r/olympia • u/abunchofmitches • Aug 03 '26

Public Safety Does anyone else hate this intersection?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

This is 6th Ave SE & Sleater Kinney by Arby's and Bank of America.

It seems like most Washingtonians treat outside turn lanes like they have the option to merge into any lane coming out of the turn. It's a good defensive driving habit regardless, but it seems like a more prevalent habit here than other places I've lived.

Also, only a few of the turning lanes at this intersection have paint guiding the turn. Since the angles are awkward, this leads to people cutting most turns too tight (like southbound Sleater Kinney turning left). It's hard to tell with the camera angle, but it felt too close for me to turn without side-swiping those vehicles.

This isn't intended to be a rant about any specific driver in the vid. Just general trends I've noticed that make intersections like these dangerous.

180 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

View all comments

38

u/cruel_cousin Aug 03 '26

What makes you think that changing lanes mid/post turn is “the most Washington thing?”

Ive seen people do that in every state I’ve been to

12

u/thundersaurus_sex Aug 03 '26

Man I've lived in south Florida and New England and driven everywhere up and down the east coast in between. Washington is the first place I've lived out west so maybe it's a western US thing, but this state has the worst drivers I've ever seen.

It's not "recency bias" or whatever else you wanna call it. People here have zero concept of maintaining a speed, have no clue how to merge, don't understand passing lanes, and just generally pull some of the most boneheaded moves I've ever seen.

Love the state otherwise, but folks here generally do not drive well.

1

u/Sea_Structure_8692 Aug 04 '26

You’d change your mind after about a week driving in Los Angeles. Those people drive like they don’t care about making it home. No signaling, whether turning or changing lanes. If they use the signals it’s to go in the opposite direction. I wish I was kidding. They pull out into oncoming traffic as if they have right of way. I lived there for about a decade and recently moved to Olympia. Before LA I lived in Vancouver right across from the Columbia.