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There is a bubble which seems to surround people in Seattle when it comes to travel on roads, be it cars, bicycles or on foot. Typically this manifests itself as a nasty passive agressive "I'm alright Jack" attitude when interacting with other people and thinking about your surroundings.
Take today. I was pulling out of my local garage which involves crossing the pavement (sidewalk). There was a guy ambling towards me on my left, there seemed to be no traffic. I pull out and notice a car coming and stop. By this stage the guy ambling has reached the side of my car and stops. He waits, I wait for the traffic to clear. He hits my car with his fist and side steps the half yard or so around the car. He then looks back at me and swears.
I wind the window down and politely enquire as to his problem.
"Dude, I'm a pedestrian, we have right of way!"
"Er... yes, but when I started moving you weren't anywhere near me or the crossing"
"So??? I have right of way!"
"Yes, but I had to avoid hitting a car so I had to stop. You were no where near me and I was stationary so I couldn't possibly have hit you and all you had to do was walk around me."
"DUDE I HAD RIGHT OF WAY!"
He stormed off.
Seriously, he was pissed because he had to walk around the back of my car. A detour from the course he had been walking of about a foot. He was pissed that I got stuck blocking his straight line because I didn't want to hit a car turning into traffic which was invisible to me until I had pulled forward.
I presume he'd have had the same problem if my car had been stuck there due to other factors, simply because I was unable to pull out in time to stop his gentle amble in a straight line.
You see the same on the freeways here with merging traffic, people merge without looking and without giving way or helping people. Nobody wants to let people pulling right go in front of them, even if they want to move left. They'd rather block you so they can go IN FRONT of your car. I almost hit somebody turning left at a traffic circle the other day because they didn't go around it, instead just turned left across it. Cyclists swap pavement and road interchangeably and naturally have right of way over pedestrians, dogs or anything else.
I can't figure out if its a systemic problem with how people think here or just bad manners. I really can't.
What I do know is that half of these people wouldn't last five minutes in the UK.
Take today. I was pulling out of my local garage which involves crossing the pavement (sidewalk). There was a guy ambling towards me on my left, there seemed to be no traffic. I pull out and notice a car coming and stop. By this stage the guy ambling has reached the side of my car and stops. He waits, I wait for the traffic to clear. He hits my car with his fist and side steps the half yard or so around the car. He then looks back at me and swears.
I wind the window down and politely enquire as to his problem.
"Dude, I'm a pedestrian, we have right of way!"
"Er... yes, but when I started moving you weren't anywhere near me or the crossing"
"So??? I have right of way!"
"Yes, but I had to avoid hitting a car so I had to stop. You were no where near me and I was stationary so I couldn't possibly have hit you and all you had to do was walk around me."
"DUDE I HAD RIGHT OF WAY!"
He stormed off.
Seriously, he was pissed because he had to walk around the back of my car. A detour from the course he had been walking of about a foot. He was pissed that I got stuck blocking his straight line because I didn't want to hit a car turning into traffic which was invisible to me until I had pulled forward.
I presume he'd have had the same problem if my car had been stuck there due to other factors, simply because I was unable to pull out in time to stop his gentle amble in a straight line.
You see the same on the freeways here with merging traffic, people merge without looking and without giving way or helping people. Nobody wants to let people pulling right go in front of them, even if they want to move left. They'd rather block you so they can go IN FRONT of your car. I almost hit somebody turning left at a traffic circle the other day because they didn't go around it, instead just turned left across it. Cyclists swap pavement and road interchangeably and naturally have right of way over pedestrians, dogs or anything else.
I can't figure out if its a systemic problem with how people think here or just bad manners. I really can't.
What I do know is that half of these people wouldn't last five minutes in the UK.
