KIRO NIGHTS

Unpopular opinion: Blame yourself for bad traffic in Western Washington

Aug 4, 2018, 9:06 AM

pay per mile, road usage charge, seattle traffic, memorial day 2019, Labor Day...

(AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

(AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

Though many would like to point the finger at authorities for the traffic mess the region finds itself in, KIRO Nights hosts Zak Burns and Gee Scott note that there’s another equally guilty culprit — you.

All of us, really.

“I know we like to blame SDOT, WSDOT, all our departments of transportation for our traffic woes,” Zak said. “And certainly they are partially to blame. But we have to start looking inward a little bit more.”

Both KIRO Nights hosts Gee and Zak were recently stuck — in separate cars — in the same traffic jam around Tacoma. Cars came to a sluggish crawl.

RELATED: Traffic is a symptom of larger problem

“Suddenly, we are stuck in this traffic jam in Tacoma,” Zak said. “I always find it fascinating to see exactly what caused this. What is the reason for this?”

It turns out, there were two cars involved in an accident. The drivers had pulled over to the side of the road on a rather wide shoulder.

“Plenty of room; you didn’t have to slow down whatsoever,” Zak said. “But guess what everybody did? They slowed down just to take a little peek. What did that cause? A massive, massive backup. The minute we passed the accident, the lookie-loos had nothing to lookie-loo at, and the entire traffic jam just went away. That is completely human behavior. Nothing to do with infrastructure. Nothing to do with what WSDOT has done. Nothing to do with what SDOT has done. We are creating so many of our own traffic jams.”

Human behavior is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Simply put, there are a lot of bad drivers out there slowing things down for everybody else. It’s easy to blame WSDOT for bad traffic. It’s not so easy to confront your neighbor or the person one lane over who is blatantly on their phone.

“Folks are on their phones,” Gee said. “I actually took a picture (of the accident), so I can blame myself. I took the picture because I was mad. I was real mad that there was bad traffic for no reason.”

“Traffic in our town, a lot of it is caused by us,” he said. “We have rubber necks … and another thing that is hurting us — we are on our phones. We are checking social media, emails, text messages that are going on right now. It’s slowing everybody down. Instead of going 60 miles an hour, you’re going 54.”

By the way, Washington does have a pretty strict distracted driving law.

Gee’s observation lines up with a recent study out of the University of Alabama at Birmingham which states distracted driving is slowing things down on the road. Not to mention another study that ranked Washington state with the fifth worst drivers in the nation.

“And we refuse to zipper merge,” Zak added.

The zipper merge phenomena in Washington has prompted multiple reminders from KIRO Radio traffic reporter Chris Sullivan. One brewery even became so frustrated by it, they painted instructions on their delivery trucks.

“I know we get angry at others, but we should really start blaming ourselves,” Zak said.

KIRO Nights on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
  • listen to kiro nights KIRO Nights formerly aired on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM.

KIRO Nights

KIRO Nights

Image: A person uses a cell phone on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Los Angeles....

Associated Press

In this Florida school district, some parents are pushing back against a cell phone ban

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — It’s no surprise that students are pushing back on cell phone bans in classrooms. But school administrators in one South Florida county working to pull students’ eyes away from their screens are facing some resistance from another group as well – parents. Since the beginning of the 2024 school year in […]

1 month ago

Photo: Fireworks over Lake Union in Seattle on July 4, 2018....

Julia Dallas

‘At my house, we’re blowing stuff up:’ KIRO reacts to Renton drone show

Renton is taking a different approach to its Fourth of July show. Instead of fireworks lighting up the sky — drones will take their place.

7 months ago

Photo: A periodical cicada nymph wiggles in the grass in Macon, Ga., on Thursday, March 28, 2024, a...

KIRO Newsradio staff

KIRO Nights: Hyper sexual zombie cicadas?!

The periodical cicadas that are about to infest two parts of the United States aren't just plentiful, they're downright weird.

8 months ago

...

MyNorthwest Video

Video: Hyper Sexual Zombie Cicadas?!?! Yes, please.

If you ever want to tell someone what the vibe of KIRO Nights is with Jake Skorheim, just send them this video. Yes, it’s about Hyper Sexual Zombie Cicadas. Enjoy. Listen to KIRO Nights weeknights w/ Jake Skorheim at 7pm on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM Listen to KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com […]

8 months ago

...

MyNorthwest Video

Video: What kind of Senior will YOU be?

Jason Rantz is now obsessed with death — because his life is half-over. Jake Skorheim explains what kind of Elderly he’d be if in an elder care facility. Enjoy a Double Shot.

9 months ago

...

MyNorthwest Video

Video: “You look better in person than on TV”

Jason Rantz keeps getting two back-handled compliments. Jake Skorheim makes it worse. Time for another Double Shot.

9 months ago

Unpopular opinion: Blame yourself for bad traffic in Western Washington