Comments on: Riddle me this, Seattle

By: stan

stan — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:45:44 +0000

Tangentially: Regarding pedestrians, if I remember the RCW correctly, any intersection counts as an "unmarked crosswalk".

By: heidi

heidi — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:44:18 +0000

Oh yeah – I had heard that you could go left around roundabouts, so that’s good to know.

I’ve gotten used to the roundabouts, which were also new to me when I moved here. But the uncontrolled intersections? Not so much. I wonder why they even exist? All I can think is that it saves $ on signage.

By: matt0the0engineer

matt0the0engineer — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:34:00 +0000

The nice thing about turning circles is that it doesn't really matter as much in case of a tie. Because the person to your right is going around to the right and so are you. It's sort of a self-solving problem and really the only rule is that the first person to enter the circle has the right-of-way. Oh, and to turn left you have to go all the way around unless you're in a large vehicle that can't make it around the circle. Which may be one reason you don't see many extended-cab trucks on Queen Anne.

By: alejo699

alejo699 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:07:02 +0000

I actually noticed the brightly striped poles on stopsigns long before I even realized Seattle had uncontrolled intersections. I’d been driving right through signless intersections for months before I noticed there were no stopsigns the other way either.

By: mmbb

mmbb — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:19:49 +0000

my mnemonic for remembering this traffic rule is to "(always yield to and) never hit somebody on the driver’s side of their car"

By: heidi

heidi — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:00:51 +0000

Thank you Dawgson! That is what I was getting at – it’s not really about who has the right of way, it’s more about how do you know when you’re at an uncontrolled intersection and should slow down to check for cross-traffic? I’ve developed a sense for it over time, but it just doesn’t seem safe to me.

By: dawgson

dawgson — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:52:41 +0000

I also grew up in a state without uncontrolled intersections — I find them completely terrifying. I’m surprised they don’t cause more accidents, but I think they go a long way to explaining the very tentative, stop and start nature of many Seattle drivers.

By: wesa

wesa — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:12:09 +0000

It’s the one on the right. Always. :)

By: heidi

heidi — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:50:15 +0000

Thanks everybody – I should have just asked the Metblogs readers a long time ago. References AND trivia – awesome!

In the state where I learned to drive, there is no such thing as an uncontrolled intersection, so if you don’t have a stop sign, you can assume you have the right of way. It’s taken some getting used to for me to learn to check the other side of the intersection to see if they have a stop sign, since my instinct is just to blow right through.

By: manuelw

manuelw — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:36:27 +0000

That is called an uncontrolled intersection.
Somewhat related trivia: Jaywalking is legal if you are crossing the street between two uncontrolled intersections.