Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Incompetent unprepared motorists
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November 23, 2010 at 4:52 pm #597091
hooper1961MemberIt is time the SPD and WSP start ticketing people for causing massive delays because they and their vehicles are not properly equipped to drive in the snow and ice. How many thousands of hours did the prepared motorists spend getting home yesterday due to the unprepared! It is time that the unprepared pay the piper.
And I am sick and tired of SDOT closing streets to all motorists. For example WSDOT basically says all motorists must use chains on the pass except 4 wheel drive. It is time SDOT and SPD give greater deference to motorists that are properly equipped and stop making blanket street closures.
November 23, 2010 at 5:29 pm #708919
tanyar23ParticipantI think people need to shift the onus of responsibility on to themselves instead of on the mayor myself. I took the day off yesterday from work and kept my youngest child home because I’ve seen enough times before what happens when Seattle ices up. I try my hardest not to get stuck in Seattle because I don’t like the idea of waiting for hours to get home, or for fear of getting in an accident when it’s freezing. Seattle simply has too many hills an not enough infrastructure to handle below freezing days with snow and ice.
November 23, 2010 at 5:55 pm #708920
JanSParticipantYou have a point. Someone posted in another comment about those who ventured out yesterday with cars that were not equipped for the conditions. Many drive with less than standard tires, with less than full tanks of gas, with no provisions in their cars for emergencies (food, water, blankets, something to pee in (TMI). I, myself , am the biggest snow and ice wuss that there might possibly be. I am lucky in that I work at home, have clients come to me. So I can avoid the roads when this happens. And way too many people are overcompetent in their driving skills.
Yes, it’s a problem for the city when this happens. We are a city of hills , and we are NOT Chicago (for all you mid-westerners). We don’t have the equipment and expertise that some cities have re: snow removal and emergency situations like this. I remember when Charlie Chang wanted to buy extra pre-owned snow plows at a cheap cost, and the city scoffed at him. Live and learn, I say!!!
Lastly, employers…be flexible. Is one day without your employees going to break you? If so, you might just rethink your business plan. Tell the employees to go home early, and give an extra day off. We’ll all be better for it.
November 23, 2010 at 6:05 pm #708921
Genesee HillParticipantNovember 23, 2010 at 6:19 pm #708922
moxilotMemberI wholeheartedly agree. If you can get a ticket for driving too fast for conditions, then you should get a ticket for driving a vehicle unworthy of the conditions. It is absolutely ridiculous that people were leaving their vehicles in the middle of the streets, bridges, and off/on ramps because they THOUGHT they could make it. Don’t even get me started on the buses….
November 23, 2010 at 6:43 pm #708923
hooper1961MemberHeck the SPD tickets people for simply driving the appropriate speed based on street geometrics and design. Admiral Way between SW Olga Street and the WSB is a prime example. The City SDOT based on fantasy lowered the appropriate 35 MPH limit to 30 MPH and now SPD tickets people driving at reasonable speeds. Yet how many tickets did they issue Monday for people illegally parking/stopping in the middle of the Admiral Way hill?
November 23, 2010 at 6:59 pm #708924
PDieterParticipanthow many cops do you people think seattle has? LOL
November 23, 2010 at 7:54 pm #708925
hooper1961Memberthey have more than enough to ticket people driving at reasonable speeds (based on engineering criteria) during good driving conditions!
November 23, 2010 at 8:13 pm #708926
JanSParticipantI see you’re still hooked on the Admiral Hill…must have gotten a speeding ticket on it, huh. We all disagree with many things in life. But posted speed limits are still the speed limits, and not arbitrary just because you think differently. And I say that in the nicest way :)
November 23, 2010 at 8:27 pm #708927
miwsParticipantJan, thank you for pointing that out.
You’ve saved me the hassle of coming in here and posting that hooper1961+the speed limit on Admiral Way between SW Olga Street and the Bridge=Dead Horse.
Oh, wait……. ;-)
Mike
November 23, 2010 at 8:47 pm #708928
hooper1961Memberi want to know where the SPD was Monday evening? they certainly needed to be ticketing motorists for illegally parking/standing in the travel way on Monday evening.
November 23, 2010 at 8:50 pm #708929
AlParticipantYes, that would certainly have solved the problem, both now and in the future.
November 23, 2010 at 8:52 pm #708930
AlParticipantAnd I don’t think the problems were just due to the unprepared. The huge amount of cars and buses all trying to get out of the city via limited options (no tunnel, no viaduct, no I-5 in some parts, 3 of the 4 routes into/out of W. Seattle shut down, etc., etc., etc. That’s what caused the problem. Too many motor vehicles, too few routes.
November 23, 2010 at 9:40 pm #708931
KenParticipantYou don’t need an 80k SUV or a 4Wd to drive in this city 99% of the time. When the bridge ices up then you do. Every city has engineers who know how much material and manpower it takes to keep a bridge deiced at each temperature gradient. The voters apparently are not willing to tax them selves to that level. So be it.
In East coast cities the snow removal contracts are routinely awarded to the mafia since the cost runs into the millions to clear a big snowfall and they already have the dumptrucks and construction companies. If they don’t start out “connected” they soon are.
Those who abandoned their cars after running out of gas sitting on I-5 or 99 for hours may have started out with half a tank.
I have a 1990 Festiva (sold in japan as the mazda 1-2-1) that handled the ice just fine, passing SUV’s and lowriders and Volvos who’s drivers overestimated the abilities of their cars.
I used to drive the pass back and forth to eastern WA several times a week and inevitably there would be some knucklehead in an SUV or a big pickup passing all of us behind the snowplow and we would blow the horn in greeting a few miles up the road as we passed him in the ditch.
Most people don’t prepare for icy conditions here and SPD refuses to clear a accident scene until all the evidence is collected. That’s why when 4 out of 5 of the major bottlenecks have blocking accidents, the options narrow PDQ.
November 23, 2010 at 10:37 pm #708932
JoBParticipantI am with Ken
there is no way to be prepared for the idiots who don’t know their own capabilities
and routinely exceed them
blocking the way for the rest of us.
November 23, 2010 at 11:08 pm #708933
hooper1961Memberits the idiots who drive obscenely slow that cause the problem because people then try to get around them. if all motorists drove at prudent reasonable speeds (5 MPH is not reasonable; 15 to 20 MPH is) lot of the incidents would not happen. it is the slugs that cause the problem and the SPD has a duty to ticket them aggressively.
November 23, 2010 at 11:53 pm #708934
AndyParticipantRiiiiiight. Because the best way to keep traffic moving on icy roads is to throw on a bunch of lights and sirens and make people try to pull over and stop on icy roads. Aggressively, no less.
Sometimes conditions JUST. PLAIN. SUCK. So, what then, let’s get the police darting around all over the place, busting people for being too careful? Genius. Have some patience, some understanding, and don’t expect an aggressive ticketing policy to mitigate the complications inherent in mother nature’s extreme conditions.
And seriously, Hooper, the next time it snows, or rains, or there’s a baby seal on the beach, or a chupacabra attacks a produce stand, don’t use it as a way to gripe about the speed limit on Admiral. Mmmmkay?
November 24, 2010 at 12:32 am #708935
hooper1961Membermotorists that stop/park in the middle of a street create a hazard and the SPD has a duty to ticket. further motorists driving obscenely slow are a hazard (it simply is not safe to drive at absurdly slow (5 MPH) speeds that force other motorists to try to pass) and need to be ticketed. most motorists slow to 15 to 20 mph that is appropriate on arterials.
November 24, 2010 at 12:36 am #708936
oddrealityParticipantI have 4 wheel drive and snow tires and still had trouble slip sliding on the ice..You can be prepared and still hit a bad spot.Glad I was not coming in from downtown last evening. I’d have been stuck with the rest of them.
It’s not the snow..it’s the ice.
November 24, 2010 at 12:39 am #708937
MrJTMemberhooper1961 – Get. over. it.
November 24, 2010 at 1:18 am #708938
SmittyParticipantPedestrians need to be smart as well. If a car is sliding down a hill or trying to gain speed UP a hill don’t cross in front just because it is your right, have some common sense.
November 24, 2010 at 1:33 am #708939
austinMemberI saw a ped cross in front of a firetruck with its lights going earlier. Common sense got buried in the snow it seems.
November 24, 2010 at 1:43 am #708940
JanSParticipantwow, oh, wow…like SPD has the best cars, the most people, the most time, are insulated…do you really think that they have time to come take care of little gripes like yours? It’s their duty? You get your butt out there and help your neighbors get out of the road, and home…be a good citizen, and do more than just gripe about all those others that don’t know as much as you do (or think you do). Can you tell we really get tired of someone pointing out all the ways other people are “wrong”?
November 24, 2010 at 2:45 am #708941
hooper1961Membermy bad; every year the prepared have to pay the price for the unprepared when will the unprepared be penalized for causing massive delays to the prepared?
November 24, 2010 at 2:56 am #708942
AndyParticipantSo, having all the roads of a very hilly major metropolitan area covered in ice during rush hour is a situation that can come off without any troubles? Really? And how, again? By simply punishing people for not being as awesome as you? Giving people tickets is going to make ice…less slippery?
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