# Seattle Dopers: How 'bout that commute?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 22, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563 "2011-01-22T14:41:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/1 "2011-01-22T14:41:58Z")
Did anyone else get caught in the [mess on the 5](http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=114404834&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10222) yesterday?
I’ll tell you, this sure ain’t L.A. There, if the 405 was hosed, I could go up the 5 to the 10. Or the 5 to the 605 to the 105 to the 405 or Sepulveda or another road. There always seemed to be a way to get from Point A to Point B by an alternate route. Seattle? I’m lost. My coworker suggested the 405 or the 99. To take the 405 I’d have had to go way south, so I took the 99 (Aurora). Went pretty well for a few miles, and then it was stop-and-go between traffic lights. I guess it took about an hour and a half to get to Mountlake Terrace. By that time lanes on the 5 had been reopened for about half an hour, so I cut over and got on the freeway. It took 3:45 to get home. The hell of it is, I got to work half an hour early, drove into town instead of taking the bus so I could get home early, left slightly earlier than I normally do. ‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.’
At this time it is unknown whether the 14-year-old boy jumped, or fell from the overpass.
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### Author:  [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/2 "2011-01-22T14:54:36Z")
Man, I gotta keep up better, I hadn’t even heard about this situation. That is bizarre. But I live on Aurora and was wondering why it was even crazier than usual yesterday.
But yeah, one highway or freeway gets shut down here and we’re pretty much screwed. Actually, we’re screwed every Friday afternoon no matter what.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/3 "2011-01-22T19:31:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I’ll tell you, this sure ain’t L.A. There, if the 405 was hosed, I could go up the 5 to the 10. Or the 5 to the 605 to the 105 to the 405 or Sepulveda or another road. There always seemed to be a way to get from Point A to Point B by an alternate route. Seattle? I’m lost.
Well, for a start, stop calling it “the” 5. If you want to drive like a local, you have to talk, and think, like a local.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/4 "2011-01-22T19:33:48Z")
People up here don’t know how to drive. I’d rather not drive like them.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/5 "2011-01-22T23:28:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> People up here don’t know how to drive. I’d rather not drive like them.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Or sit in traffic and rot; your choice.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/6 "2011-01-23T00:33:39Z")
Yeah, 99 is awful up in that area, best to avoid it if possible. You’d have to look at a map and plan out ahead of time how to avoid that area of 5 (not \*the \*5). Hubby got stuck in it, too. I can think of other routes, but they’d probably not be much of an improvement.
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### Author:  [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/7 "2011-01-23T05:48:09Z")
Last weekend I drove in LA (mostly on “the” 405) for the first time in my life. I’ll take Seattle driving anytime. Then again, I walk to work.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/8 "2011-01-23T06:42:23Z")
Wow, they’ve got some great journalistic writers there at [NWCN.com](http://NWCN.com). From the OP’s linked story:
> [@](#):
>
> WSP, which identified the person as a 14-year-old from the Lynnwood area, died at the scene.
So, Washington State Patrol died at the scene?
Dumbasses.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/9 "2011-01-23T16:41:20Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> So, Washington State Patrol died at the scene?
Yeah, all of them. That’s why it was such a mess! 😛
I totally missed that syntactical error.
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### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/10 "2011-01-24T03:30:59Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> Wow, they’ve got some great journalistic writers there at [NWCN.com](http://NWCN.com). From the OP’s linked story:So, Washington State Patrol died at the scene?
>
> Dumbasses.
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Yeah, all of them. That’s why it was such a mess! 😛
>
> I totally missed that syntactical error.
That’s not funny at all. Somebody died, after all.
(also laughing uncontrollably as I read the quote)
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### Author:  [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/11 "2011-01-24T04:41:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> People up here don’t know how to drive. I’d rather not drive like them.
Still? So things haven’t changed in 17 years, eh? And I’m driving to Auburn next month - sigh.
OTOH, most Californians who move up there cannot drive if there is anything falling out of the sky, so I guess it evens out.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/12 "2011-01-24T04:47:35Z")
What surprises me is that _Seattleites_ don’t know how to drive then stuff falls out of the sky.
Well, most stuff. People falling on the freeway causes havoc just about anywhere. (And yes, I was caught in the chaos when they guy took a plunge in the Sepulveda Pass in the '80s.)
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### Author:  [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/13 "2011-01-24T04:50:29Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> What surprises me is that _Seattleites_ don’t know how to drive then stuff falls out of the sky.
Back when I was unfortunate enough to live there, the excuse was because so many folks got their licenses without having to take driver’s ed. But that can’t still be true?
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### Author:  [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/14 "2011-01-24T06:43:27Z")
That was so sad. But no, my commute is easy peasy lemon squeezy. Two words “light rail”. 🙂
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### Author:  [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2011, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/15 "2011-01-24T07:16:36Z")
I blessedly don’t have to use freeways at all in my commute, over on the Eastside, but I did have to detour around [this](http://thereifixedit.failblog.org/2011/01/21/white-trash-repairs-tifi-newsand-thats-why-you-dont-always-kludge/) this week. A special brand of stupid…
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/16 "2011-01-24T16:13:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> What surprises me is that _Seattleites_ don’t know how to drive then stuff falls out of the sky.
It’s all of the Pacific Northwest. You would think that those who live where it rains 13 months of the year would acclimate their driving to the weather but they don’t.
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### Author:  [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/17 "2011-01-25T04:55:56Z")
> [@Duckster](#):
>
> It’s all of the Pacific Northwest. You would think that those who live where it rains 13 months of the year would acclimate their driving to the weather but they don’t.
Good point. Not surprising that people here would have trouble driving in snow, but in _rain_? Come on, everyone, you’ve had ample opportunity to get used to this…
And don’t get me started on August, when we have bright sunshine and no one can drive in that either. I think they’re blinded at intersections and just keep driving as pedestrians play dodge-'em…
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-dopers-how-bout-that-commute/568563/18 "2011-01-25T05:00:00Z")
[Update](http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110124/ETP03/110129908/-1/NEWS01)
> [@](#):
>
> The boy reportedly jumped at the Alderwood Mall Parkway overpass, Leary said. The walkway there sees heavy pedestrian traffic because it connects the mall with surrounding shopping centers.
>
> Troopers have talked to several witnesses who were at the scene, including some who appeared to be with the boy at the time of the incident, Leary said. Witnesses told troopers they tried to grab him as he went over the rail.