37 Replies to "Speaking of the bridge: Bus-lane crackdown brings 51 tickets"

• thermo June 11, 2011 (8:32 pm)

  no cell phone violations? I see that every morning on the bridge.

• Eaglewatch June 11, 2011 (8:40 pm)

  Things will get out of hand if we don’t have these patrols on an ongoing basis. 95% of folks have been behaving themselves and the rest have been driving agressively, cutting their way into the line on the bridge approach, running red lights.

• Recall McGinn June 11, 2011 (8:46 pm)

  I agree with Eaglewatch, patrols need to be consistent and ongoing. It seems like they could vary the times they do the patrols, 35th is still a racetrack at evening rush hour.

• Carolyn June 11, 2011 (8:47 pm)

  I’ve always been curious…it seems that in an effort to make things flow a little smoother coming up from Avalon/Harbor Ave. merging w/Fauntleroy traffic – are those that use the bus lane in pusuit of the SR99 entrance (at the top of the ramp, not the full ramp) instead of trying to merge to the left just to have to move to the right to access SR99 going to get pulled over by the ADRT and written up also? Seems like all that left then right maneuvering is terribly hazardous.

• Question June 11, 2011 (8:50 pm)

  What is the correct way to merge onto 99 from the admiral entrance legally? As long as it’s before the top of the bridge where that sign is?

• Rachael June 11, 2011 (8:53 pm)

  The other place this is badly needed is on the older span of the bridge between the Viaduct and I-5. The speed limit is supposed to be 35mph and I feel like I’m being run down most nights on my way home. Also, on the Viaduct the construction zone speed limit is 35mph. Nearly all drivers are flying through there at 60mph or more. Most people don’t seem to care that lives are literally at stake in these construction zones and those limits are posted for a very serious reason.

• Ladyblahblah June 11, 2011 (9:49 pm)

  I saw a person get stopped on Friday morning and I must say I felt pretty happy. Nay, smug! Which is an emotion that I don’t like, but that’s how I felt. I’m so sick of waiting in line like a decent person and seeing these aholes using the bus lane. Unless someone is being rushed to the hospital, private cars don’t get to drive in the bus lane.

• Dora June 11, 2011 (10:09 pm)

  Yes, it is so much better to see that empty bus lane sitting there unused. That just makes my heart sing… What a joke. It is just one more poor traffic plan on the part of the Seattle. Having a completely empty bus lane for the occasional bus is not only ridiculous, it is stupid. Maybe we should empty two lanes so the buses never had to wait for each other. We could all happily wait two hours to get to work each day. All the patrols in the world are not going to make traffic better, just some people ‘feel’ better and add to revenue for the City. I would rather see it be a toll lane.

• Adam June 11, 2011 (10:11 pm)

  Whew, glad this is making my neighborhood so much safer from the armed robbery and assaults that have happened recently.

• Driver June 11, 2011 (10:17 pm)

  The lane markings for the bus lane on the W.S. freeways were poorly conceived, and it is the poor design that is central to an inordinate number of the supposed violations.
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  The line is dotted most of the way up the incline, meaning you can dart across, but the most important part of the whole path is just east of the crest of the W.S. bridge (where the line is solid), when people are checking the I-5 freeway traffic jams to determine which way to go!!!
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  Shame on the morons who put together our traffic control devices for having completely screwed up one more thing. How embarrassing!!!!

• La June 11, 2011 (10:27 pm)

  I wait in line because it is the decent thing to do.

  I see plenty of buses using the bus lane. I’d say the traffic plan – to have one open lane for buses to use – is a sound one. When I don’t have to drive my child to and from daycare, I’m taking the bus too.

• Paul June 11, 2011 (10:55 pm)

  good.

• Alison June 11, 2011 (11:10 pm)

  Kudos to all who give a nice wave in the morning when others stop to let us in! It makes the 99 mess a little more pleasant! Thanks!!

• DD June 11, 2011 (11:15 pm)

  I actually prefer those drivers that use the bus lanes on most days … the overly polite drivers that try to get into the highway 99 line as soon as possible block the onramp from Delridge

• dm June 12, 2011 (1:25 am)

  I “give” and “appreciate” the “thank you” wave as well when I/we have to merge onto our various on ramps and highways. It’s reassuring to me that we are all civilized. And I’m glad the police are cracking down on the people who speed on The Bridge and Highland (every where). It’s about public safety. Valid and necessary. I try to keep a positive attitude on the road ways, but it seems like about 25 percent of our fellow citizens operating heavy machinery (cars and trucks) are completely unconscious…While I was driving the speed limit on Delridge this evening, some guy in a pick up tailgated and then me passed me on the right, and then wound up driving the same speed as the people in front of me.

  As a species, we seem to be genetically wired to be irritated and aggressive easily. I wish more people would be aware of that, would chill and slow down. Thank you.

• Bob Loblaw June 12, 2011 (8:07 am)

  I’d like to give a shout out to Mrs. Loblaw, a bus rider who personally lobbied the police to once again make this a priority after one particularly horrid commute last week. And here’s a request: Please speak up. Not just to your friends and neighbors, but to the police. Many of us gripe, but few of us actually follow through with a plea to the people who can do something about this. You would be surprised (or maybe not) how few people actually tell the traffic division about any of this. They aren’t in the trenches like we are. So they mostly don’t see it.
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  One other note: To those who say this takes away from protecting you from crime, you need to know that traffic police don’t do that type of police work. So they aren’t being taken away from anything. They are doing what we pay for them to do.

• DIzzle June 12, 2011 (8:11 am)

  The whole bus lane issue is really a catch-22. Those who drive do not like seeing the bus lane empty yet, those who ride the bus should afforded the luxury of using the bus lanes to get to work earlier. Obviously, the bridge will not get any wider, so the solution is to ride the bus; more ridership=better service & more buses. It’s easy to complain how bad the public transit is but, if we don’t use it, how will the system get any better?

• watertowerjoey June 12, 2011 (8:45 am)

  I wish they would ticket some of the bus drivers who run red lights and block intersections and hog both lanes at the Columbia onramp.

• Dan June 12, 2011 (8:50 am)

  Why is the speed limit is only 30 on Highland Park Way? It should be at least 40 unless there is snow and ice. (The ice problem there and on Sylvan Way is because they allow water to run off a hill directly onto the road.) Same with the 35 limit on the viaduct. Slower drivers often create a safety hazard when more competent drivers try to get around them. How about asking the DOT about the reasons behind speed limits.

• austin June 12, 2011 (9:11 am)

  Single occupant vehicles are the problem, not the bus.

• redblack June 12, 2011 (9:35 am)

  rachael: i’m pretty sure the speed limit on the viaduct is still 50 mph, except at the curves, where WSDOT advises 35 mph.
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  a little OT, but i just noted on WSDOT’s web site that the speed limit through the detour they’re building will be 25 mph.
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  fun!
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  anyway, question, you’re supposed to merge after the (fading) gore point by the delridge entrance ramp and the bridge crest, where the lines are dashed.
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  crossing a solid line is a ticketable moving violation, regardless of how right or wrong the traffic engineers are.

• Been There June 12, 2011 (9:36 am)

  Loblaw duo, true voices of reason:)

• Mike in the Junction June 12, 2011 (10:17 am)

  I did see a very “suprised” older gal in a little red honda Friday morning who probably thought she hit the jackpot blowing by all that traffic in the bus lane. I agree that it did make me laugh.

• datamuse June 12, 2011 (4:49 pm)

  I suspect at least part of the reason for the relatively low speed limit on HP way is the bus. Buses cannot get up that hill very fast, and there is at least one bus stop, maybe two, partway up the hill on the western side, where there is no sidewalk.
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  Have you ever tried to cross HP way as a pedestrian? I have, and that curve it makes is almost totally blind if you’re on foot. I also see an issue with having to slow down as you near the top–I can’t tell you how many times someone coming from Holden has almost hit me because they’ve misjudged my speed or what lane I’m in (and I’ve seen a number of accidents at that intersection so it’s not just me).
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  What I see on Highland Park Way, as someone who drives it twice a day, five days a week, is a flow of traffic at about 35-40 despite the posted limit, and a couple of people who think they’re competent weaving in and out of traffic, tailgating, and generally making nuisances of themselves. I also see a lot of people having trouble staying in their own lanes even at relatively low speeds. For those reasons I really don’t think raising the limit to 40 is a good idea.

• Jasperblu June 12, 2011 (9:58 pm)

  I ride a city bus downtown 5 days a week for work. Trust me, there are LOADS of buses trying to get from WS to all points east of our beloved bridge.
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  I sure as heck don’t see any empty bus lanes when I’m riding in during peek am commute hours. What I *do* see is a whole lot of single driver cars cheating their way across the bridge by driving in the bus lane all the way to the 99 ramp & beyond — so yeah, I’m smug/happy as hell when they get popped by the po po!
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  Same goes for speeders (& tailgaters, and cell phone talkers, & aggressive lane changers, & make up putter oners). Driving like an idiot on ANY of our roads. 99, the WS Bridge, 35th, Beach Drive… Let’s call them what they really are! Reckless, arrogant, speeding, think they’re more special/important than the rest of us, jerks!
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  They may not think so, most people who are self-centered & have a sense of entitlement don’t see just how inconsiderate they are. But of course, they are.
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  Unless someone is DYING somewhere & you need to get there NOW to say your goodbyes, or unless someone is bleeding to death in your car, there is not one other blessed thing that can excuse driving like a bat out of hell. Sorry, but never is when.
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  Speed limits are posted for a reason. Don’t like it? Take it up with City Hall. Otherwise, slow down! What is so important you can’t just chill & drive safely? Relax. Enjoy the view. Take a deep breath. Stay out of the bus & car pool lanes. You’ll live longer. And owe less $$ in fines. Win-Win!

• Jasperblu June 12, 2011 (10:00 pm)

  P.S. What is up with all these people that don’t have insurance? Or is it that they just don’t have PROOF of it? Not having auto insurance carries a pretty hefty fine doesn’t it?

• aw June 13, 2011 (3:57 am)

  & a partridge in a pear tree.

• 22bladeson June 13, 2011 (6:58 am)

  Jasperblu couldn’t have said my thoughts any better… The entitled ones are also a drain on our scarse resource$. The fines should reflect the entire cost of thier violation: manhours of not only enforcement but administration and amortized equipment costs. Just get in line with the rest of us. Y’ain’t Lindsy Lohan…

• 2wheels-a-go-go June 13, 2011 (7:05 am)

  @Austin: you got that right!

• 22bladeson June 13, 2011 (7:06 am)

  By the same token, if someone is blinking still on the rise eastbound, fer pete’s sake, let em’ in…….if they blink ;).

  Blink people, be nice, blink.

• J. June 13, 2011 (8:22 am)

  Unlike the rest of the higher than thous here on this blog, I have sympathy for those ticketed. People are just trying to live their lives and get around on a badly neglected transportation system. But our docile citizens promote the ineptitude of our politicians.

• A June 13, 2011 (8:55 am)

  Careful about bagging on the single-driver vehicles. I commute ~7 miles to and from work (If I were physically able to ride a bike, I would.) I drop my “other half” off at mile 6, just before I get on the bridge. I drive one mile from there to my work.

  My point is that not every “single driver vehicle” is part of the problem. Some of us are at the start or tail end of a carpool, or have disabilities that mean we don’t have a choice. As for me, it’s both.

• higgins June 13, 2011 (9:43 am)

  I try to drive around the speed limit, and I’m sick and tired of being considered “incompetent” because I choose to keep an eye out for pedestrians, animals, bikes, buses, trucks, construction, potholes, truly bad drivers, and all the other things that make it stupid and dangerous to fly around town like a bat out of hell. It’s not people like me that create hazardous situations, it’s the drivers that think they’re entitled to drive however they want. I applaud the traffic police and their efforts to enforce the idea that driving is a privilege, not a right. If you’re going to be on the road, you’d better follow the rules whether you like it or not.

• Danny June 13, 2011 (10:08 am)

  I agree with you on this Jasper:
  “They may not think so, most people who are self-centered & have a sense of entitlement don’t see just how inconsiderate they are. But of course, they are.”

  Those people who choose to turn a 35mph zone into a 25mph zone, at the inconvenience of everyone else, are extremely self-centered. Maybe those people don’t value their time, but other value their time. And those others are probably in a car because they are trying to get from one place to another in the shortest time possible, otherwise they would walk there. I can’t conceive the arrogance of some, who believe it is their right to waste other’s time.

  Oh and 35/45 on the WSB is ridiculously low. Your best bet, stay with the flow of traffic. If the traffic is flowing at 50mph, then someone driving at 35 is causing a massive danger to everyone else.

• Erica June 13, 2011 (10:39 am)

  I was one of the folks ticketed on Friday for pulling out in the bus lane just before the 1st St exit. I’m not saying that what I did was right, however when the 1st street exit gets backed up into the bus lane, it’s damn hard to try to pull in to that lane where you are legally allowed to (if people let you in at all) and then you end up stopping the traffic that is continuing eastbound to 4th or I-5. I’m not one of the folks who use the bus lane the entire length of the bridge for their own personal lane (I get mad at them too) but honestly to get off at 1st you either have to stop traffic or get in that bus lane early. It’s just a bad merging/exiting configuration there.

• M_ June 13, 2011 (12:03 pm)

  @Erica
  9 times out of 10 if you wait to merge to the 1st ave S exit when you are legally able to do so, you bypass all those that have merged early and are stuck behind truck merging up.

• Jay June 13, 2011 (12:10 pm)

  I wish the bus lane would become a bus lane/carpool lane/toll lane. I commute every day from WS to downtown and even though the buses do use the lane, they are empty 80% of the time. As a persons who carpools, it seems fair to be able to use the bus lanes. I mean, I am helping to alleviate some traffic aren’t I? I would even be willing to pay a toll to use the lane. I imagine a lot of people would.

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