I was driving down 4th Ave in downtown today (I was in a Flexcar) and someone blew through the intersection just in front of me against the light.
Startled, I looked around and realized:
1) The driver (of a truck or SUV) was going the wrong way on Morrison St.
2) The driver was driving on the MAX tracks.
3) Because he/she was driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street, there were no apparent red lights, so he/she was blowing through the intersections.
I hope no one got hurt before this driver came back to reality.
4 responses to “Three Strikes and You’re Out”
I’ve seen this before, a couple times. Both times the driver was going about 40, and once the car got broadsided by a bus. How do so many people end up going the wrong way downtown?
Part of it is that people are from out-of-town, the other part is that, and yes, I’m generalizing, people in SUV’s or trucks think that because they are bigger they can do what they want.
Mostly though, people just suck at driving and can’t drive well.
Additional signage would help the stupid drivers realize their error. Once they blow through making an illegal turn they are not seeing much in the way of ‘Wrong Way’ or ‘Do Not Enter’ signs. If signage would slow em down and get em on the right path the hazard they pose to others would diminish.
I see this sort of thing all the time. I suspect they’re mostly out-of-town drivers who don’t have a clue about (1) the downtown grid of one-way streets, (2) the transit-only lanes, (3) signs.
I don’t think more signage would help — these dolts wind up turning against a “no turns” sign and driving down a marked “bus only” street. They wind up doing this stuff because they weren’t paying attention to clearly marked traffic controls in the first place.
I know a few people who simply refuse to drive downtown because they think it’s scary and/or confusing. It’s probably because they develop this comfort zone around suburban driving, and are intimidated by driving downtown, with its high traffic volume, intersections every 200 feet, and a few extra rules to follow.