Ross: We all just need to stay in our lane, if we can find it
Jul 13, 2023, 7:30 AM | Updated: 7:55 am
Rush hour traffic is lighter than normal during the morning commute heading in and out of Seattle on Interstate 5 on March 16, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. Many employees are working form home in an effort to stem the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, (COVID-19). (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
In navigating through life, staying in your lane is one of the best ways to reduce conflict.
The same goes for driving, but with driving, you can’t really stay in your lane unless you can see it.
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As Chris has reported, the state is experimenting with special orange and white lane striping in construction zones to get people to slow down – which is great. Anything to protect the workers.
But I think the state has got to get better at maintaining the ordinary lanes too. Interstate 405 between Mill Creek and Lynnwood is magnificent. Those lane markings will burn your retina. Big thumbs up.
But in too many places, you’re on your own. Once upon a time, you could at least follow the concrete seams, but lane shrinkage has made that impossible.
Some areas have lane marking that look like faded driveway chalk – and in the rain, they disappear completely.
The worst stretch is leaving the stadium on Edgar Martinez Drive – there’s nothing left. Sometimes I feel like we’re all tobogganing uphill, trying to avoid being forced into the Jersey barriers.
I will say that the bike lanes are beautiful. They have variety, brilliance – they are works of art. But people still have to drive, and I think we could do a better job of not hitting each other if the automobile lanes were at least as vivid as the graffiti.
So, I would like Washington to do what other states have done and move from the standard 4’’-wide markings to 6’’.
Just make them fatter.
California is doing this, Minnesota is doing it, and Michigan is doing it. One reason is that newer cars have those lane departure systems, which can’t work if there’s no lane to depart from. But it also gives human beings a fighting chance.
And that’s all we’re asking for. I know there are a lot of speeders and tailgaters and lane splitters, and other scofflaws on the roads, but the majority of us are not trying to do anything fancy. We just want to stay in our lane. All we need is to know where it is.
Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
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