Some say that Northeast drivers are crazy and they complain too much. This is true in any and all cases. Others say that Northwest drivers are polite and courteous. Also almost universally true.
But come on. Even Northwest drivers surprise me.
I'll lay this out in scenarios.
1. A small group of teens decides to cross the street, nowhere near a crosswalk.
The Northeast Driver: keeps going, and curses at the kids out the window for crossing outside of an intersection.
The Northwest Driver: slams on the brakes surprising other drivers behind to allow the kids to cross safely.
Okay, I'll go for broke here: if I'm crossing the street, I stop at the curb and look both ways like I was taught in kindergarten, lest the result be my untimely demise. This is undoubtedly part of a east-coast upbringing. If I'm driving, I learned that crossing outside of an intersection is the pedestrian's problem (and technically jaywalking, a ticket-worthy offense, although the number of jaywalking tickets handed out each year can probably be counted on two hands), unless they're already in the street. So when I'm walking with friends around town in the Northwest and they cross the street without looking or anything, I fear for their lives. When they see me hesitate at the street curb, I get funny looks.
So: Northeast drivers - quit your complaining. Northwest drivers - complain more so I don't rear end you for being polite.
2. The speed limit tends to be a general outline, but no one in the Northeast (and much of the rest of the East coast for that matter) takes it quite so seriously as people in the Northwest.
It was a shock to me that people on most roads (Interstate 5 being the main exception, but still not by much) actually observe posted speed limits. Here's a little math for you:
Northwest Limit = Posted Speed Limit + 5 mph.
East Coast Limit = As Close To 80 As You Can Get While Not Getting Caught Speeding.
It's no secret that east coast drivers tempt fate every time they start a car. But in the NW, its entirely a different driving culture. People slow down on roads to let people cross. No horns, no cursing. People actually drive the speed limit. I could get used to this, but I'll always have a soft spot for hurdling down windy narrow 2-lane parkways at 75 in the middle of the night.
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If only Northwest drivers were as good as you say. I've been here all my life, and one thing that NW drivers do NOT do is keep right unless passing. On the freeway I change lanes constantly because it's simply not an option to go fast in the left lane(s) and expect that people will move aside.
A manager at my previous employer fit the NW driver role very well when she stated that she can "drive 60mph in the left lane of I-5 if she wants because that is the speed limit." Of course I laid into her for this ridiculous way of thinking, but she didn't get it and I assume an ungodly amount of other Northwesterners would have agreed with her.
Also, around here we HAVE to watch out for those jaywalkers! Cops will pull a person over for failing to stop for a pedestrian whether that pedestrian was in a crosswalk or not. The police will even go so far as to ticket the pedestrian for jaywalking while simultaneously ticketing the motorist for failing to stop for that same jaywalker.
One thing we don't have a lot of here is horns. After visiting my mom on the east coast several times in the past five years I've found that honking is just a fact of life when it comes to driving over there. I hope that the lack of honking here in the NW doesn't increase our rate of road rage, however...
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