It's In The P-I...Much Later: The Return Of Honky McBeeperson

Back in mid-July, the Seattle Times brought the sad story of Mark Cruz, Renton, to our attention. Cruz was busted for honking at the car in front of him, which was lingering at a green light. This morning (thanks, Kayvaan G!) we noticed the P-I headline "Hold that honk: car horns are for safety only." To our surprise, Mark Cruz was again in the news, but for the same exact story. The fine, by the way, is $124 for using your horn when it's not an emergency, but Cruz got off with a warning. Is this really the only guy who's been busted for this? And if he got a warning, is it really necessary to run two stories on his experience?

Anyway, here's the relevant legalese: "The driver of a motor vehicle shall when reasonably necessary to insure safe operation give audible warning with his horn but shall not otherwise use such horn when upon a highway." (Don't think it depends on what the definition of highway is, either -- the law applies to all roads, even alleys.) To pad out the story, the P-I reporter spoke with Aaron Naparstek, the author of the 2004 book "Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage," for a little background. Naparstek gets completely off-topic, mentioning that his experience of Seattle driving had little to do with honking horns: "I just remember thinking, oh, my God -- people are so nice," he said. "I remember almost being annoyed." See, that's more like it.

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By MvB in News on August 27, 2007 11:15 AM

Comments [rss]

guest

Better driving probably could clear up I-5 south over the bridge to an extent, but the quick and popular merge across four lanes of traffic from 45th to the exit for 520 explains the bulk of the slowdown. Most people trying to get to 520 reach the far left lane at or a little before the apex; the reduction in lane changes accounts for higher speeds after that.

Alex

guest

@COMTE:

Well, after the apex, with a clear road, many drivers still choose to drive 40 - 50 mph (far under the limit) all the way to the downtown exits, regardless of traffic or what lane they are in, which seems to me to be the primary cause of congestion. Also, drivers entering at 45th/50th should match traffic speed (even despite the metered entrance), which is the easiest way to merge and move over through the lanes. However, they're often going way too slow, and either I have to slam on my brakes to avoid them, or they brake (incorrectly) when they find out they're not going fast enough, complicating things further.

Seattle-ites are PA in general, I would say. My gf says the slowdown is likely due to laid-back Pac-NWs gazing at the beautiful lakes and skyline. I can't argue with that, it's so gorgeous here.

Charles

COMTE

Seattle drivers aren't PA, it's just that with about 1/3 of the drivers currently on the roads driving like they're all still in the states from which they previously came, it's a veritable free-for-all out there, and we're just trying to avoid becoming road-kill at the expense of some jerk who just moved here from New Jersey or L.A.

And the reason things break up at the apex of the U. Bridge Charles is because of the I-509 exit; a lot of drivers who get on the freeway at 50th or 45th have to cross all the way over four lanes to get to the ramp in less than half a mile, so it creates a choke-point.

Troy Morris

My bartender was talking about this last night. I didn't realize it was with the same guy.

Look, honking is stupid just as car drivers are stupid. I've been nearly hit many times as a pedestrian. Even by those who are so busy honking and glaring at the person who was waiting for me to legally cross the walk, and passed (illegally) and then was forced to slam on their brakes and yell at me.

Needless to say, my keys met his car when I saw him parking it a few blocks away.

guest

Seattle drivers (generally) are so passive-aggressive, it becomes very dangerous, as their reaction timing is terrible. KUOW's The Conversation ran a story on it a couple months ago and almost every caller who wasn't a home-grown Seattle-ite agreed wholeheartedly:

Seattle NEEDS horn-honkers - Although I am often able to avoid accidents, someone needs to alert the sleepiest drivers in the nation that they almost obliterated themselves AND several others. But Seattlest already knows of all this.

I consider it defensive driving: Predicting, preventing from, and alerting to the moronic behavior, such as merging onto a roadway 20 mph slower than traffic without looking.

</vent>

Seattle police are generally finding better things to do than encourage the apathy of Seattle drivers. I guess we caught the officer at a weak moment.

Charles

doublerebel.com

P.S. Anyone else ever noticed that the I-5 South bridge over the cut always seems to have bad traffic until you pass the apex, because Seattle-ites just drive slowly because they can't see ahead, and then once they can, no one speeds up to fill in the gaps? Drives me nuts. They'll back themselves up to Northgate. Thank goodness I live on this side of downtown from any bridges.