Thoughts about traffic

[smokymountainrain]

A friend of mine who lives in Bellevue told me recently that the suburbs are more conjested now than Seattle proper, because they have grown faster and overwhelmed the infrastructure, and are huge in their own right. That's certainly become true on that vaunted isolated paradise Banbridge Island.

Not sure if that supports or contradicts your thesis or how it fits in. The East Side is a lot of Greek to me.

It's a separate issue. And I agree that the eastside suburbs are crowded, just in terms of getting to seattle, the 90 is a breeze.

My commute from Issaquah to downtown was about 20-25 minutes.

[UteStar]

Nice theory, but it doesn't work in practice. The better thing, from a safety point of view, is for each car to "keep a two second following distance", and not go until two seconds after the car in front. That way if the car in front of you has to hit the brakes for some unexpected reason, you can stop before hitting them.

If everyone tried to drive your way, as soon as some pedestrian or bicycle rider does something unexpected (e.g., chases after something they dropped or swerves into traffic) there is a rear-ender accident.

I BOO your logic.

[beefytee]

roundabouts

I would prefer this to roundabouts:

[YOUTUBE]lBcz-Y8lqOg[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]vi0meiActlU[/YOUTUBE]

[NorthwestUteFan]

roundabouts

Damn straight. I miss driving roundabouts in New England (except for the STUPID jughandles).

Of course they are FAR better if every other driver is also used to them. Remember: cars already in the circle have the right of way.

I also avoid I-5 wherever possible. The back streets make all the difference. Elliott Ave/15th Ave/Alaskan Way work well enough for me, but when I go North I also prefer Route 99.

Getting around BI is a PIB. Nice place, but nowhere near enough roads. Poulsbo opens up quite a bit and is kind of fun. Everything around here is beautiful.

[utahby5]

I love Steve Winwood.

Dear Mr. Fantasy play us a tune. Something to make us all happy.

When I was a kid we remodeled my bedroom and tore out some built-in shelving and behind it was a flier from a Traffic concert held at Terrace Ballroom in the early 1970s. The Terrace hosted numerous shows: The Doors, Zep, etc. My older brothers snuck into a KISS concert there through the ventilation system. Damn, I would have liked to have been older and have seen some of those shows.

Dave Mason was also an original member of Traffic. These are my thoughts about traffic. Good thread.

[Scott R Nelson]

I BOO your logic.

As someone who has run into the back of a few cars from not keeping the right following distance when starting out, I have personal experience with why your method doesn't work in real life.

A few years ago I was explaining following distances to my daughter. As proof that she never listens to her parents, she ran into the back of somebody the very next day. She recently turned 24 and still doesn't listen to her parent's advice.

[filsdepac]

In SF, there are a few long streets with timed lights, and what a beautiful thing it is. I love being at the front of a timed light section and seeing all the lights in front of me turn green in succession.

[creekster]

In SF, there are a few long streets with timed lights, and what a beautiful thing it is. I love being at the front of a timed light section and seeing all the lights in front of me turn green in succession.

Pine?

Bush?

[SeattleUte]

In SF, there are a few long streets with timed lights, and what a beautiful thing it is. I love being at the front of a timed light section and seeing all the lights in front of me turn green in succession.

Sounds luxurious. I'm wondering what music accompiniment would go best with that scene.

[filsdepac]

Pine?

Bush?

Franklin, heading north obviously. Tourists stay on Van Ness. I can usually go from Hayes to Lombard without stopping, perhaps 20 stop lights or so.

Sounds luxurious. I'm wondering what music accompiniment would go best with that scene.

Good call, I might play Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, timing each light change with a cannon burst. That would help drown out the noise of my car bottoming out Bullitt style when I hit Pacific or Broadway.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Sounds luxurious. I'm wondering what music accompiniment would go best with that scene.

Probably something like this:

[YOUTUBE]3GT3GX6n-y8[/YOUTUBE]

[SeattleUte]

Good call, I might play Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, timing each light change with a cannon burst. That would help drown out the noise of my car bottoming out Bullitt style when I hit Pacific or Broadway.

Or this,

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU"]YouTube - Wagner - RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES - Furtwangler[/nomedia]

Or, if you weren't in a hurry, maybe Ring Around Your Finger.

[creekster]

I have always been jealous of this approach

[YOUTUBE]Eidtc55ZqoU[/YOUTUBE]

[NorthwestUteFan]

This one works very well for the situation, although perhaps feels a bit to "martial":

[YOUTUBE]ZDFFHaz9GsY[/YOUTUBE]

Or depending on your mood (and if you have an old fuddy duddy Mercedes):

[YOUTUBE]4uOxOgm5jQ4[/YOUTUBE]

or one of my personal favorites:

[YOUTUBE]iCEDfZgDPS8[/YOUTUBE]

I have always been jealous of this approach

Sometimes the engine is music enough.

[pellegrino]

when did this turn into SU's classical music hour?

I have two thoughts on traffic.

1. It sucks.
2. I'm glad I don't have to deal with it.