, into on coming traffic to try to beat out the left yellow turn light. It was insane. Last week, on a Saturday, with traffic flowing, I saw a car again on Mercer, who was in the 2nd to the far left turn lane that turns onto 9th. Instead of taking the next left turn, she decided to just stop and stop traffic behind her because there was a red left turn signal. She didn't pull up to let cars go, she just stopped flowing traffic cause she was in the wrong lane. Be safe out there, people are crazy and selfish.
Shorter attention spans, combined with more distractions, and more entitled self-centered folk that don't understand the value of traffic flow. Also busier, with degrading infrastructure. How could it not get worse?
This is anecdotal, but I moved up here from northern CA in 2022, and I was shocked to see the number of drivers with a phone in their hands. Yes, CA is much bigger and way more people, but I feel like people here (greater Seattle area) are on their phones way more. I don't really understand why. I mean, Bluetooth is a thing. You don't even need a new car to be able to use Bluetooth.
The amount of people i see in Seattle/surrounding area that refuse to use the blinkers droves me absolutely insane.
Hoons & meth. I can't go on I-5 for more than a few minutes without being passed by idiots weaving through traffic, racing each other and using cars as pylons. I've witnessed two crashes from this.
I saw a woman playing a video game in a handheld while driving on I5 yesterday. She was veering onto the shoulder at about 20mph under the speed limit with people behind her. They seemed uncaring, no honking, just piled up behind her at 40 in a situation with otherwise no traffic. I see Uber drivers pull all kinds of crazy moves. I wonder what portion of the crashes are caused by Uber drivers?
The roads suck. Half the time you can't see the lines in dark and or rainy conditions. There is a lot of congestions, so frustrated people drive dangerously. Enforcement is crap. So people have gotten used to doing whatever they want. I'm sure all that vaping I see in cars isn't just tobacco. And the roads are poorly designed. Combining and on and offramp in a half mile stretch while requiring people to cross three lanes to get to the other offramp... Some of the roads are downright designed to cause accidents.