SFD is just clearing 41st/Morgan, which has reopened after a crash that sent a motorcycle rider to the hospital. Police told us that the rider was headed uphill and a driver was headed downhill when they collided.
Hope the rider isn’t hurt to badly. With they way drivers behave around Seattle I ride less and less…
Not life-threatening. As for drivers, a scary morning; minutes later on Delridge we came within literally inches of being T-boned by a driver emerging from a cross-street and ignoring their stop sign. I’m still kind of shaken up but the work must go on … EVERYONE please be extra-careful!
I hope the rider is OK. I commute daily by motorbike, and even though things are getting worse for us two wheel commuters, I find most drivers try to be respectful. But I agree with Swede, there are more bad drivers on our roads than there were just a few years ago (my anecdotal observations from daily riding).
Wendell, my experience is the same. I feel helpless. I don’t think we have the SPD staff to enforce our existing rules + people are in a hurry all the time no matter what even if they are just picking up milk at the store.
I’ve always ridden very defensively. Half the drivers out there are trying to kill you. The other half are too, they just don’t know it. In traffic,intersections,etc. I imagine “what’s the worst possible thing that driver can do?” and half the time I’m not disappointed. Keep the rubber side down!
No kidding.
Watch were they are looking!
If they are looking straight ahead without checking, they are going straight without stopping.
Look at the front tires! The rest of the vehicle will follow in their track except in rare cases like a vehicle that is hydroplaning or on ice.
I rode a bike for 20 years and always assumed I was invisible to ask other traffic.
I find that a lot of drivers are now treating being behind the wheel as some sort of competition. There used to be a lot of collaboration… and waving after a mutual decision was made between drivers,. Now, fewer examples of “letting someone in” – except for those that’ll never know how to merge ;)
These days, having right of way in a car or on a bike doesn’t seem to matter any more.
I hope the rider is OK as well. My motorcycle is out of commission for repairs. Maybe I should be thankful!
Amen KM and Wendell. I have felt this way for years. I want no part of this new Seattle or new attitude.
I wouldn’t call this new—I have always felt unsafe walking, biking and driving in Seattle—for decades. Not so much in other places, smaller or bigger.
There’s a lot of good things to come out of “new” Seattle.
FWIW, I was on my bike this morning, headed south on 35th and a driver turned left right in front of me. Thankfully I was able to slow down enough to pass behind them. No signal, handicapped yeah blocking half their view. And I was wearing a bright yellow safety vest at the time.
Re WSB
More than likely the driver that nearly t-boned you on Delridge probably had stopped but failed to see you due to all the cars parked so damn close to the intersection followed by bumper to bumper vehicles lined up in both directions parked in such a manner that visibility was bare to none.I find this to be the scenario at every stop sign throughout the whole city making it a real risk just even coming to a complete stop and barely inching forward to try to clear the way only to find you can’t see far enough in one of the two directions if not both. I think it’s time to start enforcing the 30 ft clearance for all intersections even those without stop signs.
And extending that parking buffer at intersections where visibility is worse than average. And ticketing drivers who don’t first stop at the stop line, before inching out. Great way to get nailed (or in my case, barely missed on a weekly basis) as a pedestrian :-/
Seattle drivers suck. Worse now than ever, but have always been terrible. They just installed a right turn only on Juneau at 35th – there’s a line up of cars EVERY MORNING taking lefts or going straight. Seattle drivers are the absolute worst. It’s actually a fact that we’re terrible – https://www.kiro7.com/traffic/report-seattle-area-drivers-among-worst-in-200-largest-us-cities/826384066
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