Lipstick won't make you beautiful

Audi in Snohomish at Pine and 2nd. Light turns green. Audi sits and sits. I tap horn. She puts lipstick down then starts driving. We go on to miss the next two lights. No problem for Audi woman...more preening opportunities...

Accelerate!

Two times in one day.

I-5 express lane. Oldsmobile breaks three rules....if you are going to change lanes signal, don't time your lane change to be in sync with my passing you...and then having narrowly avoided collision...accelerate! MMR 8.

Montlake on ramp to eastbound 520. 10 mph is much too slow for merging, so accelerate! MMR 6.

Smokin....

Lighting up is no excuse for traveling 15 in a 35, much less crossing lines
and slowing for traffic coming the other direction. If you can't do two
things at once, then don't drive... MMR 8

Border lineups and line etiquette

We returned from a climbing week near Revelstoke and crossed the Canada-US border at Sumas on Friday afternoon.

Off topic, why there is a 70 minute wait instead of using the full lane capacity must be a tactic to cause terrorists to crack?

On topic, there is nothing more annoying, and more likely to cause driver-driver conflict, than bad manners in lineups. Changing lanes unnecessarily is a no-no, especially if done using the hole in the lane created by my not blocking an intersection. So to the MMR 10 driver in the ancient maroon Chrysler, be warned, your karma will get you. Don't ever move so slowly that your license plate can be read...and enjoy your lifetime of happiness on the border watch list.

I will blog you

I've been quiet the past month plus, not because I haven't seen driving annoyances, but because "I will blog you" has come to calm me so that the incidents fade from memory before I reach my computer. I must do better...

Hands Free Shavers?

Unusual doings in a car going southbound on I-5 this morning which had changed into the lane to my right. He oversteered considerably which caught my attention. As we passed him all became clear: electric shaver in hand, examining his work in his rear view mirror, trying to keep eyes on road and vehicle in the lane.

So in a state in which we must use hand free devices with cell phones come July 1, 2008, is the legislature going to deal with this issue as well? At least he wasn't using a straight razor?

One at a Time

Last week with the mid-week July 4 holiday was a generally quiet commute. Except for Tuesday morning at the three way stop at the tee of NE 40th St and 6th Ave NE, under the I-5 bridge. I'm turning left to go south on 6th. Hello Saab traveling east on 40th: One car through the stop sign at a time, not two... MMR:8.

Ambiguity

Updated 7/11/07...This annotated Google Earth images shows the location of the ambigous light facing down Bonneville Avenue in Snohomish, Washington. If it is red, what do you do? (it turns out to warn of what is coming around the corner at the intersection with Avenue D and I suppose after you go through it once you learn that. But the first time is quite perplexing...

With Purpose

NE Boat Street, 4 pm. Following a red Ford F-250 driving never more than 10 mph with punctuated stops. Endless, probably made 5 mph. We reach the Boat-Pacific T. Yellow light. Off he goes...only to slow again Drive with purpose, please. MMR:8

Ten Commandments

From the AP wire, a reminder to think globally and act locally

The Vatican on Tuesday issued a "Ten Commandments" for motorists to keep them on the road to salvation, warning drivers against the sins of road rage, abuse of alcohol or even simple rudeness.

The full story: Ten Commandments

Lemmings, Locusts or Killer Bees?

Strange encounter at 15th NE and Boat St. A fleet of scooters decided that a stop sign only means that the leader of the fleet needs to stop, damn the right of way. A photo up the block of the tail end of this group of 20 cruising through the next red light follows... MMR:8 for the last one through.

Secured Trash

MMR 5 to the trailer losing trash can liners on US 2 this morning. Hard to imagine why one would think that they would not start spewing while driving at 60 mph...secure your load...

Express (Eye)liner

Southbound on Broadway in Everett, just north of Exit 189. Toyota Camry closing fast from behind, doing something like 60. Couldn't figure out the weird posture of the driver until she got closer. She was doing her eyeliner, using the rear view mirror for guidance. Amazingly on I5 she continued going 60, just like on Broadway. MMR:7

Stop, Look, Listen

A tediously long light at the T of NE Boat in Seattle with Pacific. Must cause some people to lose track of how stop lights work. Third in the queue behind a grey Audi. Light turns green. First car heads off. Audi pulls ahead and stops, waiting for the cars on Pacific to take their turn. Stop, look, listen, learn that green light means go, red light means stop. At least not an unsafe act...MMR:3

Tractionless Pickups

Thursday morning, June 14, travelling River Road. Speed limit is 45, most drive 50-55, but there is the occasional speed demon who does 65-70, especially through the long straight at the Snohomish end. Today it was a blue Nissan pickup with wheels. I was the last passed before the line went double yellow so was behind him as we reached the stop sign just past the railroad tracks. Buy some tires with tread! Fishtailed all the way up to Broadway. (I'll note that 710 KIRO was reporting what a nice day we were having, but it was out and out raining in Everett and there is no way their airborne folk were seeing anything, including the accident they kept describing just south of 164th). MMR: 7

Triggered But Not Yet Launched

Mark joined me on the trip to UW the next morning and I told him about the Vanogan as we went through the same intersection. No troubles down I-5 in the Express Lane, but the CT 861 was having a tough time merging in. I slowed slightly and he blinked his lights in appreciation. Not that I like having buses in front of me, they ought to have to have a camera on front and screen on the back so that you can "see through" them. But it wasn't surprising that merging is difficult, for they have this art deco yield to bus sign that can hardly be read and certainly doesn't have the gravitas to transmit the message that this is the law. Metro buses are much better...this is crummy picture from my cell phone, but the meaning is clear:

Having snapped this picture (at a red light travelling down 15th St NE), the light turned and we are again moving. The blog was born when a white Subaru Outback wagon zoomed around my right, then left around the bus as it pulled off to a bus stop, nearly clipping both of us. Off he went, doing upwards of 50 down 15th, just south of 65th. Amazingly he ended up behind me again south of 45th, but felt necessary to repeat the manuever, once a suitable bus was found just south of 40th! Must not have liked my horn the first time. MMR: 9

Leading Off

This blog was triggered at the corner of 52nd and Broadway in Everett, on my way to Seattle as I do almost daily. When the Hewitt Avenue Trestle is busy, it is usually as fast for me to drive through Snohomish, across River Rd, down Broadway and join I-5 at Exit 189. Tuesday morning I stopped for a red light at Broadway and a VW Vanogan shot past me on the left, through the red light, making the left onto Broadway and nearly hit by the car travelling north on Broadway. Amazingly bad, aggressive driving. Was right behind him by the time we reached Beverly. MMR: 10.

So my vision is to share the craziness I see every day...