Driving in the Pac NW

For the most part, I LOVE living up here. I love the weather (yes, even the rain). I love the location. I just love it!

But driving sometimes irritates me. Yes, I know that I'm a "Californian Driver" (whatever that may mean). I learned to drive in San Diego, but over all - I only lived in California for about 6 out of my 15 driveable years.

See - in California the speed limit is more of a "recommended" limit. You can ACTUALLY get a ticket if you're driving below the speed limit, but 'impeding the flow of traffic'. Which means, going to slow. The posted speed limits are usually around 65-75 on the highways.

But in Portland, the posted speed limit is 60 - and people actually drive BELOW that. In the FAST lane.

Ok, I know it's pretty up here. The scenery is great. The trees are pretty. But really, when you drive past it every day for work you just want to get HOME! I only live 15 miles from work - but without traffic, that can take me 25 minutes. huh? I don't get it??

Oh, that's because every time we drive over the drawbridge we all have to SLOW down for no apparent reason because we've seen too many movies and it might inexplicably raise up, without warning, and we'd go flying off the end a la Hollywood style. If a drawbridge was in California, everyone would cruise through at 80 miles an hour HOPING to be able to jump the gap if it did go up. And the Indianans would jump it even if they DID see it going up - hence all the accidents with trains when I lived out there.

Imagine this scenario with me. You're driving a long a stretch of freeway and come to a drawbridge. There is NO sign that it's about to raise. NO boats on the way, the signals aren't flashing - nothing. What do you do?

Californian: Keep moving at 80 miles an hour. If it DOES start to move, I'll have enough momentum to keep going over the gap. And if I do hit the water, I watched Mythubusters and I know that if I just take a deep breath and wait for the car to equalize, I can open the door right up and get out without a problem. Water doesn't scare me - I've surfed some of the biggest waves in Malibu, dude!

Indianan: Those warning lights are broken all the time, I just blow through it and nothing ever happens to me.

Oregonian/Washintonian: You know, it's better to be safe than sorry. I know that drawbridge is up there about 2 miles away, so I'll just start to slow down now so that it will make it easier for me to stop if the lights DO stop flashing. I know what's in that water down there, and I do NOT want to be swimming w/ the brown trout!

Oh, and I borrowed my final excerpt from this site: http://www.taphilo.com/misc/traffic.shtml

"Once The Columbia River is crossed - - most people slow down to 40 mph crossing the bridge since it is uphill and they never learned that gravity slows down a car going uphill (plus, I must admit, the sight line along the bridge drops down to maybe 300 feet at one point as you approach the the crest of the bridge). However, once past the crest traffic jumps to the limit of 60."