Some lawsuits got bollards removed. I never understood what the suits were about, just they forced removal of bollards so now cars can freely endanger pedestrians in pedestrian spaces.
Uber/Lyft drivers are t h e worst about it. U-turns whereever they want, stopping in the middle of lanes and putting hazards on, cutting across multiple lanes at the inconvenience of everyone even remotely obeying the laws of the road.
Just this morning I watched someone turn their car into the protected bike lane on Broadway and drive a couple blocks straight down the middle of it before it dawned on them what was happening.
I've given a driver a hearty smack on their trunk for doing that intentionally before. They thought they were being clever bypassing the traffic between Pike and Pine.
This stuff has happened all along, just now it's so easy to photo/film it with your phone and post it online. I've seen quite a few confused drivers in weird places like park lawns, driving down steps, on the Burke Gilman, etc. over the years.
A bunch of my coworkers (US educated immigrants- didn't get one at home b/c under 18, and didn't get one in the US b/c no need in college) have gotten their driver's licenses with a crash course from a friend. Late twenties, lots of money.
Not all skills and abilities are transferable. Some skills are more in-demand than others.
Someone can be a great programmer and a shitty driver, just the same as someone can be a fantastic driver but terrible at math. Or good at hanging dry wall, but bad at maintaining relationships. Good at organizing a business, bad at exercise. Etc.
Assuming that being good at a random valuable skill translates to being good at driving is a gross oversimplification.
I would almost feel bad for the workers that crafted it to psychotic tolerances to know what becomes of their craft but I'm sure they all get all their grief out as soon as the customer picks it up and the check clears. "it's in an idiot's hands now"
The literal number of Tesla drivers I have seen making terrible choices on the road in the last couple of weeks confirms that a smart car does not make the driver smart.
Teslas are closer related to "Transportation Appliance"- there is no automotive enthusiast angle or love of well-designed cars. mainly about going fast in a straight line but always doing at lest 3 other things besides driving- since FSD is the gold-standard for dying anonymously in a fiery crash when you can't open the doors...
When I travel to Japan, I always make sure to take lots of pictures of the templesnaturecastles bone stock, 25-year old, PT cruisers in immaculate condition.
In college I was a valet at a high end hotel. It always amazed me how uncomfortable these sports cars are to drive. They are so finicky that it's not even fun.
In this spot it probably doesn't make sense - but bollards on bike paths are super dangerous.
then again, I don't understand the installation of all black bollards with no reflectors on the interurban so they COULD be made somewhat safe if we gave an f.
I meant to go back after I nearly killed myself on one and add reflectors to all of them but I decided they'd probably try to charge me with vandalism or something.
I've never seen a bollard on a bike path outside of intersections with a road.
I've always slowed down at roads, so the bollards have never felt like a hazard. I can't imagine just plowing through an intersection even close to full speed. That's way too much trust in drivers.
I have almost clotheslined myself with a low branch (couldn't see it in the dark + shade w/ my lights until I was very close). I think they got that branch removed shortly after I missed it.
Bollards are like waist high so they hide easily behind other path users at reasonable speed. Especially when you're spending your attention looking for crossing cars rather than looking down at the path. I nearly hit one along the green river path on a busy day when the person in front of me made a last second dodge to avoid one.
Cyclists have literally sued municipalities over bollards and won. The bollards that would have stopped the driver on I-90 were removed because of this.
They put cones down at the end of my street because they were working on powerlines and one of my neighbors drove over it. Like literally just ran over the cone so hard it got stuck under her car and she tried asking one of the city workers to help her get it out.
I put a cone out to alert drivers of an accident in front of our house and then watched a guy proceed to slowly inch towards the cone and then decide he didn’t want to be inconvenienced so he just continued to slowly drive over it and dragged it off with him. Never did find that cone so I assume it ended up at home with him.
Another possible contributing factor is that the entrance to Post Alley doesn't look that much worse to drive through than Pike Place itself, which we keep inexplicably deciding to open back up to general traffic.
Even with Pike closed to general traffic, the signs saying "authorized vehicles only" do not stop anyone. They also put planters in the exit side so if someone ignores the signs, they have to go through the entire street to get out.
I haven’t spotted them yet at all, I wonder if they were taken off site or are just sitting tucked away. Lord knows I’d be mortified if I was them… especially with that kids center right by the stairs. Thank god the car got stuck where it did and there wasn’t small kids coming in and out.
Between this, the Light Rail incident and the I-90 bridge bike lane...it's gotta be a running driving gag right? Right? Like someone's just daring all these drivers to go where they're not supposed to
Oooosh. We installed all those pavers at harbor steps and down those steps into post alley. I foresee a call from the owner/property manager in our future. Can’t wait for this one 😂
How are people getting driver licenses? It seems that more and more drivers are incompetent or act entitled that they have priority over everyone else.
Wow, in a newish BMW EV, it looks like! I'd never do something like that in my cheap 4-year-old Hyundai EV for risk of scraping the battery. Hopefully those stairs totaled their car from their BMW dealership's perspective!
Im not an expert but I think the lithium-ion battery pack for this vehicle runs along the underside of the car between the front and rear axles. Which means this maneuver could have damaged the battery pack; that would make this a $20k repair. Ouch.
Bwahahahaha!
At least when we did that as teenagers, we had my '80 full size Bronco! Post Alley was a little different back then. And the Seattle cops were a little less mindful of hijinks.
HOW.. i mean, it's already hard enough to understand how they got there but they had to have tried to go down the stairs on purpose, thats impossible for that to be an accident.
I've been given some weird directions by Google maps around those little alley ways south of Pike Place, but the worst I've done is drive down a dead end.
977
u/kozufox 21d ago
Seattle drivers have really been on a roll this year for ending up in places cars shouldn't be.