Comments on: A neighbor asks drivers to ’slow down’

By: Hmmf

Hmmf — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:01:50 +0000

Or eggs.

By: SPG

SPG — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 07:26:47 +0000

Keep eating that paste Ralphie.

By: SPG

SPG — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 07:25:35 +0000

We've had Ralphie, and Nelson both weigh in, a reference to Otto, but where's Flanders? Oh, wait I think Flanders is putting those green people out there!

By: SPG

SPG — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 07:23:41 +0000

That left on 15th has nothing to do with going the wrong way around the traffic island. The fact that someone at the DOT or a cop on the beat isn't up on the law or how these things were designed doesn't excuse going the wrong way around them either.
There's the correct way and the incorrect way. You are choosing the incorrect way. Now you know, so you can't plead ignorance to it. You can try to justify it, like the people who don't wear seatbelts, but you're still wrong.

By: tiktok

tiktok — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:12:25 +0000

You're mistaken–it's not legal to do that.

By: stopthebuzz

stopthebuzz — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:36:41 +0000

I had to keep up with the hyperbole, so yes I realized.

There is a risk with every single left hand turn. Period. Everything you describe is a risk that can happen while turning left. I turn left from 15th onto 60th and have to contend with oncoming cars in the middle lane, pedestrians crossing 60th, bikes traveling quickly down 15th crossing 60th, bikes traveling slowly UP 15th, two lanes of oncoming cars AND potential cars speeding to the stop sign 6oth, which is limited in places to 1 lane due to parked cars on either side.

I prefer my chances taking a left at an occasional traffic planting.

The fact that the law (and it's enforcers) is ambiguous leaves me perfectly comfortable with doing it my way. And i appreciate you drawing out the worst case scenario in every situation, I still wager that a turn from 15th's center lane is a sh**ton more dangerous than the times i choose to go left instead of right (where i could STILL encounter idiots coming from the right, ahead, etc.)

By: SPG

SPG — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:52:30 +0000

With all my snark, I forgot to even address the real comment.
My point here is that taking the left at a roundabout involves more potential for collision than going around the right. You may be fine doing it 99.9999% of the time, but even after looking and assessing your risk, you still have to admit that you are in less of a position to dodge the unexpected.
I've seen far too many people who get comfortable going to the left come around and nearly go head on with someone trying to turn right.
The other problem is that even though you may be looking and not going faster than 15mph while making your left, the idiot coming up the street could easily be going over 40mph leaving both of you in a potentially dangerous situation.
The fact that some law enforcement is ambiguous over this doesn't give you reason to use these roundabouts counter to the way they were designed to be used.
Just because you do it, doesn't make it ok.

By: SPG

SPG — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:40:18 +0000

I do loves me some of that hyperbole and anecdotes!

BTW, you did realize you ended your post with some hyperbole? Glad to see your joining the OOHAAS (Overusers Of Hyperbole Anecdotes And Sarcasm) glad to have you as a member.

By: SPG

SPG — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:36:36 +0000

Nobody honks in Seattle. No matter what the circumstances, a honk seems to be an invitation for a fight around here…so weird.

By: Fancy

Fancy — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:16:46 +0000

If they mind, they would honk at me, like you did. I have never been honked at. Ergo by your logic, I know they don't mind. Thank you.

By: Fancy

Fancy — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:13:01 +0000

The code says to ride as far the the right as is safe, and three feet awway from parked cars is safe. That three feet puts me nearly in the center of the road on our parked-up narrow side streets. I do pull to the right when it is safe to do so as well. If that means a car is tracking with me for a block, then that is the way it goes.

By: stopthebuzz

stopthebuzz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:45:35 +0000

you say cutting a corner or taking an unnecessary risk, I say making a left turn after assessing the risk and determining it to be safe. As evidenced by the confusion in this thread, the statute is open for interpretation as there is not even consensus amongst law enforcement (and yes i've asked as well.)

making a safe left turn != speeding down side streets. So while you say in one sentence that you believe i'm not being over the top irresponsible, you liken my behavior to speeding down side streets.

Keep up with the hyperbole and anecdotes you love so much.

as you said, every accident that happens like this starts with "I didn't see..." so maybe we should all just never leave our houses.

By: SPG

SPG — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:30:51 +0000

Every accident that happens like this is described after the fact with the words “I didn't see ___”
I know you're not careening around traffic circles throwing beer cans out the window, but why are you so proud of taking the unnecessary risk of cutting the corner when you don't have to? Especially since the rules on this state that you're supposed to keep right?
Know what? I'm gonna keep on speeding on the side streets. I'll look and make sure it's safe, but I'll keep speeding on the side streets anyway because it's more efficient for me.

By: SPG

SPG — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:25:23 +0000

“The few cars that are occasionally inconvenienced by this don't seem to mind.”
How do you know? Do you know that the car speeding isn't rushing to the hospital?
True story, I had a coworker get their hand clipped by a tablesaw. Blood everywhere, fingers dangling so we jump in the car and take off to the hospital since it would be faster than waiting for an ambulance. Halfway there some jackass decides that we shouldn't be speeding and pulls in front and slows down. Weaving to prevent us from passing, we're beeping, he goes slower. The guy kept that up right up until we pulled into the ER entrance of the hospital. Thanks.

By: Fancy

Fancy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:24:07 +0000

I was being facetious yesterday.

I repeat, I ride in the middle of the road because it is safer than right next to parked cars. I do not impede traffic for more than a block at a time. And based on this thread which is about slowing cars down on arterials, I feel pretty justified.

By: stephomy

stephomy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:13:05 +0000

I'm thinking of putting up a sign by my road that says:
“Warning children at play…
…parents with rocks”

By: nelson

nelson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:53:13 +0000

HA-HA!

By: Bella

Bella — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:37:52 +0000

Oh geez, I don't think we were being truly serious, since we already discussed the fact that some vehicles (like buses) are too big to go around and are therefore exempt and get to go to the left.

By: stopthebuzz

stopthebuzz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:37:46 +0000

I said i take the turn like I do any other left, which is to say that I signal and make sure no other cars are coming and not at 20 miles per hour. You jumped to the conclusion that i'm careening around without a care in the world. I don't make unsafe turns. I don't go left if the circle is overgrown and I can't see oncoming traffic or if there are cars parked at the intersection blocking my view.

No matter what left I make, if another car is coming your cute driver's ed anecdote is the story. Your facts are cute, but they're overkill.

By: ralphie

ralphie — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:24:45 +0000

yeah, let's shred the tires on a school bus full of screaming kids in front of YOUR house when Otto tries to negotiate the turn.

great idea.

By: Bella

Bella — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:10:40 +0000

Best idea I've heard all day.

By: Bella

Bella — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:05:15 +0000

Hahahaha! Well, I know I will be avoiding it if I can! I can always approach my friend's house from the other side! And then turn around and go back the way I came.

By: SPG

SPG — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:02:43 +0000

Maybe we need to install a set of those directional tire shredders on the traffic islands like they use at parking lot entrances. Go the wrong way and lose your tires!

By: SPG

SPG — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:53:43 +0000

It's efficient, but your visibility is greatly reduced and your ability to avoid the oncoming vehicle that you didn't see is greatly reduced as well. If you go into a circle on the right and a car is coming from the left, no problem. If you go into the left and a car is coming from the left, you are in a head on collision with no escape route. Two cars hitting each other at 20mph is just like hitting a wall at 40.
My Driver Ed teacher had a great saying “When nobody is around is the time when you need to use your directional signal and follow the rules the most, because they are there, you just don't see them.”

By: SPG

SPG — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:47:38 +0000

Didn't you say yesterday that you “purposely ride my bike in the middle of the road every where in Ballard just to slow cars down”?

Years ago I was chatting with a friend of a friend who was a state trooper. He was saying how the most dangerous person on the highway is the one who goes into the left lane and then drives one mile under the speed limit to slow the speeders down. They may be theoretically right in that they're not speeding, but the reality is that they cause people to hit the brakes, pass on the right, interrupt the flow of traffic, trigger road rage, and on and on…
If you want to bike down the middle of the road, that may be your right, but doing so to intentionally impede traffic is a bad idea. If you were a car and not a bike you're supposed to move to the right when you're impeding the flow of traffic, so why do you think that you're exempt from that rule?

By: SPG

SPG — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:37:24 +0000

In the end I think most of us who see them often enough will ignore them, but the message to others who don't use it as much will still be that this is a residential street and not a thoroughfare.
Maybe they'll have to keep adding more little green people until there isn't any room to drive down the street. That will slow traffic.

By: stopthebuzz

stopthebuzz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:32:53 +0000

I'm questioning his contradiction, not his practice.

I feel safer in the middle of the road as well, but I also do my best to not impede the movement of traffic as well. I don't ride there “just to slow cars down”.

By: RPO

RPO — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:32:33 +0000

“In Seattle, the speed limit on residential streets is 25 mph and 30 mph on arterial streets unless otherwise posted.” – from the SDOT website.

By: stopthebuzz

stopthebuzz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:29:49 +0000

I've heard it every which way and will make a left on the left side of a traffic circle if it's safe to do so, just as I make any other left turn. It's not lazy. It's efficient.

By: Fancy

Fancy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:25:06 +0000

I'm with Juan on this one. I ride down the middle of the road because it is the safest most visible place for me to be on arterials. The few cars that are occasionally inconvenienced by this don't seem to mind.