Portland drivers: Frustrated but relatively road-rage free
PORTLAND, Ore. -- I have to admit to being a little surprised to see Portland ranked among the cities with the most-frustrated drivers.
The personal finance website NerdWallet used national transit statistics and surveys to compile the 10 worst cities for U.S. drivers. Portland came in at No. 9 with commuters spending an average of 44 hours annually stuck in traffic and gas prices that are 15 percent higher than the national average.
While Portland commuters may be frustrated, they're not likely to take it out on one another. At least according to Reuters, which found in a survey that Portland drivers are less prone to road rage than the average U.S. commuter.
I suppose because Portland typically ranks among the best cities for mass transit, I assumed that somehow made for less-frustrating highways.
Of course, I bike commute almost exclusively and most of that is on the car-free Springwater Corridor. That probably has something to do with my ignorance.
'I have to admit to being a little surprised to see Portland ranked among the cities with the most-frustrated drivers.'
Having driven in, and made the decision to leave, Portland traffic. I don't find it the teenest bit surprising. From the antequated traffic infrastructure, to the self centered and entitled 'me first' drivers, to the bicyclists and pedestrians.... Frankly I'm amazed that there aren't more road rage incidents in the PMA.Â
It seems to me there is a definitive correlation between drivers and the stickers on their car. I already can see you're stupid by your driving, you don't need to prove it with an Obama sticker. And, for some reason, Ducks also seem to have a slight edge on idiocy over Beavers.
Please, pull your head out (or put down the cel. phone) and look at your own speedometer. You are allowed to go the speed limit and blocking traffic in the left lane is ALREADY illegal.
@Conspirator I only like everything in your comment except the Obama sticker part.  Where I live it's 8 miles from my house until I can pass a car.  There's never an Obama sticker on the fender in front of me, but many stickers that 'mention' him.  Lots of Ducks stickers though.  I can't be kind about this part:  I cannot stand people who take on the role of speed limit monitors with the "I'm driving just under the speed limit, so everyone else can just hold their horses, dag-gumit".
@Sundowner I must admit to a little bias but I rarely am stuck behind a Bush, Romney or Paul sticker. Also, I attended neither UO or OSU. Rarely stuck behind "Keep Portland Wierd" but often behind the stick-figure families with one or more cats. Dog owners must be OK. Worse are the minivans and worst - minivans with Washington plates. Ginny Burdick wants a new law to combat this. I just wish they would enforce the current law.
I understand traffic, but what drives me nuts is when there is little or no traffic and I'm still stuck behind the only two other people on the road. Next rant - dumb signals that run a full cycle when there is no applicable traffic.
@Conspirator Come over the mountain and all you'll see is Romney stickers and the accompanying NoBama ones.  Sometimes I think I'll end up having a massive wreck from rolling my eyes at the wrong time.  The signal cycle drives me crazy too, as do people who are turning left and get a full 4' right of the centerline to do it, leaving no room to go around them.  We won't even start on the people who come to a complete stop at a yield sign or refuse to turn right on a red when there's no other traffic. Â
Where do these rankings come from? Who did they ask? I just love stats that come from nowhere with no known person ever asked what they think. Depending on who is asked and what, stats can be manipulated at will to even conclude that night is day! LOL
I drive the Hillsboro to Portland commute everyday.I find that drivers are on their good behavior most of the time compared to cities like S.F and L.A.The problem that I do encounter is trying to park on the street downtown.It's obvious I'm attempting to park.Instead of waiting 10 seconds or going around,people sit their blowing their horn.Unfortunately for them,I'm not easily intimidated.I don't have a problem with people parking.10 seconds out of my day to be curtious hasn't ruined my life yet.
I spend way more than 44 hours a year stuck in traffic.
The best way to avoid road rage or encountering others in the throws of a sudden outburst of road rage is to avoid being in traffic. And, the best way to avoid being in tragic is to ride a bike. And, the leading cause of rode rage among people caught in traffic is seeing all those attractive, young, healthy fit, cyclists zipping through traffic on their way to someplace interesting to enjoy the company of other interesting people.Â
Traffic congestion cannot be blamed on cyclists but it is clear that every other social ill that plagues man can be blamed on cyclists. Keep it weird Portland/
@Agness P Weatherby 30 miles on a bike everyday even in the snow and rain? I think I'll pass.
@noneofyourbizzness @Agness P Weatherby As my friend would say, I loved riding a bike.  Then I turned 12.  =)
@FreedomRocks We chicks found boyfriends with cars around age 14.  No dummies here!  LOL.
@Sundowner @noneofyourbizzness @Agness P Weatherby Hmmm I road 20-40 miles many days of the week and then I turned 16...
right, haul all your carpeneters tools, saws, saw horses with your bike.....how about delivering a new fridge....oh, better yet....ambulance bikes....you should signup soon for that bike freak.
@Agness P Weatherby Odd - I ride my bike in Portland almost everyday and I have to ride in traffic.
@poopstainmonkey @Agness P Weatherby Ya your one of the few doing it legally:)
I wonder if being fat and lazy has anything to do with the lack of road rage here
@LostSoul Doubt it but being stoned might.
Oh c'mon. I thought Suzanne was funny. I don't think "smug" is the proper way to describe the writing. I think she was sarcastically pointing out a personal trait that some readers may be able to relate to and stating that she may be "ignorant" to the perils of traffic because of how she chooses to commute. We can't argue that biking is often a healthier choice (and cheaper) but people (like me) can't/wont. Sometimes for being lazy (me). And just as the author did, I just opened myself up to name calling and ridicule.Â
Have a nice day everyone. Move on to something worth the energy if something doesn't suit you.
The self centered, self absorbed Portlander's drive with little or no concern about others on the road. Add a cellphone into the mix, because laws apply to others, and the quality of driving deteriorates even further.
@Rob C 503 Not to mention most don't know why the roads get built the way they are then get pissed when people use that extra lane they built so more cars could get through a single light...
@Rob C 503 Another Rob C overblown comment, I swear you never have anything decent to say, just complain with little or no facts to back it up.
If you hate Portland so much then move.....it's simple.
Did !
@Rob C 503Â You know the old saying; opinions are like ??, everyone's got one. Â Being proud of an opinion is silly, be proud of your accomplishments.Â
@Rob C 503Â I'm going to have to disagree with you as far as me diminishing your opinions for this reason: Â You stereotyped Portlanders as being self-centered, self-absorbed drivers who don't care about other drivers, then went on to you don't even live in Portland. Â So I'm not sure if your non-whining is ironic, hypocritical or just flat-out making fun of something that doesn't concern you. Â It just sounds like you don't like Portland and Portlanders so I'm not sure why you comment on this site other than maybe there isn't one where you live now?
@Sundowner ......I would answer that comment this way: everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
I have never been a Senator in Congress. But I have an opinion about it. I have never lived in Italy, but I have an opinion about it. I have never been a criminal, but I have an opinion about crime. Expressing an opinion is not "whining" as you characterize it. That's your way of diminishing what someone else thinks.
@Rob C 503Â @deejm2112Â Good -- then like me you won't get to gripe about certain things since we're both non-citizens of the Rose City. Â That's why I never whined about Sam Adams or traffic tie-ups when President Obama came to town or how bad the park blocks smelled when the Occupy people were occupying them or the Arts Tax. Â You didn't whine about those things either, right?
@Rob C 503Â Â
10 years ago Portland was ranked as the best city of drivers nationwide as far as knowing/following laws and general behavior. Since that time there have been 100K immigrants from the backwaters of America that have arrived to pollute our streets. There are a large number of people that like to complain about Portland and they have a point; Portland was way better 40 years ago.Â
Why did they have someone with little experience of the roads write this? Could they be any more smug?
Dont have a republican bumper sticker and youll be alright.
Can't we all just get along????
Portland has some of the worst drivers in the country and have for many years, long before the California invasion. Â Most of them are in too big a hurry to go nowhere and want everyone out of their way. Â I won't move over as long as I'm doing the speed limit and if you don't like it, go around me. Â Depending on how stupid or pushy the driver is who ticks me off, determines whether I wave at him or her with a middle finger on one hand or both hands.
@Shadow Sport...if you are in the left lane which is pretty much universally known as the "Fast Lane" you need to be aware that you can be a traffic hazard. The middle lane should be used for staying with the flow of traffic. The right lane should be for entering or exiting a free way. And the left lane is for people who are in a rush to get someplace. Yes, the speed limit may be posted, but it is better to let the people in a rush have the left lane.
@Shadow You're the reason everyone is so frustrated. "In too big a hurry to go nowhere" -- how the heck do you know where someone else is trying to get to, and why? Self-appointed traffic regulators like you park your fat asses in the fast lane and get a thrill out of annoying everyone around you. How sad that your cheap thrills can only come from frustrating others. Bet you don't get laid much.
@Shadow Portland has the some of the worst drivers? Really? Most timid? yes, not in a hurry? certainly.
Tying in gas prices skews this a bit but Portland is really tame. I've driven all over the country and on my first trip to Portland I new something was amiss right outside the airport on 205....they were going the speed limit, it was weird and unfamiliar, they use turn signals the change lanes, and people actually let you in.....shocking I tell you.
Portland traffic jam= 2 people arriving at a 4 way stop at the same time and sit there waving each other on (mocked on Portlandia but it's true).
In Boston my 25 mile commute was minimal 1 hr (and I had to pay tolls), the record commute was 4 hrs (during a nasty snow storm).Â
Portlands a piece of cake...
Is that like it depending on how willfully ignorant or disrespectful you are, for whether I cut you off within inches or give you space? Or maybe whether or not I use the median or shoulder to get around you before give you the old "#1"?
@Shadow Nothing like a driver saying right here in public how they like to endanger others while driving at or right under the speed limit in the 'fast lane'.  Oh, please don't ever flip me off for quickly flashing my brights at you to get you out of the way of a string of 10 cars, k?
@Sundowner Nothing like a driver saying right here in public how they like to endanger others while speeding and illegally flashing their high-beams.
@Spiffy @Sundowner Spiffy...if you are in the left lane on the Autobahn and you see some headlights flashing way back....that is a hint to move over as someone is coming up on you.I realize this is not the Autobahn, but the rule applies all over.
It is that way in a lot of places actually...to alert someone they are being passed. I do it sometimes to alert idiots that run stop signs.
@poopstainmonkey @Spiffy @JGalt Did you fail to read your own post?  The "Except when in the act of overtaking or passing" part?  That's exactly what you're doing when you go around someone on a freeway.  And I'm not talking about leaving brights on, I'm talking about a quick flash, just like everyone else on the planet does.  You're a menace to the driving public and should be cited as such.
@Spiffy @Sundowner @JGalt Flashing high beams is a universal sign of wanting to pass. In most cars in the world, there's actually buttons specifically for that feature. If you're too clueless to be paying attention to what's both in front AND behind you, perhaps you should be taking the bus?
@Sundowner@Spiffy@JGaltORS 811.515 Except when in the act of overtaking or passing, a driver of a vehicle following another vehicle within 350 feet to the rear must use the low beams of the vehicle headlight system.
And on a one-way multi-lane road such as I-5 going around somebody doesn't qualify as "passing" or "overtaking" because you have your own lane.
@Sundowner @Spiffy @JGalt That's how it works everywhere else in the world - where drivers are actually skilled and there isn't bumper to bumper stopped traffic.
@Spiffy @JGalt Care to point out the section in the drivers' manual that indicates flashing one's headlights is against the law?  If it's there, great.  I'm suspicious though.
Not this again...
Want to make Portland drivers less frustrated, NW drivers need to do two things:Â
1) Get out of the left lane if you aren't going faster than the other cars. Period. The left lane is for passing, if someone comes up fast behind you just move the hell over. It isn't going to kill you to let them pass.Â
2) You do not need to come to a COMPLETE STOP to merge. NW drivers are some the slowest and most timid drivers ever.  You have this incessant need to merge immediately miles before a lane ends and if you can't get in immediately you come to a freaking complete stop on the freeway. It's idiotic.Â
@B CÂ @JGaltIn reality, you don't have to get over until the lane ends. Â Granted it's frustrating when you're sitting in slow or stopped traffic and people are going by you on the right, but they actually have every right to until the lane actually ends. Â Of course at that point it's up to you to decide how generous you feel about letting them cut in front of you. Â I bet Shadow sits there and won't let them in no matter what. Â His "I'll show you!" is equivalent to "Get off my lawn you dag-gum kids!"
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They think it's easier to slow down to merge, instead of speeding up to the enormous gap in traffic. It causes a domino effect, but they don't care.
One of my personal peeves is the jerk that goes 20 in a 30 and then blows through the intersection as the light turns red. Some day, somebody's getting a nice hand-written message left on their car.. with a key.
@B C I notice the exact opposite in regards to merging. I notice many, many drivers waiting until the last second to fly across 2 lanes of traffic to make the off ramp. Of they slam on the brakes if there's no room.
Way to pat yourself on the back there, K2 reporter! What does your daily bicycle commuting have to do with this article?