Comments on Robert Jamieson: Seattle's Andy Rooney
Maybe people wouldn't ride your bumper and flip you the bird while merging if you actually merged at freeway speeds! I hate those people who go 40 on the onramp as if they don't realize they are getting on the freeway.
Zing!
Talking about shitty drivers is soooooo done. It's done. It has been done by every blog and daily rag from every city in every state and it has been done in every country. It's done.
Note to stand-up comedians: Yes, it is done for you guys as well.
Good job Erica!
I hope you put this on your resume!
When will the Stranger hire a reporter just to cover the local media?
This column does seem weird.
Is his point that we're too timid and polite ... or is his point that we try to beat reds and drive 50mph in a 35 and cut people off?
Seems like a contradiction.
Meanwhile, with all the news that's going on in town, Jamieson's writing a column complaining about bad drivers???
What's up with all the honking lately, anyway?
Shitty drivers are everywhere, to be sure. And if we had a Goddamned train I could ride to work, I could avoid them.
HAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAA
I am not sure what is more pathetic, the Jamison's post or the fact Erica felt moved to put it on slog.
He might be a crotchety old fart, but Seattle drivers do suck. No concept of the "fast lane", stopping on on-ramps instead of accelerating to the speed of traffic ... I see this all the time, and it's ridiculous.
Josh wrote:
"Meanwhile, with all the news that's going on in town, Jamieson's writing a column complaining about bad drivers???"
And Josh and Erica are taking time out of their busy days to comment on said column.
Keep it up!
ECB wins the round.
Sometimes it's impossible to get up to the speed of traffic on an on-ramp. My first car was a Beetle and I lived in a city that had very steep, very short on-ramps. I considered myself lucky if I managed to get to 40 mph before I had to merge.
Seattle drivers aren't the most aggressive, but of all the cities in which I've lived or visited, they're definitely the most clueless. Before I moved here, I was almost hit by a car a grand total of three times. Here, I have that many near misses each week.
To his credit, at least Jamieson acknowledged the possibility that some of the problem may be caused by the fact that so many people from other parts of the country (although he only cites the dreaded Californians) have moved into this area in the past few years, bringing with them their old driving habits, and thus creating a situation where lots of driving styles are in conflict with each other.
I've always asserted that this, and the fact that whiners really can't tell for certain whether the "moron" in front of them is from CA, NY, NJ, IL, BC, et al, but still invariably assume they're from Seattle has as much to do with our lack of some sort of uniform traffic etiquette as anything else.
But, yeah. The subject is pretty much a dead horse these days, which of course explains why Jamieson is just now getting around to flogging it.
He should try driving the 128 around Boston at rush hour sometime. Freakin' survival of the fittest, man. West Coast drivers are lambs compared to the maniacs-on-wheels in the northeast.
Way to pick on an Alzheimers victim, Erica.
@6: The number of honks in the entirety of Seattle on any given day is still less than those on 5th Ave. in Manhattan on any given MINUTE.
These kids today with their so called fixer-gear bi-cycles are ever so frightening to me. When I was their age I rode a free-wheel bi-cycle and counted myself lucky! That's all we had, but we didn't take it for granted like these young folks today.
Why just the other day I was hobbling down to the corner store for some milk of magnesia when I saw one of these wild eyed ragamuffins going like gang-busters down a hill! Why during the Great War we knew better than to ride a fixered-gear bi-cycle down hill! It's suicide!
I blame this "punk" rock craze I read about in the Seattle Times. "Punk" rock has made the younger generation lose all respect for proper bi-cycling, and I'm fixing to write a genuine tirade against it. I believe once the "hepcats" read in my news-paper what twenty-five years of bi-cycling have taught me they will be down right ashamed and will return to by-cycling the way it was meant to be done.
The sound of honking in Manhattan is a sort of zen or ambience that's similar to the sound of slot machines in a large casino in Vegas. You either synchronize or you go fucking mad.
Great, well then, move back to Manhattan and take your stupid honking horn with you.
I've visited Manhattan many times but never lived there, and I'm not a fan of honking. But Seattle is one of the least honkin'est big cities in the country, so get yourself some earplugs or effecient headphones, Will, because it doesn't get any quieter for a city.
i don't know if seattle drivers drive while dumb, but i would say a large majority of them seem completely unaware of what is going on around them. that goes for pedestrians too. there's something wrong with a people who starts into a crosswalk with headphones on and reading a book ... i've seen it. cyclists (motor and pedal) on the other hand seem to be more vigilant. i guess you'd have to be if you're only inches away from pavement with nothing to protect you.
a people = a person ... sheesh!
Emmett Watson lives!!!
This idiot has obviously never lived or driven in NYC or Boston.
@21
Ignore him. He usually never replies and he's always an idiot.
In Boston using your turn signal is a sign of weakness. So is slowing down for a stop sign.
In San Juan Puerto Rico people honk the second the light turns green like it's a sport.
In Seattle people honk at you when you crowd the line two car lengths in front of you because they're afraid or something...
I grew up here and still live here but have driven or had a train ride in cities in about 40 states. So... Shut it. Wish I could ride the train to work instead of 3 bus rides.
@26 - that's what we say about you.
Look, if you moved to Seattle and you think we should honk - tough. This is Seattle. We don't honk.
Deal with it.
people don't honk here like they honk in any other city. they honk so infrequent it is ridiculous. on a trip to chicago during the summer, the amount of jaywalking and honking led me to believe it was a municipal past time of chicago.
@28
We? What, you think you're people? Alright. Whatever.
Your horn is there for a reason. If you choose not to use it, and someone is doing something, and you hit them, it is partially your fault.
Plus, you shouldn't be driving. Our public transportation system is sufficient. You big Red Bushie.
Ever notice that the whole city NEEDS coffee to function? I swear, after coming home (to Seattle from a tropical island) for a week last year, I was shocked at the zombies walking around this town. This has to be the most chronically-depressed city in the world, full of navel gazing and whatnot.
It's already been scientifically proven that Boston beats every other city in America as the home of the nation's worst driving. As well as being the largest case of collective constipation on the planet. Bran muffins for the Massholes ASAP, please.
Just go.
Pay attention and go. Then stop. Then go.
Ms. Barnett: Driving while 90? He's in his 30s. Just like you. xxooRegina
Say what you will about the old coot but he's right. Seattle has some of the dumbest drivers I've ever witnessed.
xxooRegina? Professional!
@ 28, speak for yourself. i use my horn all the damn time, especially when i'm in a hurry in my SOV, crawiling across crappy 520. and i was born and raised here.
Heh, brappy - ZOMBIES! You got that right. Zombies with drivers licenses. Zombies have no common sense. They walk THROUGH the door to get into the car. Nnnnnrrrrrr.
@28 - my horn is there in case I'm about to literally crash into someone or run them over.
Not as a musical instrument.
This is Seattle. Stop honking. And get over yourself.
Honk if you spot Will in Seattle. :-)
will's commenting on his own comments now ... i think someone needs a good, loud honk.
Say what you will about Jamieson's column (I will say that it's terrible), if the columnists job is to elicit debate, he's done it, even over here on the Slog!
P.S. I'm fourth-generation Seattleite, and after moving to NYC for nine years and getting the passive-aggressiveness stomped out of me, I honk freely. The horn exists to signal other drivers, like that they aren't seeing that the light's green, or they're trying to merge into space that you are occupying. Or that they suck. If you use your turn signal and your trunk, I'm not sure why you wouldn't use your horn.
@39
You have a lot of nerve telling anybody to get over themselves.
Mr. Connected-to-everything knows-everybody-on-the-face-of-the-planet I've-been-there I've-done-that.
If I ever hear you honk your horn, I'll throw a fucking brick at you. And it will magically come out of nowhere. Kind of like I'll magically one day hear you honk your stupid horn.
I blame the Grunge Rock music!
Robert Jamieson is a horrible columnist--shallow--never does any research--goes for the obvious--nothing to contribute to the debate. Joni Balter must be his muse.
Sometimes I read the P-I and wonder if any of these writers ever actually go outside.
Sometimes I read Regina Hackett and I think about killing myself.
All 47 of these comments is basically defending the mindless twit that is the Seattle driver. You are all mindless twits then, too.
Seattle drivers are clueless, oblivious, slow-to-respond, passive (not passive-aggressive, but passive), and untalented drivers--all in a way that drivers are NOT in most other places.
Worse, Seattleites lack basic driving knowledge. Like none of them took the "theory" section of a driver education class. They don't know what the laws say about how to deal with traffic circles. They don't know how to deal with bicyclists or pedestrians.
One of the worst traits of Seattle drivers is that they will never honk unless someone is violating what they *perceive* to be a driving rule--even if it's not (because, as I just said, Seattleites don't know anything about the laws of driving).
I'm sorry to disappoint 47 other posters, but SEATTLE DRIVERS ARE STRONG CANDIDATES FOR THE LEAST TALENTED DRIVERS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. And if you don't think so, you're part of the problem here.
Idiots.
OH yes, youngblood, I am so with you on that. If it's a "dead horse," then why the fuck do we still have stupid drivers? It's a LIVE issue and I'm on FIRE about it...
Seattle drivers are terrible, horrible, ew! I tell my midwest relatives that I-5 is the worst highway ever, not because it's hella packed, but because THESE IDIOTS ALL THINK THE LEFT LANE IS THE SLOW LANE, leaving others who are actually going fast no choice but to zip by in the rightmost lane. I don't get it. Please, try to not pass on the right. Don't normalize it...wait, too late.
I have seen stretches of I-5 from a distance, and vehicles are all huddled up against the left lanes, brake lights flashing.
PEOPLE !! If you're going to go the speed limit, stay in the RIGHT LANE. If you need to pass someone, PASS ON THE LEFT.
DON'T STAY IN THE LEFT LANES!
Why, Seattle, why? I see this every time I've been on your freeways. It's horrible.
Also. Give me a fucking break. I lived in Minneapolis FOR FIVE YEARS and biked all year round and was never hit, and never really even had a close call.
In Seattle? Within a year, I had been "bonked" on my bicycle TWICE by inattentive drivers (one didn't apologize, just offered me orange juice...fucker) and don't even get me started on close calls.
I hate HATE HATE the driving 'culture' that is Seattle. Wake up please. Stop texting PLEASE. I see you doing it, just stop.
Morgan!! WTF?! CALL ME!!!
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