Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT: Admiral Traffic in the A.M.
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September 24, 2008 at 3:32 pm #588164
beachdrivegirlParticipantSorry to vent but I am sick and tired of the cars that speed down Admiral and then try to swerve into the stopped traffic waiting to get onto the bridge! You dont have the right away and we dont have to let you in. And it is even more annoying when you speed past all of us waiting our turn, take the Avalon exit, and then expect to cut into the bridge on rap underneath. It is rude! If you need to be in that big of a rush leave five minutes earlier!!!
September 24, 2008 at 4:37 pm #640909
IrukandjiParticipantAdmiral Way traffic – too fast, too slow and drivers who feel entitled to the road as they see fit. So glad I’m not a commuter, just someone who gets to join you in your comments about safety, laws and sanity.
September 24, 2008 at 4:42 pm #640910
pamMember….ahhhh….remember the good old days when there were no condos and no traffic….. and it would take mere minutes to get from West Seattle to lower Queen Anne….. and no suv’s… only one light on Admiral… ahhhh….
September 24, 2008 at 4:43 pm #640911
WSratsinacageMemberAmen DBG! :) This annoys me all over Seattle and WS. Cutting to the front may not be illegal but it is dangerous and does incite people which leads to road rage which is a big problem these days. It also creates a domino effect that increases the commute time for most. I know it’s not quite the same thing but I feel like asking these cutters if they cut in line at the grocery store too? Sheesh. It is now illegal to cut in the ferry line so that is quite similar to waiting on an on ramp or off ramp. I wait in line and I feel like if every one waited their turn and we all picked a lane and stayed in it, we would all get where we are going faster and safer. For some reson there are a lot of fidgety people out there who have to lane jump and cut. Then people wonder why there is road rage.
September 24, 2008 at 4:46 pm #640912
WSratsinacageMemberYes Pam I remember.
September 24, 2008 at 4:47 pm #640913
ZenguyParticipantActually they do have the right of way…I got a ticket for not letting someone in. The officer said it may not seem fair but it is the law.
September 24, 2008 at 4:52 pm #640914
WSratsinacageMemberI’m surprised because I have heard Trooper Monica Hunter on KIRO say that the person in the lane owns it and does not necessarily have to let the merger in.
September 24, 2008 at 4:56 pm #640915
JimmyGMemberZenguy got written a ticket by a cop that doesn’t know the RCW’s.
Hope you fought the ticket Z-guy.
September 24, 2008 at 5:00 pm #640916
GenHillOneParticipantZenguy, was there a merge sign around? Otherwise, I didn’t think it was the law either. Sad if it is. I still won’t let them in though when it’s so obviously a “cut” and others have been waiting. It’s my one b***chy driver stance and I’ll take it to make the point. I wish everyone would do it and leave them sitting there longer than it would have taken them in line.
September 24, 2008 at 5:09 pm #640917
JimmyGMemberI’m interested what the infraction had listed as the RCW you had supposedly violated?
September 24, 2008 at 5:14 pm #640918
WSratsinacageMemberGHO, I totally agree .. make them wait like they would get forced to wait for the next boat if they cut in the ferry line. :)
September 24, 2008 at 5:45 pm #640919
ZenguyParticipantIt was the mid eighties, possibly things have changed. I even remember what the officer said “turn up your radio, put your head back and relax”. lol
September 24, 2008 at 6:07 pm #640920
FranciParticipantWSratsinacage, I heard the same thing..
For me its SB 99 where the exit lane for the WS Bridge is. I see folks flying by and multiple cars cutting over at the last minute. One time when I was watching for this I counted about 10 cars almost simultaneously moving into the right lane. They weren’t all in the same spot of course, but they were all within 100 yards of the exit. When you have that many cars merging at the same time, traffic behind is forced to come to a screeching halt.
September 24, 2008 at 6:29 pm #640921
RonMParticipantI too have noted those going down Admiral in the morning and if the left lane is backed up, many try to bypass on the right, continue down to Harbor Avenue and try to barge into the cars backed up there for the turn. I’ve been dropping my wife off for the 55 bus on California and to warm up the car a little I’ve driven down Admiral to get onto Harbor Avenue and continue around Alki. I’ve had cars in line making a right onto Spokane, blow their horns at me not realizing that I don’t intend to barge in to make that turn and go straight through. I’ve also observed cars coming the other direction trying to make left turns in front of me as though they had the right-of-way. I try to accommodate them all.
I recall a neighbor woman over 50 years ago, who was nearly killed at 5 corners, putting herself and daughter in the hospital for many weeks. She’d tell people, “I knew he was going to hit me, but I had the right-of-way!” She would have killed herself and daughter just to enforce her right-of-way.
There’s definitely more commuter traffic on Spokane St. these days. Still better than years ago when we all had to wait for boat traffic, often at the most inconvenient time. It would be nice if folks would relax and just be nice to each other, but I guess that was another time…
September 24, 2008 at 6:31 pm #640922
beachdrivegirlParticipantZenguy-
times have changed b/c my husband to be has been pulled over (even when the lane was ending) for cutting in like that within the past two years. The person who is merging has to yield until there is an opening with a SAFE distance.
And GHO, I am with you, I will make sure there is no room for them to cut in and if they attempt to i continue to merge forward figuring that at that slow of speeds if they hit me than they can pay for my car to be fixed…
September 24, 2008 at 7:42 pm #640923
cruiserMemberInteresting topic.Public transport anyone?
September 24, 2008 at 8:24 pm #640924
JWParticipantRegarding this: “I still won’t let them in though when it’s so obviously a “cut” and others have been waiting.”
A few thoughts:
1. Speaking from experience, you are doing yourself no good, healthwise, by trying to enforce rules on people who couldn’t care less. And you’d let your car get hit to make your point? If you are that stressed by other drivers, you should consider the bus…
2. The people you are trying to teach a lesson to really don’t care… if they are brazen enough to do it to you, you can probably bet they do it every morning, so why bother? They’re probably on their cell phones anyway, and barely notice what is going on.
3. So YOU must be the person who wouldn’t let my visiting father in, as he tried to get to the airport after one visit. As he later pointed out, the sign for the West Seattle Bridge wasn’t even visible from where the line started.
Can we try to quell this silly vigilantism a little?
The real problem on Admiral in the mornings is the area around the California Ave. intersection. After Labor Day, I think I saw an accident there every day for a week. Guess everyone is racing down Admiral to cut off all those patient folks waiting in line for the Bridge…
September 24, 2008 at 8:29 pm #640925
AnonymousInactiveAlthough I don’t drive on Admiral in the mornings, I wanted to share a thought.
As being someone who recently had to get into a line of cars at the last minute (this was purely by chance, it was downtown and there was a very large truck involved) and having other cars trying to “enforce” the rules, it was extremely frustrating.
I generally let the a**holes be a**holes, let them in and not give it a second thought. Why let an a**hole ruin any part of my day (whether it be 5 minutes of it, or if I were to stew all the rest of my drive)?
My guy and I usually just laugh and wave to them.
September 24, 2008 at 8:34 pm #640926
GenHillOneParticipantJW –
1. doesn’t stress me out in the slightest
2. it’s the point of the matter and it’s only fair to me and those behind me
3. I’m sorry that happened to your father (in law?); there have been occasions where a driver has looked over, asked (mouthed, whatever) nicely, or looked a little lost and I have let them in…I would not if they were on their cell phone, yelling, and/or flipping me off
I’d love to see the crossing guards back on Admiral (both at Calif. and 59th) for the school hours…budget cuts, argh.
September 24, 2008 at 10:33 pm #640927
JWParticipantGenHillOne,
You seem a reasonable type, and so I hope that if I run into you (so to speak!) in an area of town I don’t know well, and I need to merge into an existing line of cars, you will notice my fearful look, my timid smile, my nice little blinker… but for every one of you (let’s call you a “reasonable vigilante”) there are hundreds of others who enforce “the rules” in a not-so-forgiving manner.
I witnessed many of these “unreasonable vigilantes” last year when my infant son was hospitalized in Redmond and later required frequent trips to specialists in Bellevue— both areas unfamiliar to me and my husband. Besides the high level of personal stress, we had the added pleasure of being flipped off, honked at, glared at (etc.) by drivers who couldn’t understand why we didn’t know The Line for exit #X started 3 miles back. Maybe the “reasonable vigilantes” weren’t the ones flipping us off, but they were probably glaring at us… so NOT necessary, at that time or any time, really.
I don’t think I should have to communicate submissive apologies to any driver, in order to legally merge… just because people are trying to Make A Point. I am NOT one of those people who “cut” on Admiral in the morning… but I am one of those people who let those cars in, regardless of my assessment of their character or motivation. Sure I get a little miffed about it, but then again, they could be from out of town, dying of cancer, losing their job, visiting a sick child… whatever. It doesn’t really matter— driving isn’t the time to Make A Point. The only point of driving should be to safely navigate your automobile.
beachdrivegirl,
The funny thing is, I seem to recall a few months back you admitted (proudly?) that you regularly let your dog off-leash. I thought it was brave of you and I commented as such. But, as the author of this particular rant, how do you reconcile the apparent hypocrisy? Disobeying “silly” (but ACTUAL) laws is OK (because you and your dog are so reasonable about it, I’m sure!) but you can enforce your personal rules of courtesy on anyone? To the point of letting them hit your car?
You said in that dogs off-leash post, in defense of your actions: “Feel free to call 911 for me … because you are so “its the law” happy…”
Hmmm. My head is spinning.
September 24, 2008 at 11:21 pm #640928
ZenguyParticipantThat’s why I like riding the bus, zoom to the front in our own lane, flick on the blinker and voila!
September 25, 2008 at 12:57 am #640929
barbMemberThere is a difference between someone that isn’t aware of the area and needs to merge in at last minute, then there are the people who obviously know the area and speed past all the other cars and fly into the spot in the front of the line, they are also usually the people without the blinkers that just swerve into traffic thinking that they are above waiting in a line of traffic and deserve the front of the line. My biggest beef is the the west bound area from marginal to spokane in the afternoon. the two lanes are clearly marked yet people don’t want to wait in the longer line going to spokane so they wait in the other line going to I-5 and delridge and then swerve in front of everyone else.
Just this afternoon I actually saw a guy who was so tired of waiting that he went around a couple cars through a red light.
September 25, 2008 at 2:14 am #640930
IrukandjiParticipantI like to think of the Type A Me First types as not only being ahead of me in line for heart attacks and other stress-related problems, but also as potential organ donors for some unfortunate youth born with a congenital defect in need of a transplant. Kid needs a donor!
September 25, 2008 at 2:40 am #640931
angelescrestParticipantOooh! I had to commute via Admiral this week, as I didn’t need to drop a child at school at the Junction due to sickness. What a pain! Getting on the bridge from the Junction is like driving the Autobahn in comparison. (No, not a fan of speedsters, but it does flow!) Admiral is hairy even from Alki, where someone ran a stop sign on 61st this morning–hello, wake up!–and where the traffic begins to back up at the Alki Dispatch. No wonder they’re dodging about, looking for something quicker before the fun on the bridge begins…public transportation has to be the answer.
September 25, 2008 at 6:48 am #640932
JanSParticipantI’m lucky in that I don’t have to commute out of West Seattle daily, but when I have to (Thursday morning), if I encounter something like that, what’s so bad about letting one car in. Yes, maybe they cheated, but I just figure I don’t have to be the assh*** that they are, and I will let ONE car in. Two? probably not…someone behind me can do that. I figure it won’t slow me down much, and we’ll all get there. Does it make me cranky? As they say in other parts of the city “You betcha!” The ones that really piss me off are the ones who want to cut in and don’t even use a signal. Guess they haven’t been in West Seattle long enough to know that Friday is the only “signals optional” day here – ;-)(yes, it’s a joke)
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