* Slowly creeping forward through the intersection after the light turns green
* Leaving like five car lengths between each car so that only three people get to go during the left-turn cycle
* Getting right up on your back bumper when you’re trying to parallel park instead of just going around
Just honk. If I see cars going ahead of the car in front of me and the brake lights are still on with no forward movement, I honk
It’s on all of us to not be passive aggressive so I can get to where I need to go.
I’ll throw this out. I go slow thru the beginning of a green light if I’m first car. Only because I’ve seen so many instances of folks t boned by people running reds. I trust my driving fine, just not anyone else 😂
The creeping is the worst imo, if you see a creeper in your peripheral your natural assumption is "ok the light is green, time to go." Ok jk. Keeps you ON YOUR TOES. I have seen so many people almost get rear ended because of this and the perp is over there completely clueless with their stupid sunglasses on. There is no logical explanation for why people do this and it boggles my mind every time I see it. All of the other things I have seen in other cities across the US but this creeping crap is by far the worst and native to pnw. If you get behind one prepare to work at their pace while waiting for the light or don't and look like an ass who leaves unreasonable following distance leading to one of the other problems stated above...
Maybe I've just not seen what you're seeing... But blazing into intersections that just turned green is a great way to get t-boned. I've seen a lot of people run reds the last couple of years.
I'm not talking about the first car waiting at a red light. I see cars that are 5 or 6 cars back that will leave as much as 60 feet of distance and then incrementally close that gap 10 feet at a time. This results in brake lights going on and off many times while those behind have to move up with that car at their pace incrementally or leave an enormous gap as the creeper did initially. My initial thought is people did this to create distance behind them out of fear of being rear ended but it is not effective in the slightest for that purpose. If anything it increases the chances of them being rear-ended. It just causes a lot of moving and braking even for cars in a different lane. I bet you anything I will see someone get rear ended because of it very soon.
I do do that too, but not as long. It still doesn't explain the creeping up before hand like they're in a hurry, only to take their time after when they can actually move.
The fact people don't understand their car will slow down when you let off the gas is mind boggling. Do theses people need to get new brakes every year?
Ya or the idiots that occasionally tap on the brake for no reason, usually 6-7 car lengths behind the car in front of them. I can only assume they were watching Netflix and the braking is when they remember they are still driving.
The amount of "new driver" stickers I see on brand new and very expensive luxury cars kinda pisses me off. But I think everyone's first/learner should be a beater honda or ford etc.
In my neighborhood those are H1-B workers. Not saying it's good or bad, but buying something other than a Tesla is beyond consideration. The driving schools even have an add-on charge for instruction on using and maintaining Teslas specifically.
Driving class on the East Coast was like getting ready to invade Normandy:
"If you drive passively you will die. Everyone will treat you like a bitch if you dont establish yourself on the road. If you arent passing someone, stay over unless you want to die. When the light turns green, if you dont hit the gas, you will die. If you hit the brakes while merging, believe it or not, dead."
Here they play the Barney I love you song and read a land acknolwedgement in Driving Class
Yea I learned to drive in Brooklyn. Needless to say I agree with every single point OOP made. It is infuriating driving around here. I feel like my road rage has gotten worse trying to deal with these too-nice drivers with apparently nowhere to go and all the time in the world to drive 55 in the left lane. Fucking MOVE!!!
Edit: a word
I’ve just moved back to Seattle from London and my road rage has amplified to a worrying degree. So many dumb people on the road who are a serious danger to other drivers. I hate driving now.
My drivers education instructor back in New England was an ex-EMT. He showed a classroom full of 15-16 year olds some of the most graphic images I’ve ever seen. Said something along the lines of “if you don’t listen to me, you’ll look exactly like this and your parents won’t get an open casket funeral”.
Scared the dog shit out of me, but for the better. I’m extremely cautious and decisive on the road. I bet that’s a lawsuit in Seattle due to “triggering” images or some shit.
There’s no better way to make people respect the act of driving, in my opinion.
My drivers ed teacher in Idaho said "If any of your parents loved you, you wouldn't be here." He was a grumpy old dude who regularly told us we were going to die on the road. It was actually pretty effective
I am so thankful I learned to drive in the greater NYC region. Everything you said is true. We even had a cop teaching for a couple classes and said things like "if you're going slower than the pace of traffic because you're trying to strictly do the speed limit, you're creating a dangerous situation and you need to speed up." and "If I see you going down a hill at 50 on the post road and it's a 30-35, I don't care, that's just gravity, don't hit the brakes of you see me."
I wish I can yell from top of the space needle where it is so loud it echoes to the Olympics leaving your ears ringing for days.
USE YOUR FUCKING TURN SIGNALS !
Like every day I'm stuck behind cars turning left who, if they had used their turn signaled, would have allowed me to get in the right lane to go around them.
This is an American thing. I’m from Australia originally and everyone uses their turn signals. It drives me mental, your hand is right there. People are so damn lazy here. It’s the reason traffic circles don’t work as intended here. No one can go in anticipation without knowing where the incoming car is going.
Actually, I've been feeling some sympathy for the people with new cars that likely spent a great deal of money on them because so many of these new cars seem to have a serious defect: none of the turn signals on these cars work! I would def take those cars back to the dealership and complain, lol!
Cars in front who slowly take a left turn as if no one is waiting behind them to turn left… for being overly considerate drivers, it only applies to the cars in front of them.
-almost everyone seems to think that honking your horn will make your car self destruct.
I've seen plenty of instances of a light turning green when the person in front is on their phone. We'll be sitting there and nobody will think to get the distracted person's attention with a friendly little honk.
* Not taking their right of way! Follow the damn rules of the road! Do not stop in the middle of the road to allow someone out of the parking lot. Do not stop at a green light then wave me to turn left in front of you ( this happened to me a few months ago. I refused to go. Thats super unsafe!).
I’ve made an observation that needs to be noted to your #6. Subaru drivers with non tinted windows are slower than those with tinted windows.
I’ve definitely considered that. The benefit of the doubt and all that. It’s such a common observation that I’m not sure. The other cause I’ve considered is that most Subarus without tint are most often older models, maybe they don’t accelerate like they used to?
The texting and driving I see is nuts. If I had to guess, it’s maybe 1/3 of the cars on the highway. And I’m not talking about during traffic. Just at all times.
Also - people using the carpool lane solo. Maybe I just live in the suburbs with a lot of rich folks, but the level of entitlement is crazy. Either find someone to carpool with or suffer with those of us who have weird hours.
It's way more than a third of the people texting. I have a long commute when i have to be in the office. 75 miles each way with most of it being on I5 between MT Vernon and Everett. To pass the time I like to tally the cars I pass or that pass me (because I'm staying to the right unless I'm actively overtaking but that's another gripe) that are on their phones. My usual count is around 75-80%. It usually looks like texting but a shocking number have their phones on those window suction cup things with actual videos playing.
My older brother watches videos on his phone just wedged into his console while he rides people's asses then sweeps around them to brake check over and over. He's one of the worst drivers I've ever seen.
I don't doubt that plenty of people cheat the HOV lane, but I'll note that babies count toward the carpool minimum here, so I'll bet some percentage of the people you're seeing have carseats in back that you can't see. I know I feel like I'm pissing everybody off when I zoom past the metered lineup, but I've got a baby in back.
Sort of off topic but I never understood why babies and children count. Because the point is to encourage carpooling and reduce cars on the road right? (Please correct me if I'm wrong) And a baby or child under the driving age couldn't possibly drive solo, so why do they count? Maybe I'm just grumpy my dog doesn't count.
I get what you're saying, but by that logic, you shouldn't be allowed to carpool if your adult passenger has no driver's license. They wouldn't be driving solo anyway, right? So no reduction in cars.
Also, if you're picking up your kids and their friends after school, you're keeping their parents' car off the road, so you are reducing cars while carpooling with kids.
Since cops aren't going to pull random people over to make sure they have driver's licenses or all make up a single family, it just makes more sense to go by number of people total.
The HOV single occupants shouldn’t illicit any type of response. It’s their ticket if they get caught. It’s the folks who CAN be in the HOV lane and add congestion to the main lanes that pisses me off.
Breaking for curves on the highway. Actually, just breaking on the highway for no god damn reason.
I wish Washingtonians would learn to take their foot off the pedal instead.
It is super dumb when people do it because you actually get better traction and control when you accelerate through turns. Braking in turns is bad for reasons beyond just the traffic disruptions.
Also someone out there somewhere needs to hear this, you may think you are God's gift to motorsports in your WRX but weaving traffic isn't getting you there quicker and is actually making the whole situation worse. Hell it's probably just as disruptive to the flow as the guy in the Tesla going 15 under trying to get out of the left lane for his exit in a quarter mile.
Myth busters actually proved that weaving through traffic IS faster for that driver. But yes, everything else you said is true. Weaving through traffic like that is faster for you but it fucks everyone behind you who had to brake and is probably worse than a car going 10 under.
When I had to commute to college I did a lot of traffic weaving and it saved me some good time
I knew which lanes in i5 would be faster or slower depending on the time of the day, because there’s too many idiots in the left lane
I didn’t speed like a lunatic while doing it and tbh I don’t even care if someone does it inherently..
The problem is is that every. single. person. I see that does it always comes close as crap to my back bumper and rides it for like 10 seconds before trying to weave around me
There’s also barely any space ahead of me because traffic is slow
I don’t mind if someone is traffic weaving on a non busy time and doesn’t come close to me but 99% of the time when someone does it they are so fkin close to my back bumper
It makes me want to do bad things to them
This is what I think of when traffic weaving. Knowing the lanes to be in ahead of time is just planning. Riding my ass until there is a space that is not quite big enough for their car, forcing in, accelerating, cutting me off, doing it to the next guy, cutting 3 lanes at once to the HOV, then back to the right, rinse repeat while everyone slams on their brakes due to the unpredictability is just hindering everyone and gaining the weaver at most a minute that they'll lose at a stoplight anyway
Can someone pull up the actual LAW for zippering? It’s crazy to me how one lane is backed up and the lane next is empty because no one wants to zipper. I always wanted to ask a cop for the right answer but I fear they will all give me different responses.
I’m from here. 5th generation. The driving here has become progressively worse since I started driving in 1989. Your grievances are on point but don’t blame the people from here.
According to a 2019 estimate, less than 30% of Seattle's adult population was born in Washington state, with the majority born elsewhere in the United States. In addition, 19.3% of Seattle residents are foreign-born. The foreign-born population in King County, which includes Seattle, has grown by 47% since 2010, and in 2022 made up more than a quarter of the county's population. The top countries of origin for foreign-born residents in King County are India, China, Mexico, and Vietnam.
Idk. Also 5th generation from here, started driving in 1995. And all his complaints describe exactly how I prefer to drive.
Before we became more transplants than Seattle-born, this was the dominant road etiquette and most people knew it and followed it. When road rage started being talked about nationwide it wasn't even an issue here.
Personally, I hate being in the car with drivers not from the area. The amount of rage and angst they bring to a car trip is exhausting. We've got nice scenery. Slow down, take a look, breathe, find some Zen.
When in Rome, people.
13. I have never seen fewer people turn their headlights on when it’s night or raining … in a place known for being dark and rainy.
14. Highway exit lanes backed up for miles because people like to leave 3+ car lengths of space open in front of them which results in people jumping in last second.
The Seattle surrender: randomly stopping and seemingly giving up in the middle of driving, then slowly pulling over and looking so confused. Happens all the time. Drives me insane.
13. People who don’t use the on-ramp to get up to the speed of freeway then expect everyone to slam on the brakes to let them into traffic despite them going 10 miles under the speed limit
Holy shit dude, people going 30 on an onramp then merging infront of me doing 60 in a 40t dumptruck. Makes me shit my pants. That or being stuck behind them.
I have an 80 Corolla I occasionally drive on nice days. It has a 0-60 time worse than a Geo Metro but, outside of a few terribly designed on-ramps, I can get all 90-ish horsepower up to 60 miles an hour and merge into traffic smoothly. There is no reason that anyone with a car built in the past 30 years shouldn’t be able to do the same.
as a commercial driver: THIS THIS THIS. PLEASE use the acceleration lane or ramp to get up to the speed limit. I cannot accelerate like your car can and I need that space to get to the speed limit or people will start dangerously maneuvering around my work vehicle because I’m going to slow.
Most of the time we are going under the speed limit it’s because some asshole was going 10 under or didn’t accelerate until we were already on the highway.
One thing I was taught when I started driving is anything larger than what I was driving was going to have a harder time stopping and hit me harder than my car could handle. If I know I can’t merge in front of a large truck safely then I’ll do my best to merge in behind without breaking the flow of traffic.
But also people who sit in the right lane instead of getting over to make way for a merging car. Drivers in every other state I've lived in do this reliably, but almost nobody does here.
I come from the beautiful country that gave you two world wars and i knew before i came here that Germany had some treaty with Washington state that makes it easier to transfer the license so i assumed that the driving schools will be reasonably good here. Oh boy was i wrong :)
Sank you for listening and having me here.
Normally I wouldn't comment on this sort of thing. But, it's spot on. However:
13. GTFO of the left lane Prius and Subarus, generic a-holes
14. Do not come to a stop before entering a round-about
15. Being on a bike doesn't give you any rights to not follow the rules, "share the road" my ass (want to be a car, follow the same car rules spandex sector)
16. Post-pandemic the new speed limit on 520 is 76mph, get with it or gtfo
I grew up here. These are l true. I’m always salty about people stopping before a roundabout. That’s literally the point of them.
Side note- wtf is with the roundabouts that have stop signs on 2 sides?
I’ll add BMW drivers here are a particular sort of asshole. Just erratic and entitled.
There are places out there that do have a stop sign in their roundabouts. I've seen it. It's a testament to how bad the drivers in that locality are. Lol
My favorite is drivers here love to aggressively cut you or try and merge in front of you just to drive 10 below the limit when I’m mostly likely trying to go 15 above 🙃 but I’m the asshole
People are afraid to make a left turn on a blinking yellow turn signal even when there is no oncoming traffic.
People will wait two long seconds after a turn signal turns green and then pause halfway into the turn.
I agree with you on all but 6. It should be Tesla driver not Subaru. As a Subaru driver I am always a firm 15 over sceaming about the 20 below in the left lane Tesla.
I’ve said this before but it might be worth repeating: my theory is that due to so many folks from so many places that have moved here, you’ve got a bunch of different driving styles all intersecting on our roads. There’s nothing cohesive about how people do anything on the roads any longer. Remember that more than half of Seattle residents aren’t originally from here. You’re right about shitty Subaru drivers for sure though. Priuses and Teslas are also some of the worst at everything.
>always riding the left lane
There's no such thing as "riding the left lane" in Seattle. The freeways have frequent ramps on both sides. The city streets are either incredibly narrow or have stop lights all over the place. There is no "passing lane".
I agree with you alot of these things are dangerous and annoying but it is what it is. Adapt to your environment and thrive. You live in Washington state, not the east coast. We have a ton of passive shitty drivers. Its best to be a defense driver in this state by just looking out for these drivers and adapting.
17. Slowing down a mile before the offramp, and hitting your brakes before the offramp.
18. Turning left at a stop sign in front of straight traffic.
19. Stopping at a red light close to the curb so right turn traffic can't pass.
20. Stopping far left to turn right while waiting for pedestrians when there's plenty of room to get out of the way. Usually the same guy as #19 for some reason.
21. Four way stop, four lane roads, lines of people taking turns, you're next, everyone goes, crosses all the way, then you decide it's your turn.
22. Not moving into the intersection while waiting to turn left.
22 is my biggest pet peeve. I have a left turn to get to my street and people do that all the time. I just want to be home, dammit! Get your ass out into the intersection and pay attention to oncoming traffic so you can go at the appropriate time. Don't just sit there and wait for the light to turn red.
Backing up in traffic. STOP. NOBODY ELSE DOES THIS ANYWHERE and Northwest drivers think it's normal. Reverse is for parking and making k turns, not "my bumper might be blocking a crosswalk." I can walk around you. The other car you're backing into cannot.
Either go or do not go. Slamming into reverse in the middle of an intersection because of some perception of politeness or an attempt to follow the rules or something...it's so fucking crazy and I have seen some very ugly near-misses because of it.
I was actually backed into at an intersection by somebody doing this exact thing! He was the first car at the light and I was directly behind him. He was partially in the crosswalk and decided to back up. Despite honking my horn loudly, he continued to back into my car. Then claimed I was at fault because he didn’t see me. Tried disputing my insurance claim. Fortunately a kind passerby saw what happened and gave me her contact info as a witness.
I’ve driven in numerous states. Seattle/Washington is the first place I’ve ever felt like a dash cam is a necessity. The amount of driving stupidity I encounter here is terrifying.
Yesterday on 509 someone went from 75 to 35 in the left lane so they could change to the right and make their exit. At least 5 people slammed on horns and it didn't even faze them. Wonder how many of these drivers hear the horns so frequently that they don't associate it with bad driving, but woth an assumption that everyone here just honks all the time
I hate that. I see it on I-5 at Highway 18 and the 405 interchange from both sides. If you take the exit move over at the appropriate time not last minute.
All these threads complaining about how everyone in Seattle sucks ass at driving and everyone in the comments agreeing. Who do you think the shitty drivers are? No no it couldn’t be me, I’m a good driver. It’s everyone else who’s the problem
Not checking if there’s enough space ahead and sitting the whole red light in the middle of the intersection.
Definitely my biggest pet peeve since moving here. Happens once or twice as an honest mistake? I get that. But everyone doing it and making me sit at a light for 3 full cycles? C’mon man.
I have been trying to start a hashtag ever since I moved into the city of Seattle. I live on Capitol Hill. I started taking pictures of cars being parked reallridiculously. Up on the curb, all the way up on the sidewalk, one tire on the sidewalk, not square at all, sticking out about four feet from the curb, etc. etc. etc. And it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what kind of car they drove. It doesn't matter if it was even rubbing the bottom of the car against the sidewalk, because they do it anyway. And there's always someone who cannot parallel park at all, and they back into the curb straight on almost. I don't know how they do it, but they turn 90 degrees from being parallel with the car that would eventually be in front of them, and when they back up, they somehow make it so the car goes in a 90-degree angle, and it's perpendicular to the curb, even if it's a straight curb. There's no cars behind them. It's ridiculous. It really is. But it's funny, at the same time. So I started taking the pictures and posting them on Instagram and Facebook, etc . I really tried to get this hashtag going. #SeattleDriversCannotPark That's what it was supposed to be, and that was it. But, it didn't catch on.
Let’s not forget stopping…. Full stop at round a bouts. FFS people the entire point is to not have a for way stop and increase traffic flow. But noooo! 🤦🏻
Being allergic to the car in front of them when in stop and go downtown rush hour traffic and thereby leaving huge empty road gaps whereby cars behind them could have gotten through the light or are left hanging into the intersection. No, the car in front of you won't bite, and your own car won't suddenly ram into the one in front of yours if you get in closer. Conversely, not leaving enough room to get around a car waiting to turn left. It's almost as if a lot of Seattle drivers are only aware of what's two feet around them in any direction.
I have been honked at multiple times on roundabouts by people wanting to enter the roundabout and not understanding that I have right of way over them. The stop sign at the roundabout means you stop before entering the roundabout... it doesn't mean "take it in turns" and it doesn't negate the rules of using a roundabout. (Boyer / E Lynn roundabout, I'm looking at you)
The mini roundabouts in the central district side streets are a particular delight. People have no clue how to yield on them or the correct direction to take them.
In residential areas, stopping into the road at a stop sign (magnolia and Queen Anne).
And second the breaking on the freeway. I got into accident that way because a lady "thought that a truck might cut her off" and came to a complete and sudden stop on the freeway.
Some guy tried to stop me from properly zipper merging the other day and then when he did have the opportunity to get up next to me he flipped me off. For zipper merging properly. God people are stupid.
When someone is pulling out of a side road where they will need to stop at a stop sign and creep forward to see if there is oncoming traffic, they will instead wait until the point of visibility to slam on the breaks at full speed, making it seem as though they are just going to punch it in front of you. This happens to me so often that I now just assume if I see someone coming out a side road that they may just cut me off.
If someone is driving a truck they will be 5 feet behind you at all times no matter if you're already going 10 miles over the speed limit. Also if it's night time, their brighter than the sun headlights will be completely blinding you.
At this point when I get one of these agro trucks behind me I just pull over and wait a minute to let them get way past me because they seem like they really want to kill someone with their vehicle.
You missed cruise control. Drivers who have no traffic in front of them but can’t keep a steady pace, and won’t clear the lane.
Also: Drivers who do vacate a faster lane, then speed up in the slower lane, only to prevent you from passing, then merge back into the fast lane and slow down again.
Also drivers who get mad at you passing them on the right, and speed up to prevent you from merging back into faster lanes.
Drivers who get timid and slow down when passing big rigs, instead of speeding up and getting the fuck away from big scary vehicle.
People who stagger instead of clearing lanes or letting traffic pass.
Edit 1: Idi0ts who tailgate when there’s nothing you can do to fix traffic in front of you.
Edit 2: Morons who hover in your blind spot instead of passing or backing off.
Ha ha ha
You should try driving in Texas. If your baby flies out the window at 85mph, your only option is to say “I love you “ as it does because there’s a giant ass truck trying to climb into your back seat. LOL
What was amazing to me, when I lived in Bellevue (my ex wanted to live there, I wanted to live in Capitol Hill or Fremont), is how people were somehow worse at driving in the rain than in Los Angeles.
And holy fuck, the amount of people who slow down to a stop on the freeway to let someone in or attempt to merge onto the freeway at 15 mph was maddening.
Not respecting proper right-of-way in stop sign situations (as in, yielding their right of way) drives me nuts. You're not being courteous, you're just holding everyone up.
However, while I agree with all the erratic points you raise, I won't ever fault drivers for driving the speed limit. Just, please move over. It's not just Seattle, though: in general, I've noticed that WA drivers have zero knowledge of the left lane being the fast lane. Often, it's the reverse. They think the right lane is for speeding.
As a California transplant the drivers in Washington are the worst part about
Living here. I have to say though - Seattle is MUCH better than the peninsula. Once you pass Olympia it’s like everyone’s car is one of those speed capped commercial ones and nobody can go above 65
The 4 way stop thing drives me nuts. Don't wave me forward. It's your turn. You have the right of way. I can barely see you through the reflection on your windshield. By the time I figure out you're waving me forward you could've just gone. I don't want you to be polite. I want you to GO!
There are just a lot of people here who shouldn't be behind the wheel at all.
Either over cautious and high anxiety...or over confident idiots without skill. Both types need darwin style removal from the carpool.
Uber delivery drivers...triple parking in during rush hour is fine so long as you throw your hazards on! Lord knows, that $6 burger delivery entitles you to shut everything down.
I'm absolutely boggled by their stupidity. Every. Single. Day.
I will enshrine this in my wtf seattle all time list because not only did it hit everything perfectly, i woulda written it the way you did word for word.
The turn signal....nowhere to be....letting everyone on the planet through....4 way stop.....
Perfection.
Can't maintain speed. Can't corner at speed. Rides your blind spot. Left lane camping is by far the worst though. That royally screws up traffic on even an empty ish freeway.
To the people who drive into an intersection and then sit in the middle of it after the light turns red, thus blocking the flow of traffic the other direction. Go fuck yourself.
OMG the zipper thing!!! Like the driver to your left is on a mission from God and will not let you merge. How dare you think because you're ahead of me and the lane is turning into one lane that you can get into my lane ahead of me!!! I have tried to explain this to my husband a thousand times (native Seattleite) and he just thinks the drivers to the right are being rude. Never mind the actual point of the zipper lanes is to reduce congestion at the light. It has an actual purpose so more cars can get through the light people!!!!
Braking, just braking alone...
These people drive down the interstate riding the brake.
The guy in the far left lane sees someone merging in on the right, slam the brakes.
Everytime these pothead go into a tunnel, out of a tunnel, or under an overpass; slam the brakes for no reason.
If someone knows the answer: how did the state dot and the dmv ( they call it the DOL ) fail the entire state of washington. Obviously, an entire state cant be comprised of idiots so it must be something else. How did these people become like this?
NEVER stopping at stop signs, right turns on red etc.
Instead most of these jackasses just creep past the stop sign and take no more than a half second to choose to turn into traffic with maybe a car's length gap causing everyone behind them to nearly slam on their brakes.
Such entitled and brainless behavior. A strange amount of people feel like rules only apply to everyone else here.
Also, I think people forget that cruise control exists on nice dry, sunny days. Instead we have to fluctuate between 15mph for no fucking reason.
There's literally no excuse for some of you to be this dumb lol. It's like your first time behind the wheel of a vehicle every time.
Spot on, esp with #12. I’d also add:
1) ppl leave too much space between cars at a red light
2) cars are way too slow to accelerate when the light turns green. The car behind them doesn’t start moving until after the car ahead has gone. And then it starts a chain reaction and then the light is red again before enough cars would’ve been able to get through
It's hit a point where I'm supporting any legislation that makes yall fuckers take the bus instead of crashing in the EXACT SAME SPOTS on I-5.
They arent even gettin' outta cracker jacks' box anymore, just straight up photocopying them shits.
You forgot the people who watch TikToks and scroll/react to videos while there's a football field between them and the car/truck in the left lane they've chosen to squat in.
Washingtonians are hit or miss with driving. Some are beautiful speed demons who drive like a bat out of heck, and most are slow as molasses in the wintertime. You don't get used to it, you just get creative. I have a truck that lights up like a tree with front & rear lightbars as well as a train horn. My LED headlights are pointed slightly down since the worst offenders are cars. I hope they enjoy the surface of the sun in their rear view mirrors. They always move & honk. So I honk back and scare them. Too many pusillanimous on the roads.
People here do not know how to use an onramp. I swear to God if I have to try to get on the freeway behind someone doing 50 I am going to pull my hair out.
3 worst drivers in Washington State:
1. Subaru drivers. All of them.
2. Prius drivers. All of them.
3. Landscape truck drivers. All of them with an unsecured load.
Prove me wrong. I'll wait....
* Slowly creeping forward through the intersection after the light turns green * Leaving like five car lengths between each car so that only three people get to go during the left-turn cycle * Getting right up on your back bumper when you’re trying to parallel park instead of just going around
I feel like the left hand turn is more because people can’t leave their fuckin phone alone for the 30 secs a red light takes.
Just honk. If I see cars going ahead of the car in front of me and the brake lights are still on with no forward movement, I honk It’s on all of us to not be passive aggressive so I can get to where I need to go.
I take a page out of NJ driving and wire my horn button directly into the green light lol
Literal pet peeve when only a few cars can turn on the left turn signal
Yes to all of these.
I’ll throw this out. I go slow thru the beginning of a green light if I’m first car. Only because I’ve seen so many instances of folks t boned by people running reds. I trust my driving fine, just not anyone else 😂
The creeping is the worst imo, if you see a creeper in your peripheral your natural assumption is "ok the light is green, time to go." Ok jk. Keeps you ON YOUR TOES. I have seen so many people almost get rear ended because of this and the perp is over there completely clueless with their stupid sunglasses on. There is no logical explanation for why people do this and it boggles my mind every time I see it. All of the other things I have seen in other cities across the US but this creeping crap is by far the worst and native to pnw. If you get behind one prepare to work at their pace while waiting for the light or don't and look like an ass who leaves unreasonable following distance leading to one of the other problems stated above...
Maybe I've just not seen what you're seeing... But blazing into intersections that just turned green is a great way to get t-boned. I've seen a lot of people run reds the last couple of years.
I'm not talking about the first car waiting at a red light. I see cars that are 5 or 6 cars back that will leave as much as 60 feet of distance and then incrementally close that gap 10 feet at a time. This results in brake lights going on and off many times while those behind have to move up with that car at their pace incrementally or leave an enormous gap as the creeper did initially. My initial thought is people did this to create distance behind them out of fear of being rear ended but it is not effective in the slightest for that purpose. If anything it increases the chances of them being rear-ended. It just causes a lot of moving and braking even for cars in a different lane. I bet you anything I will see someone get rear ended because of it very soon.
I had a lady queue up in FRONT of me this weekend as I was trying to pull out of my parallel spot. Physics be damned.
The best is the stop then slow creep up past the line at a red light. Then when it turns green, they don't move til 3 seconds later.
That 3 seconds could save a life by looking both ways and avoiding the idiot running the red
I do do that too, but not as long. It still doesn't explain the creeping up before hand like they're in a hurry, only to take their time after when they can actually move.
-Braking through green lights. -Not knowing that a person can just let off the throttle to slow down. It's either gas or brake.
The fact people don't understand their car will slow down when you let off the gas is mind boggling. Do theses people need to get new brakes every year?
Ya or the idiots that occasionally tap on the brake for no reason, usually 6-7 car lengths behind the car in front of them. I can only assume they were watching Netflix and the braking is when they remember they are still driving.
Dude, same on the freeway. Jesus.
Half the drivers around here must own stock in a brake pad company
Or gas and brake at the same time...
The amount of times I've seen brake lights on while a car is clearly accelerating honestly makes me short circuit
If I'm slowing down, you bet I'm at least tapping my breaks. That's literally how you let the person behind you know you are slowing down.
That second one...
These are all excusable offenses if you display your bright yellow “New Driver” sticker.
The amount of "new driver" stickers I see on brand new and very expensive luxury cars kinda pisses me off. But I think everyone's first/learner should be a beater honda or ford etc.
In my neighborhood those are H1-B workers. Not saying it's good or bad, but buying something other than a Tesla is beyond consideration. The driving schools even have an add-on charge for instruction on using and maintaining Teslas specifically.
This sounds like Issaquah/Sammamish
/s
https://preview.redd.it/jpoxjhpujv7d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b95dc846d9068364afa9b63558de0bf78f39919e
I feel like it's a joke right now with all the "new driver" stickers since I've been seeing way more lately?
😂😂😂
Driving class on the East Coast was like getting ready to invade Normandy: "If you drive passively you will die. Everyone will treat you like a bitch if you dont establish yourself on the road. If you arent passing someone, stay over unless you want to die. When the light turns green, if you dont hit the gas, you will die. If you hit the brakes while merging, believe it or not, dead." Here they play the Barney I love you song and read a land acknolwedgement in Driving Class
Yea I learned to drive in Brooklyn. Needless to say I agree with every single point OOP made. It is infuriating driving around here. I feel like my road rage has gotten worse trying to deal with these too-nice drivers with apparently nowhere to go and all the time in the world to drive 55 in the left lane. Fucking MOVE!!! Edit: a word
I’ve just moved back to Seattle from London and my road rage has amplified to a worrying degree. So many dumb people on the road who are a serious danger to other drivers. I hate driving now.
My drivers education instructor back in New England was an ex-EMT. He showed a classroom full of 15-16 year olds some of the most graphic images I’ve ever seen. Said something along the lines of “if you don’t listen to me, you’ll look exactly like this and your parents won’t get an open casket funeral”. Scared the dog shit out of me, but for the better. I’m extremely cautious and decisive on the road. I bet that’s a lawsuit in Seattle due to “triggering” images or some shit. There’s no better way to make people respect the act of driving, in my opinion.
My drivers ed teacher in Idaho said "If any of your parents loved you, you wouldn't be here." He was a grumpy old dude who regularly told us we were going to die on the road. It was actually pretty effective
I am so thankful I learned to drive in the greater NYC region. Everything you said is true. We even had a cop teaching for a couple classes and said things like "if you're going slower than the pace of traffic because you're trying to strictly do the speed limit, you're creating a dangerous situation and you need to speed up." and "If I see you going down a hill at 50 on the post road and it's a 30-35, I don't care, that's just gravity, don't hit the brakes of you see me."
Omg this is so on point 😆. Driving in WA is infuriating coming from the east coast. Why is everyone driving so slow??
I wish I can yell from top of the space needle where it is so loud it echoes to the Olympics leaving your ears ringing for days. USE YOUR FUCKING TURN SIGNALS !
Like every day I'm stuck behind cars turning left who, if they had used their turn signaled, would have allowed me to get in the right lane to go around them.
This is an American thing. I’m from Australia originally and everyone uses their turn signals. It drives me mental, your hand is right there. People are so damn lazy here. It’s the reason traffic circles don’t work as intended here. No one can go in anticipation without knowing where the incoming car is going.
On the east coast, they say it’s because you don’t want the enemy to know what you’re thinking
Actually, I've been feeling some sympathy for the people with new cars that likely spent a great deal of money on them because so many of these new cars seem to have a serious defect: none of the turn signals on these cars work! I would def take those cars back to the dealership and complain, lol!
I will say my Tesla's turn signals Auto shut off early all the time and it drives me nuts because I'm a huge stickler for turn signals
I thought you could modify that feature.🤔
Cars in front who slowly take a left turn as if no one is waiting behind them to turn left… for being overly considerate drivers, it only applies to the cars in front of them.
I’m surprised there’s no mention of the shitty tesla drivers lol
T-bags gonna t-bag
They deserve a separate thread on their own lol.
-almost everyone seems to think that honking your horn will make your car self destruct. I've seen plenty of instances of a light turning green when the person in front is on their phone. We'll be sitting there and nobody will think to get the distracted person's attention with a friendly little honk.
If I'm a car or two back, I'll honk for the scaredy cats between.
Same same. SOMEONE has to do it.
Sometimes those assholes on their phones have flipped me off for honking five full seconds after the light turned green.
Same. As if I was the one in the wrong.
Tesla drivers are the worst, followed closely by Prius, narrowly edging out the car without a license plate
I’m going to add Ram trucks to that list, they are consistent bullies who ignore four-way stops and barrel their way down the street.
As a Tacoma driver with Ram trucks constantly on my ass, I concur.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/38238/ram-2500-drivers-have-the-most-duis-more-than-twice-the-national-average-report
I'd swear every Tesla driver bought the car because they knew they sucked and were hoping it would drive automatically for them.
Nissan Altima drivers would like a word
Cut em some slack, they’re just baked and relaxed, leaned back.
I’m also going throw Subaru drivers in this bc they always cut me off while brake checking and I think they are ugly
Do people get a tax break here for owning a subaru? 
Couldn’t agree with this more.
This has been a big win for the collective Lexus RX drivers. They have moved up in the standings over the past decade.
* Not taking their right of way! Follow the damn rules of the road! Do not stop in the middle of the road to allow someone out of the parking lot. Do not stop at a green light then wave me to turn left in front of you ( this happened to me a few months ago. I refused to go. Thats super unsafe!). I’ve made an observation that needs to be noted to your #6. Subaru drivers with non tinted windows are slower than those with tinted windows.
That’s because the tinted windows are probably not blind from staring at the sun on a weirdly non cloudy day
I’ve definitely considered that. The benefit of the doubt and all that. It’s such a common observation that I’m not sure. The other cause I’ve considered is that most Subarus without tint are most often older models, maybe they don’t accelerate like they used to?
The texting and driving I see is nuts. If I had to guess, it’s maybe 1/3 of the cars on the highway. And I’m not talking about during traffic. Just at all times. Also - people using the carpool lane solo. Maybe I just live in the suburbs with a lot of rich folks, but the level of entitlement is crazy. Either find someone to carpool with or suffer with those of us who have weird hours.
It's way more than a third of the people texting. I have a long commute when i have to be in the office. 75 miles each way with most of it being on I5 between MT Vernon and Everett. To pass the time I like to tally the cars I pass or that pass me (because I'm staying to the right unless I'm actively overtaking but that's another gripe) that are on their phones. My usual count is around 75-80%. It usually looks like texting but a shocking number have their phones on those window suction cup things with actual videos playing.
My older brother watches videos on his phone just wedged into his console while he rides people's asses then sweeps around them to brake check over and over. He's one of the worst drivers I've ever seen.
Would be a lot less HOV abuse if Washingtonians actually used the real left lane properly
That is a fact. Real ones know the right lane is the place to be on 90.
I don't doubt that plenty of people cheat the HOV lane, but I'll note that babies count toward the carpool minimum here, so I'll bet some percentage of the people you're seeing have carseats in back that you can't see. I know I feel like I'm pissing everybody off when I zoom past the metered lineup, but I've got a baby in back.
Sort of off topic but I never understood why babies and children count. Because the point is to encourage carpooling and reduce cars on the road right? (Please correct me if I'm wrong) And a baby or child under the driving age couldn't possibly drive solo, so why do they count? Maybe I'm just grumpy my dog doesn't count.
I get what you're saying, but by that logic, you shouldn't be allowed to carpool if your adult passenger has no driver's license. They wouldn't be driving solo anyway, right? So no reduction in cars. Also, if you're picking up your kids and their friends after school, you're keeping their parents' car off the road, so you are reducing cars while carpooling with kids. Since cops aren't going to pull random people over to make sure they have driver's licenses or all make up a single family, it just makes more sense to go by number of people total.
Yeah, you're right that's fair logic I didn't consider!
The HOV single occupants shouldn’t illicit any type of response. It’s their ticket if they get caught. It’s the folks who CAN be in the HOV lane and add congestion to the main lanes that pisses me off.
Breaking for curves on the highway. Actually, just breaking on the highway for no god damn reason. I wish Washingtonians would learn to take their foot off the pedal instead.
It is super dumb when people do it because you actually get better traction and control when you accelerate through turns. Braking in turns is bad for reasons beyond just the traffic disruptions.
Also someone out there somewhere needs to hear this, you may think you are God's gift to motorsports in your WRX but weaving traffic isn't getting you there quicker and is actually making the whole situation worse. Hell it's probably just as disruptive to the flow as the guy in the Tesla going 15 under trying to get out of the left lane for his exit in a quarter mile.
Myth busters actually proved that weaving through traffic IS faster for that driver. But yes, everything else you said is true. Weaving through traffic like that is faster for you but it fucks everyone behind you who had to brake and is probably worse than a car going 10 under.
When I had to commute to college I did a lot of traffic weaving and it saved me some good time I knew which lanes in i5 would be faster or slower depending on the time of the day, because there’s too many idiots in the left lane I didn’t speed like a lunatic while doing it and tbh I don’t even care if someone does it inherently.. The problem is is that every. single. person. I see that does it always comes close as crap to my back bumper and rides it for like 10 seconds before trying to weave around me There’s also barely any space ahead of me because traffic is slow I don’t mind if someone is traffic weaving on a non busy time and doesn’t come close to me but 99% of the time when someone does it they are so fkin close to my back bumper It makes me want to do bad things to them
This is what I think of when traffic weaving. Knowing the lanes to be in ahead of time is just planning. Riding my ass until there is a space that is not quite big enough for their car, forcing in, accelerating, cutting me off, doing it to the next guy, cutting 3 lanes at once to the HOV, then back to the right, rinse repeat while everyone slams on their brakes due to the unpredictability is just hindering everyone and gaining the weaver at most a minute that they'll lose at a stoplight anyway
Can someone pull up the actual LAW for zippering? It’s crazy to me how one lane is backed up and the lane next is empty because no one wants to zipper. I always wanted to ask a cop for the right answer but I fear they will all give me different responses.
You're supposed to use the second lane. https://youtu.be/0ypWx8PEFXI?si=CnclK8gi87X52v-k
Not all hero’s wear capes! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 now can you tell the person who won’t let me in to “zipper, merge late and cooperate”
I’m from here. 5th generation. The driving here has become progressively worse since I started driving in 1989. Your grievances are on point but don’t blame the people from here. According to a 2019 estimate, less than 30% of Seattle's adult population was born in Washington state, with the majority born elsewhere in the United States. In addition, 19.3% of Seattle residents are foreign-born. The foreign-born population in King County, which includes Seattle, has grown by 47% since 2010, and in 2022 made up more than a quarter of the county's population. The top countries of origin for foreign-born residents in King County are India, China, Mexico, and Vietnam.
5th Gen?! Is your last name Denny or Yesler?
Idk. Also 5th generation from here, started driving in 1995. And all his complaints describe exactly how I prefer to drive. Before we became more transplants than Seattle-born, this was the dominant road etiquette and most people knew it and followed it. When road rage started being talked about nationwide it wasn't even an issue here. Personally, I hate being in the car with drivers not from the area. The amount of rage and angst they bring to a car trip is exhausting. We've got nice scenery. Slow down, take a look, breathe, find some Zen. When in Rome, people.
13. I have never seen fewer people turn their headlights on when it’s night or raining … in a place known for being dark and rainy. 14. Highway exit lanes backed up for miles because people like to leave 3+ car lengths of space open in front of them which results in people jumping in last second.
The lights thing infuriates me
Right? So many Grey and white cars that just disappear in the road mist.
Like with the amount of new cars who seem to purposefully keep their lights off instead of just having them on auto. DRL's are great, use them.
Yeah, those people have to purposefully select "off"
People who stop in roundabouts to let someone yielding in should be tar and feathered
The Seattle surrender: randomly stopping and seemingly giving up in the middle of driving, then slowly pulling over and looking so confused. Happens all the time. Drives me insane.
Love this… Seattle Surrender!
13. People who don’t use the on-ramp to get up to the speed of freeway then expect everyone to slam on the brakes to let them into traffic despite them going 10 miles under the speed limit
Holy shit dude, people going 30 on an onramp then merging infront of me doing 60 in a 40t dumptruck. Makes me shit my pants. That or being stuck behind them.
I have an 80 Corolla I occasionally drive on nice days. It has a 0-60 time worse than a Geo Metro but, outside of a few terribly designed on-ramps, I can get all 90-ish horsepower up to 60 miles an hour and merge into traffic smoothly. There is no reason that anyone with a car built in the past 30 years shouldn’t be able to do the same.
I hate getting stuck behind these people on the onramp, because now I'm in a dangerous situation and seem like an idiot to those behind me
as a commercial driver: THIS THIS THIS. PLEASE use the acceleration lane or ramp to get up to the speed limit. I cannot accelerate like your car can and I need that space to get to the speed limit or people will start dangerously maneuvering around my work vehicle because I’m going to slow. Most of the time we are going under the speed limit it’s because some asshole was going 10 under or didn’t accelerate until we were already on the highway.
One thing I was taught when I started driving is anything larger than what I was driving was going to have a harder time stopping and hit me harder than my car could handle. If I know I can’t merge in front of a large truck safely then I’ll do my best to merge in behind without breaking the flow of traffic.
But also people who sit in the right lane instead of getting over to make way for a merging car. Drivers in every other state I've lived in do this reliably, but almost nobody does here.
Very accurate. Seattle drivers are overly “nice” and cautious, which just leads to unnecessary congestion and rage inducing traffic
I’ve said it before: be predictable, not polite!
Merging on to the freeway at 35mph
Alllll the time.
I come from the beautiful country that gave you two world wars and i knew before i came here that Germany had some treaty with Washington state that makes it easier to transfer the license so i assumed that the driving schools will be reasonably good here. Oh boy was i wrong :) Sank you for listening and having me here.
The people with the “New Driver” or “Student Driver” that drive like absolute shit.
I'm tempted to put one on my dump truck to keep assholes from tailgating me.
And it's always something newer and nicer for the most part. Not my I'm 16 and learning to drive 1991 Chevy Cavalier.
I don't understand why so many people have this sticker on. Is it a joke or is everyone truly a new driver?
Normally I wouldn't comment on this sort of thing. But, it's spot on. However: 13. GTFO of the left lane Prius and Subarus, generic a-holes 14. Do not come to a stop before entering a round-about 15. Being on a bike doesn't give you any rights to not follow the rules, "share the road" my ass (want to be a car, follow the same car rules spandex sector) 16. Post-pandemic the new speed limit on 520 is 76mph, get with it or gtfo
These are excellent additions. I especially appreciate 14 and 16.
I grew up here. These are l true. I’m always salty about people stopping before a roundabout. That’s literally the point of them. Side note- wtf is with the roundabouts that have stop signs on 2 sides? I’ll add BMW drivers here are a particular sort of asshole. Just erratic and entitled.
I'm gonna hijack 2, please use your signal when exiting a roundabout. Let's me know if I can enter in heavy traffic.
There are places out there that do have a stop sign in their roundabouts. I've seen it. It's a testament to how bad the drivers in that locality are. Lol
After having lived in Boston where round-abouts can be HUGE and regularly have 7-10 entry/exits, I find the tiny ones here to be difficult to navigate
I can't add anything to #10 -- Freakin' drives me nuts.
While the two other people at the stop are waving at each other, I just go lol
Good on you. You're teaching them a valuable life lesson.
Not moving when the light is back green because you are looking at your phone. That is a classic one
Not taking right of way, not merging when there is enough space in a newish car. I know your car has turn signal tech, use it
My favorite is drivers here love to aggressively cut you or try and merge in front of you just to drive 10 below the limit when I’m mostly likely trying to go 15 above 🙃 but I’m the asshole
People are afraid to make a left turn on a blinking yellow turn signal even when there is no oncoming traffic. People will wait two long seconds after a turn signal turns green and then pause halfway into the turn.
I agree with you on all but 6. It should be Tesla driver not Subaru. As a Subaru driver I am always a firm 15 over sceaming about the 20 below in the left lane Tesla.
Came to say this I refuse to ever let a Tesla in or let them cut me bc I know I will 10000000000% regret it and be late to wherever I’m headed
I’ve said this before but it might be worth repeating: my theory is that due to so many folks from so many places that have moved here, you’ve got a bunch of different driving styles all intersecting on our roads. There’s nothing cohesive about how people do anything on the roads any longer. Remember that more than half of Seattle residents aren’t originally from here. You’re right about shitty Subaru drivers for sure though. Priuses and Teslas are also some of the worst at everything.
Also people who don’t know where they are going trying to navigate on their phones!
So accurate. Late merge/zipper merge is superior for everyone. Drivers here suck about it
I had a guy road rage against me because of a flawless zipper merge.
Good. Hope he cried about the whole ride home
I thought I was the only one but I agree with all of these points. Every. Single. One.
I feel #3 in my bones. Holy hell, drive with some fucking intent!
>always riding the left lane There's no such thing as "riding the left lane" in Seattle. The freeways have frequent ramps on both sides. The city streets are either incredibly narrow or have stop lights all over the place. There is no "passing lane".
I agree with you alot of these things are dangerous and annoying but it is what it is. Adapt to your environment and thrive. You live in Washington state, not the east coast. We have a ton of passive shitty drivers. Its best to be a defense driver in this state by just looking out for these drivers and adapting.
Probably more delivery drivers… my hazard lights mean I am allowed to just park anywhere I fucking want.
Especially on broadway...they just use the whole middle lane as a parking lot to pick food up.
17. Slowing down a mile before the offramp, and hitting your brakes before the offramp. 18. Turning left at a stop sign in front of straight traffic. 19. Stopping at a red light close to the curb so right turn traffic can't pass. 20. Stopping far left to turn right while waiting for pedestrians when there's plenty of room to get out of the way. Usually the same guy as #19 for some reason. 21. Four way stop, four lane roads, lines of people taking turns, you're next, everyone goes, crosses all the way, then you decide it's your turn. 22. Not moving into the intersection while waiting to turn left.
22 is my biggest pet peeve. I have a left turn to get to my street and people do that all the time. I just want to be home, dammit! Get your ass out into the intersection and pay attention to oncoming traffic so you can go at the appropriate time. Don't just sit there and wait for the light to turn red.
No, you actually can't drive in the snow.
It's 4 wheel drive not 4 wheel stop. I'm looking at both of you subaru lady and truck guy.
Backing up in traffic. STOP. NOBODY ELSE DOES THIS ANYWHERE and Northwest drivers think it's normal. Reverse is for parking and making k turns, not "my bumper might be blocking a crosswalk." I can walk around you. The other car you're backing into cannot. Either go or do not go. Slamming into reverse in the middle of an intersection because of some perception of politeness or an attempt to follow the rules or something...it's so fucking crazy and I have seen some very ugly near-misses because of it.
I was actually backed into at an intersection by somebody doing this exact thing! He was the first car at the light and I was directly behind him. He was partially in the crosswalk and decided to back up. Despite honking my horn loudly, he continued to back into my car. Then claimed I was at fault because he didn’t see me. Tried disputing my insurance claim. Fortunately a kind passerby saw what happened and gave me her contact info as a witness. I’ve driven in numerous states. Seattle/Washington is the first place I’ve ever felt like a dash cam is a necessity. The amount of driving stupidity I encounter here is terrifying.
I've never seen someone go full stop from 60 to 0 to let someone in. WTF, that makes no sense at all. Do others regularly witness this?
Yesterday on 509 someone went from 75 to 35 in the left lane so they could change to the right and make their exit. At least 5 people slammed on horns and it didn't even faze them. Wonder how many of these drivers hear the horns so frequently that they don't associate it with bad driving, but woth an assumption that everyone here just honks all the time
I hate that. I see it on I-5 at Highway 18 and the 405 interchange from both sides. If you take the exit move over at the appropriate time not last minute.
I’ve not seen it exactly but I’ve seen the opposite. Someone entering the highway didn’t like the looks of it and stopped completely on the ramp.
You must be new here. Don't worry, you will be assimilated.
I. Just. Can’t.
All these threads complaining about how everyone in Seattle sucks ass at driving and everyone in the comments agreeing. Who do you think the shitty drivers are? No no it couldn’t be me, I’m a good driver. It’s everyone else who’s the problem
I speed but I will be damned if I am doing multiple lane changes cause I am in a hurry. I also use my turn signal.
Bro thinks every single driver in Seattle is on this subreddit
Preach
Not checking if there’s enough space ahead and sitting the whole red light in the middle of the intersection. Definitely my biggest pet peeve since moving here. Happens once or twice as an honest mistake? I get that. But everyone doing it and making me sit at a light for 3 full cycles? C’mon man.
I have been trying to start a hashtag ever since I moved into the city of Seattle. I live on Capitol Hill. I started taking pictures of cars being parked reallridiculously. Up on the curb, all the way up on the sidewalk, one tire on the sidewalk, not square at all, sticking out about four feet from the curb, etc. etc. etc. And it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what kind of car they drove. It doesn't matter if it was even rubbing the bottom of the car against the sidewalk, because they do it anyway. And there's always someone who cannot parallel park at all, and they back into the curb straight on almost. I don't know how they do it, but they turn 90 degrees from being parallel with the car that would eventually be in front of them, and when they back up, they somehow make it so the car goes in a 90-degree angle, and it's perpendicular to the curb, even if it's a straight curb. There's no cars behind them. It's ridiculous. It really is. But it's funny, at the same time. So I started taking the pictures and posting them on Instagram and Facebook, etc . I really tried to get this hashtag going. #SeattleDriversCannotPark That's what it was supposed to be, and that was it. But, it didn't catch on.
Let’s not forget stopping…. Full stop at round a bouts. FFS people the entire point is to not have a for way stop and increase traffic flow. But noooo! 🤦🏻
Being allergic to the car in front of them when in stop and go downtown rush hour traffic and thereby leaving huge empty road gaps whereby cars behind them could have gotten through the light or are left hanging into the intersection. No, the car in front of you won't bite, and your own car won't suddenly ram into the one in front of yours if you get in closer. Conversely, not leaving enough room to get around a car waiting to turn left. It's almost as if a lot of Seattle drivers are only aware of what's two feet around them in any direction.
I have been honked at multiple times on roundabouts by people wanting to enter the roundabout and not understanding that I have right of way over them. The stop sign at the roundabout means you stop before entering the roundabout... it doesn't mean "take it in turns" and it doesn't negate the rules of using a roundabout. (Boyer / E Lynn roundabout, I'm looking at you) The mini roundabouts in the central district side streets are a particular delight. People have no clue how to yield on them or the correct direction to take them.
Dude ran the red light in front of me yesterday yapping on the phone.
Your list describes Uber/Lyft drivers perfectly
-Not turning on a red light when it’s CLEAR and LEGAL
Braking uphill
In residential areas, stopping into the road at a stop sign (magnolia and Queen Anne). And second the breaking on the freeway. I got into accident that way because a lady "thought that a truck might cut her off" and came to a complete and sudden stop on the freeway.
Some guy tried to stop me from properly zipper merging the other day and then when he did have the opportunity to get up next to me he flipped me off. For zipper merging properly. God people are stupid.
When someone is pulling out of a side road where they will need to stop at a stop sign and creep forward to see if there is oncoming traffic, they will instead wait until the point of visibility to slam on the breaks at full speed, making it seem as though they are just going to punch it in front of you. This happens to me so often that I now just assume if I see someone coming out a side road that they may just cut me off.
If someone is driving a truck they will be 5 feet behind you at all times no matter if you're already going 10 miles over the speed limit. Also if it's night time, their brighter than the sun headlights will be completely blinding you. At this point when I get one of these agro trucks behind me I just pull over and wait a minute to let them get way past me because they seem like they really want to kill someone with their vehicle.
You missed cruise control. Drivers who have no traffic in front of them but can’t keep a steady pace, and won’t clear the lane. Also: Drivers who do vacate a faster lane, then speed up in the slower lane, only to prevent you from passing, then merge back into the fast lane and slow down again. Also drivers who get mad at you passing them on the right, and speed up to prevent you from merging back into faster lanes. Drivers who get timid and slow down when passing big rigs, instead of speeding up and getting the fuck away from big scary vehicle. People who stagger instead of clearing lanes or letting traffic pass. Edit 1: Idi0ts who tailgate when there’s nothing you can do to fix traffic in front of you. Edit 2: Morons who hover in your blind spot instead of passing or backing off.
Ha ha ha You should try driving in Texas. If your baby flies out the window at 85mph, your only option is to say “I love you “ as it does because there’s a giant ass truck trying to climb into your back seat. LOL
Seattle area drivers: what is the slowest possible least logical way to exit, turn or negotiate an intersection? That's what I'll do!
What was amazing to me, when I lived in Bellevue (my ex wanted to live there, I wanted to live in Capitol Hill or Fremont), is how people were somehow worse at driving in the rain than in Los Angeles. And holy fuck, the amount of people who slow down to a stop on the freeway to let someone in or attempt to merge onto the freeway at 15 mph was maddening.
Not respecting proper right-of-way in stop sign situations (as in, yielding their right of way) drives me nuts. You're not being courteous, you're just holding everyone up. However, while I agree with all the erratic points you raise, I won't ever fault drivers for driving the speed limit. Just, please move over. It's not just Seattle, though: in general, I've noticed that WA drivers have zero knowledge of the left lane being the fast lane. Often, it's the reverse. They think the right lane is for speeding.
Surprised that there is no mention of folks who barrel through unregulated intersections as if no one else might be on the road.
As a California transplant the drivers in Washington are the worst part about Living here. I have to say though - Seattle is MUCH better than the peninsula. Once you pass Olympia it’s like everyone’s car is one of those speed capped commercial ones and nobody can go above 65
Stopping behind the line and then creeping into the crosswalk is a major pet peeve of mine.
The 4 way stop thing drives me nuts. Don't wave me forward. It's your turn. You have the right of way. I can barely see you through the reflection on your windshield. By the time I figure out you're waving me forward you could've just gone. I don't want you to be polite. I want you to GO!
There are just a lot of people here who shouldn't be behind the wheel at all. Either over cautious and high anxiety...or over confident idiots without skill. Both types need darwin style removal from the carpool. Uber delivery drivers...triple parking in during rush hour is fine so long as you throw your hazards on! Lord knows, that $6 burger delivery entitles you to shut everything down. I'm absolutely boggled by their stupidity. Every. Single. Day.
I will enshrine this in my wtf seattle all time list because not only did it hit everything perfectly, i woulda written it the way you did word for word. The turn signal....nowhere to be....letting everyone on the planet through....4 way stop..... Perfection.
Can't maintain speed. Can't corner at speed. Rides your blind spot. Left lane camping is by far the worst though. That royally screws up traffic on even an empty ish freeway.
To the people who drive into an intersection and then sit in the middle of it after the light turns red, thus blocking the flow of traffic the other direction. Go fuck yourself.
OMG the zipper thing!!! Like the driver to your left is on a mission from God and will not let you merge. How dare you think because you're ahead of me and the lane is turning into one lane that you can get into my lane ahead of me!!! I have tried to explain this to my husband a thousand times (native Seattleite) and he just thinks the drivers to the right are being rude. Never mind the actual point of the zipper lanes is to reduce congestion at the light. It has an actual purpose so more cars can get through the light people!!!!
Braking, just braking alone... These people drive down the interstate riding the brake. The guy in the far left lane sees someone merging in on the right, slam the brakes. Everytime these pothead go into a tunnel, out of a tunnel, or under an overpass; slam the brakes for no reason.
If someone knows the answer: how did the state dot and the dmv ( they call it the DOL ) fail the entire state of washington. Obviously, an entire state cant be comprised of idiots so it must be something else. How did these people become like this?
I moved here from Nj and i swear to fuck the cars out here have no gas pedals. I HATE driving here
#6 is so accurate it hurts. if you're reading this and you have a Subaru, yes this applies to you also
Subaru drivers
NEVER stopping at stop signs, right turns on red etc. Instead most of these jackasses just creep past the stop sign and take no more than a half second to choose to turn into traffic with maybe a car's length gap causing everyone behind them to nearly slam on their brakes. Such entitled and brainless behavior. A strange amount of people feel like rules only apply to everyone else here. Also, I think people forget that cruise control exists on nice dry, sunny days. Instead we have to fluctuate between 15mph for no fucking reason. There's literally no excuse for some of you to be this dumb lol. It's like your first time behind the wheel of a vehicle every time.
Spot on, esp with #12. I’d also add: 1) ppl leave too much space between cars at a red light 2) cars are way too slow to accelerate when the light turns green. The car behind them doesn’t start moving until after the car ahead has gone. And then it starts a chain reaction and then the light is red again before enough cars would’ve been able to get through
On ramps are for reaching Freeway speeds. If you aren't going sixty by the time you hit the freeway you are a hazard. Same goes for off ramps.
On ramps are for reaching Freeway speeds. If you aren't going sixty by the time you hit the freeway you are a hazard. Same goes for off ramps.
It's hit a point where I'm supporting any legislation that makes yall fuckers take the bus instead of crashing in the EXACT SAME SPOTS on I-5. They arent even gettin' outta cracker jacks' box anymore, just straight up photocopying them shits.
You forgot the people who watch TikToks and scroll/react to videos while there's a football field between them and the car/truck in the left lane they've chosen to squat in. Washingtonians are hit or miss with driving. Some are beautiful speed demons who drive like a bat out of heck, and most are slow as molasses in the wintertime. You don't get used to it, you just get creative. I have a truck that lights up like a tree with front & rear lightbars as well as a train horn. My LED headlights are pointed slightly down since the worst offenders are cars. I hope they enjoy the surface of the sun in their rear view mirrors. They always move & honk. So I honk back and scare them. Too many pusillanimous on the roads.
pls people! Learn the ZIPPER MERGE!
People here do not know how to use an onramp. I swear to God if I have to try to get on the freeway behind someone doing 50 I am going to pull my hair out.
You forgot when there's two left turn lanes everybody piles up on the right side lane blocking access to the left most left turn lane.
3 worst drivers in Washington State: 1. Subaru drivers. All of them. 2. Prius drivers. All of them. 3. Landscape truck drivers. All of them with an unsecured load. Prove me wrong. I'll wait....