How Bend Drivers Suck, Chapter LXVIII
Driving back from Whole Foods this morning, I came to a four-way stop. After stopping, I proceeded straight ahead through the intersection. A man stopped in the opposite lane of traffic had his turn signal on to make a left across the intersection.
When I didn't yield the right of way to him he frowned and shook his head. I've encountered a similar response many times, with drivers giving me the finger, blowing their horns, etc.
For your information, my fellow Bend drivers, THE CAR GOING STRAIGHT HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY over the car making a left turn across the intersection. I quote the Oregon Driver's Manual, Section 2:42: "When you make a left turn at an intersection or into an alley, private road, driveway, or any other place, you must yield the right of way to oncoming traffic until it is safe to turn."
Instead of flipping people off, I suggest you try to learn the basic rules of driving in your own state. Thank you for your attention.
14 comments:
Aw, c'mon, you can come up with a better gripe than this! You're not even trying.
No one's gonna buy the claim that bad drivers are unique to Bend.
"No one's gonna buy the claim that bad drivers are unique to Bend."
Not unique, but we seem to have more than our share of people driving HUA in one way or another.
"[...] we seem to have more than our share of people driving HUA in one way or another."
Nah, I don't buy it. I find the locals to be more considerate and thoughtful and less spastic than drivers in SoCal.
Considerate and thoughtful, yes -- sometimes overly so (e.g., coming to a full stop on the parkway or in the middle of a roundabout to let somebody enter) -- but inept and often inattentive. California drivers have to be skillful and pay attention -- it's a matter of survival.
The manual also states:
"At any intersection with stop signs in all four directions, it is common
courtesy to allow the driver who stops first to go first. If in doubt,
yield to the driver on your right. The important thing to remember is
to be careful. To avoid the risk of a crash, never insist on the right of
way; be a courteous driver."
Perhaps courtsey is not as important as being right, no matter what.
R. William: Courtesy is fine, but knowing and following the rules of the road is important for everybody's safety; otherwise it's impossible to predict what other drivers are going to do in a given situation. In the case I'm talking about, both of us arrived at the intersection at the same time. He wanted to make a left; I wanted to go straight. I had the right of way. It would of course be stupid to insist on maintaining my right of way to the point of causing a collision, and I would not do that. However I get pissed when drivers get mad at ME because THEY don't know the rules.
I also get pissed when people insist on being "courteous" to the point of endangering others on the road, such as when they stop on the parkway or in the middle of a roundabout.
I'm going to get a copy of the manual and highlight the pertinent passage and, so help me, the next time I get into one of these four-way-stop contretemps I'm going to pull it out and make the other driver read it.
I understand the impulse. Every time I see a cyclist riding against traffic I want to pull over, explain to him or her how fucking dangerous it is to ride against traffic (drivers pulling into the lane don't look downstream so they will not see you), and wave a copy of the Oregon Driver's Handbook at the hapless idiot to illustrate the point he or she should be riding with traffic . . . but I've never gotten around to it.
"Considerate and thoughtful, yes -- sometimes overly so [...]"
Only someone with an off-the-scale hostility rating would find considerate and thoughtful drivers an annoyance.
Srsly, Blackdog: you need to find something more substantial to whinge about.
Jack: OVERLY "considerate" and "thoughtful" drivers (such as we tend to have in Bend) are not just an annoyance, they are a fucking MENACE.
"Srsly, Blackdog: you need to find something more substantial to whinge about."
I will, Jack, I will.
I always thought the mark of a Bendite was not knowing how fast to drive or waiting until 30 sec of green light has passed before proceeding. Mo' better to look like a real retard.
Bend doesn't even come close to So.Cal auto traffic. Orange county specifically has surface streets where the speed limit is 55 MPH and none of the lights are timed for this speed. Spend some time on any of So.Cal's pavement and Bend looks like a ghost town.
Yeah there are some folks in Bend who want to speed across town, but they really don't make it far before getting stuck behind the more common law abiding driver.
My only gripe in Bend is so few signal in the roundabouts.
On the routes I typically drive (surface streets, the Parkway) I find that drivers generally run five to ten miles over the speed limit. School zone speed limits are much more closely observed here than anywhere else I've lived, and even so most drivers go three or four mph above the posted 20 mph limit. I have not observed people here reacting to a green light any longer than in SoCal; I've never been stuck behind anyone who didn't move promptly into the intersection when they get a green light, except for cases where they weren't paying attention and I've been guilty of that -- seems like the moment I take my eye off the light to look at something that catches my attention, like a pretty girls, the light changes.
As a cyclist, I like my drivers cautious and attentive.
My biggest pet peeve (whilst driving, anyway) is people who don't move slightly forward into the intersection when turning left at a green light (while waiting for those coming straight across). If you wait behind the crosswalk at a green light, you risk not being able to get across at all. At best you'll be doing a jackrabbit jump when it is all clear, and leave the rest of us to wait for the next #?&* light. This happens all the time, ad nauseum. Should I honk? Give them a little shove from behind?
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