# Is refusal to accept the right-of-way unique to Portland drivers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 25, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-refusal-to-accept-the-right-of-way-unique-to-portland-drivers/494352 "2009-04-25T22:41:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-refusal-to-accept-the-right-of-way-unique-to-portland-drivers/494352/21 "2009-04-27T01:57:15Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Oh god, drivers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire do this all the time. They stop in intersections on green lights to wave through cars turning left all the time. I was in an accident recently when the moron in the left lane stopped, and waved through another idiot making a left turn, who promptly turned left in front of me ( I was in the right lane) and I T-boned him. The roads of New England are full of mallet-headed cretins who think they are being considerate, but in reality they are breaking the law and creating a hazard for the rest of us who know the rules of the road. Yep. It also makes the people behind them want to hurt them because you’re supposed to be driving when the light is green, not stopping to let someone else go. They’re lucky they don’t get rear-ended more often. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-refusal-to-accept-the-right-of-way-unique-to-portland-drivers/494352/22 "2009-04-27T11:12:41Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > How would this make any sense? (not to say something has to make sense for it to be a law, of course). Ultimately, it should be up to the driver–wave or not–to take the safest course of action. > > Besides, how would one even prove they were waved through? I agree with you, but I’ve heard that if you wave someone through, it’s like you’re directing traffic and you’re responsible if someone from another lane plows into the person you waved through. I think it _should be_ the driver’s responsibility in a case like this, but I’m not sure which is true. Again, this is just what I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-refusal-to-accept-the-right-of-way-unique-to-portland-drivers/494352/23 "2009-04-27T15:10:32Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > In Oregon, if someone is standing on the sidewalk, facing a marked crosswalk, all drivers are required to stop for them. I see you’re in Washington, so maybe that habit is spilling over? We have that rule here for marked crosswalks. Most drivers ignore it but I’ve stopped for a few only to realize the people are just hanging out at the corner, not waiting to cross. When I first moved to this area a certain city didn’t want to put up stop signs in the neighborhoods but they still gave out tickets in accidents to the person who did not have the right of way. Apparently there was some sort of understood right of way that everyone who lived here already knew. When I drive there I stop EVERYWHERE even though they’ve since decided to put up signs. It’s habit. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-refusal-to-accept-the-right-of-way-unique-to-portland-drivers/494352/24 "2009-04-27T20:34:35Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > As a pedestrian, I often get drivers annoyed at me when I refuse to cross just because they decided to hold up traffic for me. > > Here, there are these signs all over the place telling drivers to let walkers cross. But what the drivers seem unaware of is the picture on the sign, which shows the guy in the crosswalk. > > Certainly, if I’m in the road, they should stop and let me go. But not if I’m still on the sidewalk. I’ll wait my turn, just like everyone should. Half the time, they stop when they see me there even when I don’t even want to cross the street. > > To be honest, it makes me nervous to walk in front of a car controlled by someone who doesn’t know the rules of the road. You don’t understand the pedestrian crosswalk law. The drivers are REQUIRED to stop for any pedestrian in a crosswalk or _about to enter one_. You don’t have to be standing in the street, if you are standing on the corner they have to stop or risk a ticket. This also applies to corners without marked crosswalk signs or lines on the road. There is an implied crosswalk at every intersection. So the drivers are not just deciding to hold up traffic, YOU are. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-refusal-to-accept-the-right-of-way-unique-to-portland-drivers/494352/25 "2009-04-27T22:12:29Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > This. The key to safe driving is not how polite everyone is but how consistent and predictable everyone is. Giving away your right of way often has the same effect as running a light, or cutting someone off: complete chaos! Yesterday as I was driving home, I had to make two left turns. The first one, a bicyclist was riding along the sidewalk toward the intersection…and then he stopped. He apparently wouldn’t go until I made my turn. I grumbled and went, and as I approached my next left turn, I saw a car driving toward me, quickly enough that I would be safer waiting for it to pass. It stopped in the middle of the street for no discernable reason! It was too far away to simply be stopping for me, and it wasn’t making a turn or anything. I grumbled about that one too as I made my turn, which caused my passenger to chew me out, since the driver hadn’t put me in immediate danger. Consistency is key, though. When people start being unpredictable on the road, I get nervous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-refusal-to-accept-the-right-of-way-unique-to-portland-drivers/494352.md?page=1)