Seattle Bubble

Where have you lived?

Moving toSeattle from NYC 10 years ago, I thought the exact opposite was true.

In Seattle, in spite of laws giving Peds the right of way, I found Peds were very differential to cars, almost never jay-walked, and seemed to be fine passing through life standing on corners, waiting for malfunctioning walk signs to change.

Drivers of cars, on the other hand, pay little attention to the road, drink their lattes, talk on their phones, and blow through crosswalks without evening looking. The Escalades merge into bikers, driving them into curbs, make right-on-reds while chatting with their yoga instructors, while pedestrians scurry and jump out their way to avoid being crushed to death.

In NYC, the exact opposite is true. Cars drive with a reckless talent, driving with a consciousness and skill which makes them and all pedestrians, who jaywalk with impunity, much safer.

If drivers paid a little attention, and actually followed to law giving the pedestrians the right of way, it would be a much better city.

Now this is an interesting topic and one that is near and dear to my heart. Traditionally, Seattle had a very contractual view of car/pedestrian interaction. The social contract was that pedestrians wouldn't jaywalk, and cars would yield to pedestrians at crosswalks. As a result, some of us developed what might seem like aggressive or reckless walking habits within our legal rights. I still won't cross against a (functioning) crosswalk light or in the middle of block (unless it's a side street without controlled intersections) and though I do keep more of an eye out for aggressive drivers, I will lay claim to my right to cross with the light (within reasonable limits - I won't jump in front of a car at 30mph at the last second).

For me, adherence to this implicit social contract has become something of a matter of pride in my cultural heritage. With the massive influx of new residents over the past couple of decades, however, the contract has basically been shredded. Too many people moved in too quickly for proper cultural integration to take place. It's a shame, too, because there's not much left that speaks of old Seattle. A handful of Ivar's restaurants, Dick's hamburgers, and that's about it. No more Almost Live!, Ballard's about as Scandinavian as a Subaru, and Boeing's a shadow of it's former self. Ah, well. Maybe they'll at least build a new viaduct instead of a tunnel.

I remember when I first moved to Seattle. The drivers were HILARIOUS.

Slow as turtles. My favorite "episode" was when I was driving westbound on the 520...I was in the right lane...traffic was fairly light (not wide open but flowing at 40-50)...the person infront of me actually STOPPED to let someone in at the Montlake entrance before the I-5 split.

ROFL.

I'm amazed on a daily basis at the incompetent driving. The level of "rolling roadblocks" is astounding (driving in the left lane under the speed limit). There's aggressive driving and then there's assertive driving. Seattlites are annoyingly non-assertive - to the point of extreme incompetence.

Why doesn't anyone wave anymore when you allow them to pull into your lane in front of your car?

"Why doesn't anyone wave anymore when you allow them to pull into your lane in front of your car?"

I'd start one question back from this: why do people take 30 seconds to get over when you've clearly left them tons of room and are signalling for them to do so. So incompetent.

The biggest problem with bicycles is the idiots who think they're a car when its convenient for them and a pedestrian when its convenient for them, and like to blow through 4-way stops at 30 mph because pedestrians have the right of way...

The cars seem almost completely schizo around seattle though. You see the uber timid drivers who can't merge and won't take their turn at a 4-way stop. but if you're a pedestrian you run the risk of being flattened by a car taking a right turn on red, or just getting flattened right in a crosswalk...

"The biggest problem with bicycles is the idiots who think they're a car when its convenient for them and a pedestrian when its convenient for them, and like to blow through 4-way stops at 30 mph because pedestrians have the right of way... "

What I don't understand is who is this a problem for? Either they are doing something truly dangerous, in which case Darwin will be proven right again, or they are just being efficient or perhaps increasing their own safety.

I was once chased for 10 blocks by a women who was behind me and watched me roll through a stop sign at an empty intersection (much like I, and many others do with a stick-shift). She finally caught me, rolled down her window as if to yell something. I just stopped and looked at her, and we both laughed.

She seemed to realize that her self righteousness had crossed some line of insanity, and she was suddenly embarrassed.

I admit that it my relative youth, commuting downtown most every day for 8 years, I broke many, many laws (and paid my tickets when caught). Generally my indescretions were to actually increase my safety, however. Cars were so unaware of my existence, I often had to force the issue to avoid the possibility of maiming or death. If it meant breaking a law, so be it. A bit of driver frustration was a small price to pay for preservation of life and limb.

I was hit by cars half a dozen times - fortunately never more serious than some scrapes, bruises and a bent tire. Virtually every time, the driver said "sorry, I wasn't paying attention and didn't see you!" So I started making dang sure drivers around me were aware of me, even if it pissed them off and bent a law or two.

Unless you ride downtown every day, you simply wouldn't understand.

Now that I work a bit north, I find it much easier to ride safely and generally obey all the laws (except the silly stop signs every 50 feet on the Burke in LFP).

I live in New York for 7 years so I am "a bit" of a aggressive driver. The first thing I did with my new car is to install a set of Hella Superhorn, and I use it daily, there are just too many stupid drivers on the road. I wave people in depending on my mood and whether or not they are just taking advantage, for example, taking the exit lane to go as far head as they can in a traffic jam and expect to cut back in the last minute, I hate that.

I am paranoid with the padestrians here, I slow down at crosswalk regardless if it's green or red. They are too full of themselve to realize metal is harder than flesh. See, New Yorkers don't make that mistakes, because a taxi cab will hit your ass, get out and spit at you. *joking*.

I've tried to rescue one person that died and it was traumatic enough, I don't need a bicyclist splattered all over my hood...

I didn't understand the popularity of Subaru here -- I read that Volvos are safer and sturdy; hybrids reduce gas consumption; SUVs abound because 95% of the population apparently heads for the mountains, but the Subarus didn't seem to have a Seattle niche, and yet most of my neighbours seem to have 'em: Foresters, Legacies, Outbacks.

Then I read that nationally, Subarus are the preferred brand of lesbians. I haven't actually met a lesbian in Seattle who drives a Subaru, although I do commonly see lesbians in my regular Seattle travels. But I wonder now if everyone, including the hetero men I know, who drives a Subaru secretly craves to be a lesbian.

How is it that one auto manufacturer can add to a lesbian stereotype, yet as far as gay men go, there's no one auto manufacturer here that can add to their stereotype?