That's Rule #3.

It's not the congestion or the gridlock that bothers me so much. I have worked and commuted in many major cities, here and abroad. Congestion is a necessary evil. What really bugs me is the lack of courtesy and the passive/aggressive attitude that I seem to only find in Seattle and Minneapolis. Sorry again to air out my frustrations, tried to do it with at least a little bit of humor. I realize there is nothing in this world I could do about it. What would be nice in a perfect world would be if people allowed you to merge onto the highway, allowed you to change lanes when you've done the textbook mirror/signal/blindspot check and move right if your not passing anybody. Every single day one of the above happens to me, usually more than once. I used to think it was just oblivion that caused people to drive like that here. But after about the thousandth time that you've synced your vehicle, coming off the on ramp, to make the proper merge, only to watch somebody gun it and block you at 60 on the highway, trying to force you into the wall (just for the sake of not being one more car behind), you begin to realize that the innocent, polite persona that you see everywhere else here, leaves as soon as some people get behind the wheel. I didn't mean to piss anybody off, but I'm sure there are people here who can relate, laughs on me this time.

Cheers, I'm at the ferry, the nightmares almost over for this week.

Yep
As much as I hate LA, if your doing 70 in a 60 and cars are passing you on the right, you will get a ticket for impeding the flow of traffic (it is enforced there)

On I-15 down around Escondido, if your doing less than 105 in the left lane you're holding up traffic. If you want to do 70, you better stay in the right lane with the Semis and RV's or you'll get creamed.

Don't kid yourself. I have driven all over this country ( keeerist, I drove a 20' budget truck from Utah to D.C. and a year later from D.C. to this sun forsaken place) and other than the goofs outside of Yakima and Centralia, you Orebongians are a bunch of hall monitors or pace cars. 'Scuse me, but I'm passing you one way or another....Yes the shoulder will work to get away from your asses....In my rearview mirror....'

I love the huge 5 mph backup going in either direction, and 5 miles and 30 minutes later you realize it was an accident on the other side of the freeway, and everyone must have forgot to watch Cops the night before because they have to hit the brakes and stare. Or it could be the even bigger problem to stare at, a car with a flat tire on the shoulder.

Hankster,

You're actually making the most sense about the subject of commuting. Live near your work. The notion of living the idyllic country life and commuting without an extreme hassle into the city for its better paying jobs is the most unreasonable expectation and possibly the peak of idiocy. "Ya' can't have it both ways," shouldn't be hidden away in the fine print. The real difficulty I think is for the unskilled and semi-skilled workers who are needed desparately in the city, but cannot possibly afford to live there in anything that isn't sub-human accomodation.

The real need I think is for those commutes from the suburbs to become so heinous that commuters will seriously consider an adjustment to a more rational lifestyle. Hence I support smaller roads, not larger and better freeways, which just feed, rather than cure, the disease. I think Americans, with the love affair with the single occupant vehicle will only switch to alternative transportation when that alternative actually gets them where they're going significantly faster than driving. As long as white knuckle road rage driving will get them to the office 20 minutes or less later than mass transit, they will continue to prefer the dysfunctional SOV/freeway system.

Sg

I'll probably never be able to afford a home in Medina, Mercer Island or Queen Anne. I used to live in downtown (Belltown), what I could afford before I purchased. My secure parking garage was broken into on 5 different occasions, each time my truck was targeted. I know, I'm stupid for not handtrucking all of tools from the pickup up into the 700 sf condo I was living for 1300/month every night. I still had to commute to whatever neighborhood to perform a days work. My unskills pretty much dictate that I work in neighborhoods that have houses on the low end starting at seven digits, everyone in my family put together couldn't afford one of those homes. So I think I get it now, I was too poor to afford a good college education that made me rich by 30, had to get by with technical education out of a community college, so that places me at the peak of idiocy, and so I don't deserve to be here in your neighborhood anyway? Should have just applied for welfare right out of the gate and saved everyone the misery, instead of trying to better my and my families situation. Next life, when I'm born into poverty again, I'll just do my best to stay there and save you poor city folk the misery of someone that knows how to use a blinker. Point taken.



So what are people that drive for a living supposed to do??

Question of the day since Washingtonians consider light rail & mass transit a Commie Plot.

(Especially since almost none of them have ever had to use it.)

Trust me. If I could take a bus to the current job-site I am on and be on time I would do it. Frees up my hands to listen to good jams and catch up on some reading. The shame train never scared or shamed me. $4.oo a day to commute beats the price of gas and $15.oo a day to park.

Gee, I wonder why that is? A 11 billion dollar West Seattle to Ballard line...including engineering and trains being bought from the French!

Then they piss away 250 million down the drain with nothing to show but egg on their face!

I'd be nice if they turned the Burke-Gilman Trail back into a rail line that ran commuters around lake Washington. I'd pay for that.

I was up in Seattle yesterday getting onto 520 from Montlake and met the asshole who punched it and sped up 5 carlengths just to try and keep me from merging from the onramp. He sped up so much he had to slam on his breaks to narrowly avoid slamming into the car infront of him.

If I didnt have my family with me I would have followed him home & pistol-whipped him. Instead I just gave him a 1 finger salute.

That was you? My bad...

i would love to live near where i work, but the situation in thurston/pierce/king counties is such that it would seem that few can afford it without a 6-figure salary. those that work in seattle live around tacoma, guys that work in tacoma live in olympia, and those that work in olympia live in centralia or other outlying towns. i know that i've been effectively priced out of the market on anything close-in to town. i'd rather live in a small house close to the city than have a big yard and commute.

Fishpolelease,

I wasn't trying to make this personal and hope you don't think so. Sad fact is as human populations get really large, it's impossible, given the economic reality of supply and demand, for any but the affluent and those who can or will accept sub-standard accomodations to live in or near the city core. And it still applies that it's economically and physically impossible to have it both ways - living in the suburbs or rural areas and commuting quickly and efficiently. The experts willing to be honest about it say it's impossible to spend or build our way out of gridlock. So if you're among the middle class who can find your best employment opportunity downtown, I don't see any alternative forever into the future except long commutes that absolutely suck. They're bad now, and it's gonna' get worse.

Quite honestly, there have been jobs I'm interested in that are in the Seattle area. I don't even look at them because I'm not willing to commute from Oly and I'm not willing to pay that much for housing, assuming I even could.

Chum Man,

Without an alternate reality then, much of the middle and lower economic classes are doomed to miserable commutes. If there's a way out of gridlock, and I'm not sure that there is, it's gonna' take a ton of buses and possibly a sophisticated train system.

When I have to commute the I-5 corridor, I wonder why the heck there isn't a commuter train running up and down the median that links to east-west buses at the major interchanges. I hate sitting in stop and go as much as the next guy and took my present job knowing I don't have to depend on an I-5 commute. I'm just worried that the arterials I use could get as bad. Of course I can resort to my bicycle if car traffic gets too slow.

Sg

That's good news, I was worried all weekend that one of my favorite "posters" hated me for being the guy in the big white fleet vehicle, (my bad for the misinterpretation). Honestly, I know grid lock will never, ever relent. As population grows, so will the highways, and so will congestion.

Today will be extra fun on the roads. ;-)

Got the 1 finger wave this morning on 167 @ 4:30 a.m. . Dude is going 50 mph in the far left lane. Picked my spot got around him. Out came the friendly greeting. What happened to slow traffic KEEP RIGHT? Then jackweed came flyin by me right before 405 exchange. Go firgue. Must have been a BOEING engineer or a state road worker.

Make the driving test a bit harder so that people who actually pass the test KNOW how to drive. We're putting people on the roads who have NO business whatsoever behind a steering wheel. That's one way to reduce congestion.

Get people off the roads who are driving on suspended licenses. It may not be PC to say it but those folks can ride the bus. We do have an excellent bus system in the region.

Traffic congestion is now solved.

If you want to blend in with KingCo drivers, get a lobotomy.