Initially I was charmed by the slow pace of Portland. I think I even wrote about the whole "20 is Plenty" campaign here to make the speed limit 20 miles per hour in residential areas. People in Portland drive slowly. Very, very slowly. There are people on the highway doing forty in the left lane.
My wife, who was traumatized by Dallas traffic, rides her bike most of the time, but when she drives, she's very appreciative of the slow pace on Portland's roads. & again, I found it kinda cool when I first got here.
Then suddenly I had places to be. & the charm quickly faded. Did I mention that there are people on the highway doing forty in the left lane?
It's maddening. Part of it is, frankly, most people in Portland are terrible drivers. They really are. I guess the whole "driving slowly" thing masks that. In the Dallas area, where I spent an inordinate amount of time the last three years driving a lot, terrible drivers hit speeds of 70 & don't last long. Here? They just putter along.
Slowly - though not as slowly as Portlanders drive - I came to dislike the slow drivers of Portland. My radio shows, for example, are at the other end of the city, & Portland has three highways that service it. Which means that most of your travel will be on streets. Streets where the top speed may, if you're lucky, be 35 miles per hour. Streets that are mostly two-lane - one lane for each direction of traffic. & if you're stuck behind Mr. or Ms. Twenty-Is-Plenty? Oh you're not getting where you need to go on time.
All of my Dallas driving skills come rushing back to me & I turn into a major asshole. & I'm not the only one, of course - when someone seem mad at me, I sort of sympathize with them. I would rather be treated poorly on the road by someone as irritated & impatient as I am than someone who simply does not understand how shitty it is to drive five miles under the speed limit with no thought to the growing line of cars behind you.
Yeah, yeah, I should leave earlier. & perhaps smoke what they're smoking.
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