1. Oh yeah, I used to do that. Call me a recovering "tango" addict. No more. If they don't move at a 4 way, I'm takin' it baby! But, every now and then I regress. I'll wait there until hell freezes over. If I've made the "alright, you go first", the finger wiggle close to the windshield so the other driver can see it, I won't go first if somebody lit off a 50 megaton nuke under me. But I'm getting better though. I've adopted the "I'm not asking for permission, I'm taking it" signaled lane change. Here comes Stevie!!! But I'm polite. I'll always give somebody who signals the right of way. But I've got work to do . . . so pay attention.

Posted by: sSeve-O on March 24, 2006 10:31 PM

2. Yeah, the Tango has happened to me. I usually flinch once and then act first. I've found that most other drivers will just sit there so it's better to have someone take action.

But what's worse is what happened to me today. I was driving on Pacific in downtown Tacoma. I was in the right lane. A large jacked up truck right next to me in the left lane slowed down for no apparent reason as we approached a green light that had been green for a good 10 seconds. Instictively I slowed and then came to a stop just as a bum appeared in my lane after crossing in front of the truck. He just felt like crossing even though there was a green light, and he couldn't see me and I couldn't see him. He's lucky we were not going all that fast. I could have hit him and I would have been in the right as he clearly and blatantly crossed the street when moving traffic had the right of way.

I pointed up to the green light and mouthed "what are you thinking, it's a green light." He just gave an indignant look. This has happened to me several other times too. And liberals wonder why we could care less about the homeless.

Posted by: Jeff B. on March 24, 2006 10:53 PM

3. I could swear it was the car on the RIGHT that had the right of way, so to speak. But I learned to drive in Colorado, so maybe the rules are different.

Posted by: Janet S on March 24, 2006 11:23 PM

4. My head hurts

Posted by: Me on March 25, 2006 12:11 AM

5. Once upon a time, I thought all those other drivers were merely being polite and letting others go. I've since come to the conclusion that most people in Seattle are crucially ignorant of traffic laws and deficient in driving skills.

It's not that they are being polite, they just have no conception of the rules of the road. So the default action when it is their (or anyone else's) turn to go is to wait.

You'd think it would be simple: 1. Go in the order in which you arrive. 2. In case of a tie arrival, yield to the right.

Posted by: chunkstyle on March 25, 2006 12:11 AM

6. Stop Sign!? I don't need no stinkin' stop sign!!

chunkstyles' right the concept is so logical, commonsense, and simple as to baffle the average Seattle lib. It is just too black and white, arrive first go first. When a lib arrives at a for way stop such considerations as race, religion, social and economic status must be considered.

So if a Seattle lib arrives first in a new beamer arrives first they feel compelled to yield to a minority in a 20 year old car.

A conservative arrives at the stop with lib and minority doing a tango he has a problem. The rule is the other two go first, so the conservative might wait (fuming at the other two oblividiots), or since he has placse to go money to make he might just go. But since the conservative tends to obey the rules, if one of the others moves he will stop. This cycle can repeat several times, hence the tango.

See it is the fault of liberals!!

Posted by: JCM on March 25, 2006 06:59 AM

7. I always thought it was yield to the right too, I guess it makes sense in Seattle that the LEFT gets the "right" of way.

The other classic Seattle passive aggressive ploy is the crosswalk S L O W walkers. the act of walking impossibly slow across the street right in front of you, usually while looking directly at you with a blank look on their face.

Posted by: dave on March 25, 2006 07:28 AM

8. Believe me Dave, crosswalk slow-walkers are in no way confined to Seattle. Coming from the NE I couldn't believe my eyes when I first got here and saw people moved (both in their cars and on foot) with no sense of urgency. What I like to do is exaggerate slow, heavy breathing with my mouth wide open and slouch in my seat and just stare at them as they cross the street.

Posted by: thedude on March 25, 2006 08:07 AM

9. According to the 2005 Washington Driver's Guide, p. 40: "If more than one vehicle arrives at
the same time, the vehicle on the right goes first."
The guide is available at http://www.dol.wa.gov/ds/english.htm

Posted by: Doug on March 25, 2006 08:41 AM

10. It amazes me that there are so many adults and teenagers who do not know how to safely cross a street. Traffic lights seem to be a complete mystery to many of them. It's tempting to say that this is just another example of the diminishing quality of education in our society. But it seems like in earlier times we taught our children, and our parents taught us, how to safely cross streets before we even started kindergarten.

I've seen adolescents crossing fairly busy streets start about 30 feet back from the curb, tuck their chin and close their eyes, and run as fast as they can in a straight line to the other side, completely disregarding the traffic - kind of like a cat does it.

Amazing.

Posted by: ken on March 25, 2006 08:45 AM

11. RCW 46.61.180
Vehicle approaching intersection.

(1) When two vehicles approach or enter an intersection from different highways at approximately the same time, the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield the right of way to the vehicle on the right.

(2) The right of way rule declared in subsection (1) of this section is modified at arterial highways and otherwise as stated in this chapter.

Posted by: TS on March 25, 2006 09:07 AM

12. Thanks for the research that the car on the right goes first. I would have had to change way too many years of driving training. And I have taught two daughters how to drive, using that rule.

Teaching teens to drive is eye-opening. People in this area do not know how to drive. They do the dumbest things. Pretty much every time we went out for a drive, I could point out a driver doing something that they should never do. I also told them that playing the tango is not polite, it is just a traffic annoyance.

Posted by: Janet S on March 25, 2006 09:51 AM

13. TS: You beat me to it. I just looked it up also, because since I started to drive, many, many years ago, I was always taught, and everyone I know has the opinion that the person on your right has the right-of-way. I looked it up for Pierce County, and confirmed it, but maybe Pierce has different right-of-way rules than King. If so, somebody please confirm that to me, so I don't get ticketed in Seattle!!

Posted by: katomar on March 25, 2006 09:53 AM

14. First of all, wake up and smell the Starbucks. This isn't Seattle in the 60's anymore. Lot's of people showed up and brought their industries with them. Seattle isn't the industrial one-trick-pony it used to be. So get used to the rest of us, especially if you want to pay for all of your "No one is more considerate than me" social programs like drunkard dwellings and all of the EMT calls that go with it.

Second, the state law and Seattle city ordinance for two cars arriving at an unmarked intersection at the same time is to yield to the car on the right. I got out of a ticket that listed that very ordinance. The 'car on my right' would have been cited for driving the wrong way on a one way. I'm not sure why the cop cited me for that violation. Didn't make any sense at all, and when I signed the ticket and handed it back I said, "I'll see you in court", he had a shocked and dismayed look on his face. I think he knew it wouldn't hold up.

Yielding to the guy on the right is also the reason that boats have a little light on the bow that's green on the right and red on the left. I think planes have something similar.

Posted by: Republican (by default) on March 25, 2006 10:17 AM

15. That tango may be gratifying social posturing, but there's no benefit to society from it.

Environmentally conscious Seattlites would recognize, if their noses were rubbed in the fact, that two cars sitting inert at an intersection are burning up gasoline every second, to no physical effect other than pollution and human generated global warming.

But said Seattlites would also be conflicted by their ardent crusade to punish motorists, the symptoms of which are endless infrastructure perversions and regulations designed to impede the efficient passage of traffic on roadways. Seattlites seem wilfully blind to the social benefits of free-flowing traffic: Kipling's "the commerce and all that it implies".

In this case, we see that the egotistical desire for social posturing combined with the punishment of motorists easily trumps the lip service paid to desecration of the environment.

Only we, the politically incorrect, realize that the true benefit to society lies in giving the other guy just enough time to start first (say three seconds), and then briskly proceeding if she doesn't.

Posted by: Hank Bradley on March 25, 2006 10:27 AM

16. As the driver of a monsterous SUV...I enjoy "hunting" Lefty Seattle Neighborhoods laying in wait for a dinky Prius Hybrid with Algore and I Hate Bush Bumperstickers to approach from my Left. You get a free shot at 'em and then you get to yell at 'em after you cream their sorry asses!

Posted by: dude on March 25, 2006 10:30 AM

17. It actually works best if you hunt these Lefty's as a pack. One group "flushes" out....kind of like a "bird-dog". Then the guy with the SUV finishes 'em off....like shootin' a sparrow with a 10-gauge!

Posted by: dude on March 25, 2006 10:32 AM

18. Thanks to the several readers who pointed out that state law actually says the driver on the right has precedence. I misread a Web-posted newspaper article which actually stated that correctly, and put the opposite. I have corrected the original post, over at Rosenblog.

Posted by: Matt R. on March 25, 2006 12:59 PM

19. The intersection of 80th/Meridian & 203rd in Kenmore is a prime example of this. Not only do they play this game, but there is also a considerable number of jerks that somehow think they have the right of way to left turn in front of you.

One assclown in particular actually pointed at me and glared as he did this stunt as I had the temerity to honk my horn at him as he cut me off.

Posted by: H Moul on March 25, 2006 01:31 PM

20. Back when public education provided drivers' ed for all, more kids learned to drive by a more standardized way: at a four way stop, simultaneously arriving with another vehicle, you yield to the driver on your right.

But since Republicans gutted education budgets and schools had to cut back in favor of the bleatings of the low-tax mob, one of things to go was drivers' ed.

So you get kids learning to drive any old way they can, some have private lessons, others learn from a family member, others just figure it out on their own.

The predictable result is chaos on the roads.

Republicans call this progress, I call it more proof of the decline of civilization directly tied to cutting down funding for public education.

Posted by: DaveD on March 25, 2006 01:32 PM

21. DaveD: Sorry to burst your bubble, but you do not need a driver's ed class to learn how to drive or to learn the rules of the road. All you need to do is get a learner's permit, obtain the state driver's manual, practice with a parent until you are proficient at the actual driving, and study the manual for about ONE HOUR to learn all you need to know about the rules of the road in order to pass the driving test and get your license. It's really very simple. However, you do need to know how to read, comprehend and write. Our tax dollars are better spent concentrating on those academic achievements which are, all too obviously, in dire need of attention.

Posted by: katomar on March 25, 2006 01:57 PM

22. It's interesting to see liberals blamed for bad driving. Also interesting to see the threats of violence and murder. I know this is a conservative website and most posters are conservative, but is it really all that conservative to blame things like bad driving on people with opposing political views or to threaten them with murder by suv?

Posted by: eric h on March 25, 2006 05:53 PM

23. eric h

Look up the following word in dictionary:

sarcasm

Posted by: JCM on March 25, 2006 06:17 PM

24.
JCM

google the following phrase:

scary extremist

Posted by: eric h on March 25, 2006 07:04 PM

25. I just googled the word "putz". Went straight to www.erich.com. Go figure.

Posted by: katomar on March 25, 2006 08:21 PM

26. Happily, I live in eastern Washington where we know how to drive and still extend courtesy to other drivers. And there is nothing like reaching Highway 26 after an episode of Seattle traffic. Thank you God!

Posted by: Elaine on March 25, 2006 10:35 PM

27. Why does it seem that whenever I get behind a car driving 24 MPH in a 30 MPH zone that they have a 'Kerry/Edwards', 'Blame Bush' or 'Save the Whales' bumper sticker or they have a 'City of...' decal on the driver's door?

Maybe it's because liberals ride the bus so often that they forget how to drive. Or maybe it's because they think they own roads (even though they pay next to nothing in the gas taxes they voted against repealing).

People around here really don't know how to drive. Everybody makes mistakes, but there are a lot of people around here who just aren't safe to have on the roads. You know, like the guy who thinks you yield to the car on your left (j/k).

Posted by: Republican (by default) on March 26, 2006 12:16 AM

28. My advice - smile and step on the gas.

Best done in a big V8, like Mayor Nipples is driven around in.

Posted by: BananaLand on March 27, 2006 06:53 PM

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