Road Rage, revisited.

[Larry Caldwell]

There is one place in the USA where the unsantioned but dominate conventions of hiway driving are reversed. This is the 33 mile I5 corridor in Washington State between Tacoma and Seattle. I observed this when I first moved there in the mid-seventies, and has continued right up today. By reversed, I mean that the slow lanes are the ones to the Left, and the fast lanes are those on the Right. Of course, this is not how it is supposed to work. There is something about that corridor that needs to be studied.
I have a theory.
All the places along this, that have areas for police to park and use radar, are on the center strips of land between the N/S hiway lanes. They never use the left hand side for speed enforcement. Drivers in the right hand lanes know this, so they tend to follow the posted limits, plus 5 over, as everyone else does in the US.
You end up with a whole stream of evenly spaced cars all going exactly 5 over.
This blocks any radar readings for the left lanes. These left lanes tend to be less stacked up, as the only reason you would be there is if you were taking the next exit. It is in these lanes that people will excessively speed in, but not to take the exit, but to pass lots of people and then quickly lane merge back in to the more right lanes. Then do it all over again after the road re-expands to four lanes to provide for more upcoming exits.
If you do visit the PNW in this area, just notice how many times other cars are changing lanes, and changing them for no apparent reason.
I think its a game to some drivers that they can WIN on their I5 commute, though I can't see the win, cause I'm the guy in the left lanes doing a steady 5 over, like everyone else and have not changed any lanes, yet I see them changing 20 to 30 times their lane and they are still, no more or less, ahead or in back of me as they do have to slow down for the folks that are taking the exit.
I think the game is really, just that momentarily, they get to drive much faster, and feel the thrill of being a race car driver.

Interesting. We get a lot of Washington drivers here in Southern Oregon. In fact, most of the cars on I-5 are either from California or Washington. I don't have a problem with California drivers. They git and go, though they often do it 10' off your rear bumper. Washington drivers tend to loiter in the fast lane. It's particularly bad in the rain, because they get blinded by truck spray, so they slow down to the same speed as the truck, side by side.

That said, it's the trucks that really irritate me, particularly the wheel holders who will try to pass at 30 mph on a 3-mile grade, and end up gaining half a truck length by the time they get to the top. Put all that freight on rails where it belongs and there wouldn't be a diesel shortage. Plus, car drivers would actually get to use the freeway.

 

[MossRoad]

I could go along with that, if it included people who feel the need to blow it every time they lock their vehicle. I've had it happen in a parking lot as I was right in front of the car, and instinctively almost jumped on the hood because I thought I was about to be run over.

Funny thing, I lock my truck with the remote all of the time but very rarely does the horn/alarm sound off.

Normal people press the button once and know that the door is locked.
Only geniuses press the button multiple times and know it is super-locked!

 

[jaxs]

That is... insane, just absolutely insane lol. If the yield sign was for the highway traffic it would be... facing the highway traffic.

The sign facing traffic says use all lanes until some lanes end then maintain speed while taking time about merging. Can't risk confusing drivers by having them read too many signs.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't have to. I'm not one who has to hear their horn wave goodbye everytime that I leave the vehicle. I also know that if I hit the button twice it will make the horn sound; and my control has a separate button to sound the horn in emergencies.
I haven't tried that one yet.

The red button on our 2003 Suburban remote is very sensitive. So sensitive, that I hang it on a hook as soon as I come back in the house, because I've set it off multiple times just walking around the house. It also works pretty good to find your car in the lot. However, I've taken to always parking next to a cart rack. That way, if I lose my car, I don't have to search the entire parking lot, only about 20 cart corrals and I should find it.

 

[jaxs]

About 15 years ago, I would drive my wife to work every day, drop her off, then head to my work parking lot a couple blocks away, almost exactly at the same minute every day. For several weeks, almost daily, I'd see the same woman in the same car coming from my right as I'd pull out of her parking lot. I could see her pass everyone through the intersection by using the right turn lane. Then she'd do it again in the next intersection to my left. And I'd pull out and follow her and she'd do it again at the next two lights, then sail off west. Some day's she'd pass me at different lights, but always those same four intersections around the same time every morning. So one day I followed her to see where she was going in such a hurry. She was heading to a plant on the west side. She'd pass multiple cars through the parking lanes, bike lanes, turn lanes. I was amazed. This wasn't just a one time thing. It was a daily occurrence of probably a dozen or more offenses. Really dangerous.

So I called the cops and told the above story. They said they'd have to witness it to do anything about it. So I said hey, trust me. Just sit at X location between 7:45-7:50 and you'll witness it.

Two days later they had her pulled over. And a few days later they had her pulled over again. I never saw her again after that. She probably changed her route.

Speaking of pissing other drivers off,that should do the trick.

 

[MossRoad]

Speaking of pissing other drivers off,that should do the trick.

Hey. She was cutting off 3-4 cars per intersection, speeding, not signaling, and being a general danger to the public daily and repeatedly for weeks on end in a crowded downtown setting. She was going to hurt or kill someone sooner or later.

I've called in overly aggressive and suspected drunk drivers, too. Couple years ago, my wife and I witnessed a hit and run. I chased that car down in half a block and we got the license number and a photo of the car and returned to the scene and gave the information to the police. Turned out I knew the passenger in the car that got hit. They and the police thanked us.

Part of the problem with things today is people that won't say anything when they see something like that, then are the first to say someone should have done something when it happens to them.

 

[ultrarunner]

I could go along with that, if it included people who feel the need to blow it every time they lock their vehicle. I've had it happen in a parking lot as I was right in front of the car, and instinctively almost jumped on the hood because I thought I was about to be run over.

Funny thing, I lock my truck with the remote all of the time but very rarely does the horn/alarm sound off.

Some are wired that way and disabling means no horn.

A horn saved me big time…

Driving downtown and moving van in front decides to back up… I had no where to go and laid on the horn and another driver saw what was about to happen and laid on the horn and disaster averted.

The only time the horn is for fun is when getting ready to leave the staging area on a Model A tour… anywhere from a dozen to 30 Model A’s heading out as a group and there is bound to be lots of Ahooga horns as they get underway.

Sometimes a few Wolf Whistles thrown in for good measure!

 

[jaxs]

So ya'll have been startled and annoyed by people blowing horns? Ever had anything worse than this happen to you? Tired and sleepy semi driver headed home in wee morning hours after a long trip had to pull over and lean on the wheel for a little sleep. A prankster co-worker 45 minutes behind saw him, turned around, eased up nose to nose,turned his dome lights on and layed on the horn. Poor guy said he was certain his time on earth had ended.

 

[LD48750]

Thinking back, I can't even remember how many vehicles I have had that I don't even know if they HAD a working horn.

 

[cqaigy2]

I tap on my horn if i see the neighbor outside the house. I've done quick repetitive honks at people, mostly parking lots, when it looks like they will hit my car. I don't use my horn as a way to assuage my anger with another driver.