We here in Seattle like to pride ourselves on our calm. We’re so laid back you can barely see us, right? When I first moved here, I heard lots of derisive comments about crazy Oregon drivers and the traffic jams of Los Angeles.

But now, people sit in their cars here on the 520 and I-90 for hours at a time. (Or so I hear. Luckily, I can avoid that commuting hell.) We’ve become a big-city driving town, unfortunately. And that must explain the level of insane driving I’ve seen lately.

Last December, through no fault of my own, I was involved in a nasty car accident. I nearly lost my life. I’m here, and I’m happy to be here. Still, now, driving makes me anxious. Not because I fear myself, but because I fear the other cars. People zip into small places, back up without looking, round corners by driving into the oncoming lane, and generally just behave as though they’re rushing through life asleep.

So here are a few tips for Seattle drivers:

–slow down. Where the hell you going so fast? This afternoon, I was on Roy, waiting to turn right and proceed up Queen Anne hill. The car in front of me couldn’t wait. She peeled around the corner and jammed on the gas pedal, just so she could drive through the next red light, almost slamming into the car turning into the intersection. She honked at him. He had the right of way. Do we really think that reaching her destination through that made her day better? I know that we all think our lives are desperately important. But you know what? There’s nowhere that important that you have to drive like a maniac. If there is, you should be going there in an ambulance. That’s it.

–pay attention to signs. I live on a corner, on the second floor. And the computer, where I am typing right now, overlooks a four-way stop. At least one car out of ten drives right through the stop sign. I’m not kidding: 10% of them. And they’re always driving 35 miles an hour. The stop signs are not hard to see. They’re right there. But I have seen two car accidents out of my living room window, and I don’t need to see that. Once, I nearly watched a small child in a crosswalk hit by a car. Luckily, the car squealed to a stop just in time. Really, stop signs are big and red for a reason. Please pay attention to them.

–be aware of other drivers. Don’t turn into my lane and nearly swipe the front of my car because you didn’t realize a mile in advance that the lane for I-5 is this one, and the entrance is 100 feet in front of us. Don’t make a turn in such a wide swath that half your car is in my lane, and I’m just sitting at a stop light. And oh, by the way, when I let you in when you signal

Related posts:

1. Perhaps the drivers should go to bike school?
2. Seattle not a jaywalkable city
3. With cops like these, who needs bad drivers?
4. Arboretum Way on Ramp - a Rant
5. Dear Seattle Drivers: