Freeway Foibles and Follies

The observations seen by this writer are merely observation and shouldn't be read as behavior ascribed to the general driving public. Many of you are good drivers and I applaud it. I drive to work each day from Duvall to Seattle. Yes, it's not the ideal commute, but work requires it. Over many years of driving this commute, I've witnessed driving habits that are amusing, uninspiring and often hazardous.
Before continuing, I confess that I often err on the side of "offensive driving" versus "defensive", but is often more helpful than not knowing how to react at all when driving conditions are less than perfect and avoiding an accident.

What spawned this little treatise happened yesterday near an on-ramp at the end of Hwy. 520. A car in the right lane, next to a merge lane, drove out of his lane, back into the merge lane and proceeded to try to pass vehicles on the right shoulder trying to get around a large truck. What happened after that was even crazier. A car in front of the truck he was trying to pass, pulled onto the shoulder to block him and then the large truck eliminated the gap so not to let the car in car back in the lane. What resulted was the driver being blocked off the road and having to merge many vehicles back from where he started. I've seen people drift over into that merge lane before, but not trying to pass, but to block this type of driver behavior. Now I know why. This is typical of the Seattle style of driving enforcement I've seen on other occasions, but never quite like that.

To merge or not to merge. In Seattle, we do it like we're merging in the grocery aisle. No after you...no after you..., and so forth until we've completely stopped on the onramp. Sound crazy? This is a common occurrence on the mercer onramp going north on I-5. The Washington State Drivers Handbook states, "When you merge with traffic, signal and enter at the same speed that traffic is moving. High-speed roadways generally have ramps to give you time to build up your speed for merging into traffic." I've often been given the single digit hand gesture for doing just this. I'm not passing you on the merge, I'm trying to get up to speed to avoid stopping the flow of traffic (and in this case, it merges from the left to the right and must be done quickly in order to connect to the East-bound Hwy. 520).

I used to ride the bus to work years ago and did so for many years. High above on the bus, I'd see people talking on their cell phones, putting on make-up, shaving, reading books or papers, searching for items in their car (in the back seat) - often all at the same time.

I'm sure you also have stories (cell phones, left-hand lane dawdlers, passing just so you're one car ahead, etc.), but after witnessing the merge, re-merge incident, I thought I'd seen it all. Getting behind the wheel anymore is an adventure. Be safe, be alert.