Drivers need to cure themselves of a zombie-like behavior

Puget Sound drivers need to free themselves from the zombie-like state they’re in, otherwise they can look forward to more excruciating commutes like what we experienced Thursday morning.

Two semi-trucks crashed during the morning commute, one on I-5 and another on 520. The crashes occurred about 30 minutes apart.

At least one of the crashes forced traffic down to one lane on I-5.

It’s a situation where AM 770 KTTH’s David Boze wishes he had a dash-camera, to record how horribly people drive when avoiding a crash and to shame them. When traffic is hindered as much as it was Thursday morning, drivers find ways to make things even worse, Boze explained.

“We’ve got all kinds of passive-aggressive qualities in the Northwest,” Boze said. “And one of them is merging.”

That’s too bad because the only way around a crash blocking all but one lane of traffic is to merge. But drivers in the Northwest tend to believe that letting another get ahead of them is somehow bad.

“No way in hell am I going to let that guy or gal ahead of me,” Boze said, imitating a Washington driver. “Then they’ll all be ahead of me.”

If drivers correctly “zipper merge” in the open lane, traffic might begin to flow. Maan Sidhu, freeway operations engineer for the Washington State Department of Transportation, has explained to KIRO Radio that drivers should use both lanes and merge at the last minute.

“Really, if the drivers cooperate and they’re looking out for their fellow drivers and they’re alternating back and forth, we can have these sort of reductions,” he said.

Travel times from Federal Way to Seattle grew to two hours because of the morning crashes. Traffic backed up eight miles. That’s a poor commute, and one that may have been made better if drivers would just make space for others to get around the crash.

“If you do it, the person behind you sees it,” Boze said. It’s like something clicks and they’re cured of a zombie virus … ‘oh, oh yeah, I can be a decent human being and let somebody through.'”

The thing that makes traffic worse than a crash and uncooperative drivers are the “lane hogs,” Boze explained. They drive all the way up to the scene and then force their way into the single lane of traffic.

“And we resent them properly,” Boze said. “Even though there are times when you’re just looking at the situation and realizing there is no advantage for being a decent human being because there are too many indecent human beings.

“It’s hopeless. All you can do is swallow anger … and create space.”

Too bad it’s not just highway crashes that drivers tend to have trouble maneuvering around. Seattle is cracking down on mistakes that drivers make in intersections.