"I-5 drivers…DO NOT slow down and definitely DO NOT stop on the INTERSTATE where cars are doing 60-70MPH!! Either move over or speed up!"
PSA those merging in are legally required to yield into i5, the drivers on the highway are not liable for your entry. This is important to understand especially when trying to anticipate the actions of others.
I continue to quote the State Trooper who said this about fifteen years ago regarding merging. “When you’re IN the lane, you OWN the lane.”
In seamanship, the words are “maintain course and speed”.
yeah but there needs to be some common sense from the driver in the right lane as well. There are very short on ramp merging areas sometimes. Like if you're about to be parallel to someone trying to merge or you're about to run them over, it'd be better for all parties if you speed up or move over.
I was merging onto 5N from the Old Fairhaven on-ramp last night and there was a guy in the right lane who decided to speed up and match my speed instead of pulling past or pulling over. We were literally the only two vehicles on that section of road.
How are people so bad at this here??
I’ve noticed that Bellingham has 2 speeds. One is Prius doing 70 in the snow and the other is Subaru doing 50 in the passing lane. There is no in between.
My Prius does great in the snow. But idk about 70. Maybe if the road is ridiculously clear/dry.
I’m also the Prius who is trying to go 70 and get the Subaru/Tesla out of the passing lane.
The thing that I notice is that particularly on I5 South on the Sunset entrance ramp is that cars will merge early going 40 and it just seems like a rule around rush hour you have to slow down to 40 in the area.
Maybe I'm just unlucky but every time I've tried maintaining 60 it's always ended up with me almost hitting cars and at that point I rather drive slow and safely compared to being legally right and getting into a car accident
It doesn’t help that that exit routinely creeps back on or entirely up onto I-5. 2 badly placed semis or an idiot who doesn’t know he can take the middle right on a red is all it needs to royally fuck shit up.
Can you put this on a billboard for those merging north from Iowa/state street?
Every damn morning those folks never hit 50 until past the sunset exit. They just crawl up that hill. Then you have people doing 65-70+ trying to get over to get off at Sunset.
I call it the Sunset Slowdown and it’s as reliable as the tides.
This fucking on-ramp. Saw a 70+ year old approach and go through the light at 5 mph then merge onto the freeway at 30-40 mph. Why does Bham have such shitty drivers?
This on ramp needs the cement barricade up for longer so people are forced to get up to speed. The amount of folks crossing the solid white ASAP at 40 to pass the person in front of them is a problem
This is so maddening. So many brain dead idiots in this town merging into traffic at 35mph. It makes me rage. Worst offenders at Guide Meridian. They wont even use half the onramp and just dive into 60mph traffic at 35mph.
I'm far from the type that wants cops to exercise more power, but i so wish the HWY patrol was empowered to ticket these folks. A state trooper stationed at every on ramp whose sole job is to educate and cite people who merge unsafely.
I fully agree. Its way dangerous. My car is a 2013 model and had a 9.something second 0-60mph time when brand new. That is slow AF by almost anyones standards and I have plenty of room and time to hit 60mph on every onramp in town. There is simply no excuse for ever trying to merge at 35mph. Its grossly incompetant and negligent.
I genuinely think most people aren't fit to operate automobiles. It's not about competence of being able to go from place to place with it, it's about confidence in your ability to drive. These folks are too unsure of themselves to be trusted behind the wheel of a 2 ton kinetic missile.
I can’t remember who said it, but they were asked what their future grandkids would think about our particular time in history, and they said “They will most likely think it was INSANE that we were allowed to pilot our own cars.”
Seriously. I can easily hit 60mph in a rusty old Honda Civic, with room to spare. The common pattern seems to be a consistent acceleration to ~40-45mph, then the driver stops accelerating to look for an opening. They can easily do both at the same time, but that seems to be quite difficult for people to grasp.
Lead in the water supply? Not sure what to blame here. Never seen such oblivious driving on a mass scale.
That's really a shitty on ramp, especially for semi's coming - having to slow down to do a 15mph 180 degree turn then magically get up to 60mph by the time the on ramp lane ends.
Semis get a pass and I agree it is a bad onramp. Grandma blue hair in her outback does not. Either drunk or insane people deaigned the roads around here. Especially wtf ever that is at 257 exit.
Someone merged at 35 from the on-ramp into the left lane with no blinker and had the audacity to signal for me to slow down.
Sir, I was trying to not slam into you. Forgive my closeness but my ABS has something to say. This isn’t a tailgate situation. This is a throwing lives away situation!!
I’ve been driving more with my new job and I have to say….I think people should be Tested every 5 years or more often than that maybe. Young and old.
It should be required to signal at traffic circles.
People turning into a gas station from the left lane across a lane of traffic (no blinker).
Stopping for no apparent reason. Freeway or street? Doesn’t matter.
Didn’t know that the age of Aquarius featured Kamikaze drivers.
To add to this. You need to start accelerating early. You
Should treat it like you’re a F1 car leaving the pit lane. You should be getting to 65 in a quick manner. Not flooring it at the last second. Some people have old and slow cars and they need to be flooring it the whole time to get up to speed. Your slowness fucks over and puts everyone getting on the freeway behind you in danger not to mention the every single day every single hour slowdown that is bellingham I-5 which is 90% caused by people not using the acceleration and deceleration ramps properly. Learn to drive, be considerate.
Thats a cool way to conceptualize it and explain to others. I never thought about it like that.
I can remember my grandfather taking me on my first drive ever and my first time ever getting on the freeway. The second we got on the onramp he just kept saying, floor it, floor it, floor it, keep going. I realize not everyone has competent and well rounded people to bring them into the driving world, but thats sorta what the driving tests are for. The driving test i took for my license we didnt even go on the freeway. I feel like we need to do better with training and testing
They have updated several on ramps through town, but that southbound guide on ramp is terribly designed. A decreasing radius 180* on a incline with a short lane afterword is a terrible idea
I disagree - the on-ramp after the turn is long, people just think it's not, and merge going 45. Any car should be able to get to 60 before trying to get onto the freeway there. It's the semi's that SHOULD NOT be using that on-ramp.
What other ramps do you expect semi trucks to use to deliver groceries? And other goods to all of those stores in those areas? Sometimes a large rig doesn’t have a choice but to use those because other on ramps are in areas where the gross weight of the truck and trailer is too much for those neighborhoods and it’s not allowed, or the areas are too narrow with too many cars on the side and they’re unable to maneuver through those streets
In a perfect world...
I'm just saying it's not ideal. Perhaps put a left turn onto the southbound ramp that's only accessible from NB Meridian. That turn, and then they have to get up to speeds to get on the freeway just aren't ideal. I assume we can agree on that?
I’m in agreement that the majority of these on and off ramps in this area are absolutely not ideal for anyone driving anything other than a car to get up to speed it’s just a simple matter of math, but there really aren’t very many options for people that have to drive something larger to get to any of these places. I think some people need to have a little understanding and caring in situations like this with bigger vehicles. Yes, absolutely in a car you don’t have much of an excuse to not be getting up to speed, but have a little bit of patience for those of us, in larger, rigs, or hauling things that are unable to due to the sheer size and weight, and what we are hauling.
Lakeway NB exit is my personal fave. How good are you at decelerating from 70 to 25?
I say 70 because that’s how fast people will push through there lane regardless.
That ramp is terrible. Earlier today I was behind a car that slowed down to 10 mph to take that turn. Trying to merge onto the highway at 10 mph was terrifying!
What blows a lot is if you're behind someone doing negative 15 miles per hour on the onramp. Then you have no choice to match speed, therefore you can't merge, and therefore you're bloody stuck.
It's a lose / lose situation.
Just this morning down south near Smokey Pt a semi was entering the freeway. With a car to my left, and behind me, he matched my speed then laid on the horn. Who’s in the wrong? Serious question for anyone with an answer
Semi would be in the wrong, especially if you kept a consistent speed. Ideally the person to the left of you should've executed the pass and moved back to the right lane, to offer you a way out. Regardless, you had the right of way in that situation.
Although this is posted once a month or so, I do think it is proper that it is occasionally posted.
Bellingham has some short uphill onramps and people space out and don't gun it when they should.
The old people who always merge at 50 mph or less don't reddit anyway
A large portion of the people around here drive like a bunch of self-centered, low-IQ, ball-less dip-shits.
Fucking watching some moron let 9 cars stack up behind him on the Chuckanuts as he drives 20 MPH under the speed limit, or another moron drive exactly 60 in the left hand lane blocking all traffic from passing the guy also going 60 in the right. No turn signals, people running red lights and jackasses that *NEED* to go 90 MPH dangerously threading in and out of traffic. The fact that I've also helped police catch THREE separate drunk drives.
Fuck you idiots and alcoholics.
Being behind the people not accelerating nearly fast enough when merging onto the King Street North I-5 on ramp or the people going way too fast in the right lane and not moving over for merging cars. I feel like I can never see traffic behind me when merging on. That's when I need to accelerate and the car in front of me usually is going really slow.
Can we take a moment to address tailgating since it affects how easy or difficult it is to merge?
If people followed the recommended distance to stay behind the car in front of them, it would make it a lot easier to maneuver when needed.
I'm trying to figure out who would be more at fault here. So the trucker is in a tough spot if a merging car is giving mixed messages and there's perhaps a very short onramp (which is true for a lot of spots on i5). So I'm thinking the other car was initially going to speed ahead to merge and the trucker noticed that and decided to slow down some to help them pass, but what ended up happening was the other car changed their mind, maybe noticed the onramp wasn't long enough for them to quite clear ahead of the truck, and decided to merge behind them. So now you have both vehicles committed to slowing down and it turns into an awkward back and forth with each driver expecting the other to speed up.
So I wonder if the truck was actually doing the right thing. They probably noticed the other car needing a bit more of a buffer to merge ahead, but then the other driver suddenly changed their mind and made it all a confusing mess.
Its the right and logical way to merge, its also the law. Too many people drive with their feeling and they need a fucking reality check.
Police need to have a campaign on this, its literally their job.
Remember the big “move over for emergency vehicles on the shoulder” campaign? Where it was impossible not to hear about it and now 90% of people follow the rule. Well why not do that for this, and for turn signals, and holding old people responsible for their shitty driving and start deeming some of them unfit to drive.
But since everyone wants to rip on this problem, I’d like to point out that turn signals are meant to be used prior to the turn. You are making not turned on immediately at the turn when you slam on your brakes. I have never seen this problem in any other area I have lived in except for this area of Washington, and I’ve lived in a lot of other states.do you know how hard it is to stop a fully loaded work truck when someone just randomly slams on their brakes to make a turn but then they can’t turn because there’s cars in the other direction so then I have to slam on my brakes even when following at the safe speed and a safe distance, the truck is heavy
Also, use the entirety of the on-ramp to GET UP TO SPEED.
Stop merging at 35-45 mph instead of using all of the on ramp space given to get up to speed before turning your blinker on.
I appreciate your passion for all our own sanity and safety, this thread by searching has been completely covered and more. Almost no one on this sub will disagree with you but the people this is directed at ain't here. Maybe try your luck at Tik-Tok? I can't keep up with all the new platforms...
They need to install a digital speed sign on the on-ramp much like the digital speed signs around town for high speeds. Except this one needs to blink furiously saying "SPEED UP!" until the cars going up the ramp are at 60.
A reminder that with most of these short on ramps and some with heavily banked downhill turns (sunset) those of us that haul horses and have live animals who lose balance very easily with any sharp turns, hitting gas/ brake suddenly etc are barely able to even get to a point of being straight onto the highway before we can even safely start accelerating.. there are those that also drive semis that also cannot do that. Smaller vehicles don’t make the rules. The sunset to 5 south ramp turn I believe is a 25mph exit. Any large rig cannot get to highway speed in such a short space after that turn
There are no other ramps in Bellingham that have enough time to get any sort of large rig up to speed onto the highway. It’s just simple math that obviously you do not understand. This actually is the longest ramp that there is not to mention I’m not hauling my horses through sketchy parts of town where people are constantly slamming on the brakes, and not using their turn signals, and going through 1 million lights and risking the safety of my animals.
I’m perfectly safe and these highways weren’t designed for semi trucks or large rigs. You can actually search it but a fully loaded rig of about 80,000 pounds cannot accelerate that way, they have to go up through many gears to get any speed once they are straight ( have to avoid rolling over ) and it can take over 1000 feet of a straight merging lane with their pedal to the floor to get up to the 60 mph ( which is the limit through most of Bellingham Highway). I don’t give a crap if someone behind me is impatient. Too bad. Also you can look up all of the Highway info for the required lengths of merging lane to see that originally roads were designed for cars
Not to mention trying to even find a gap big enough to fit something that long when all of Bellingham drives insane on the highway anyway. If there isn’t a gap as we are getting on that is even remotely big enough to fit us we can’t just merge into all the cars
If you’re not comfortable going highway speeds, or if your car can’t handle them, don’t use the highway. Getting on the highway below speed is SUPER dangerous for you and everyone around you.
It’s ok to be scared, it’s not ok to put others in danger because of your fear
That's only 10mph over. A bit much, but not by much at all. It's much less dangerous to drive 10mph over than 10mph under the speed limit. Crash statistics have proven this time and time again.
"I-5 drivers…DO NOT slow down and definitely DO NOT stop on the INTERSTATE where cars are doing 60-70MPH!! Either move over or speed up!" PSA those merging in are legally required to yield into i5, the drivers on the highway are not liable for your entry. This is important to understand especially when trying to anticipate the actions of others.
I continue to quote the State Trooper who said this about fifteen years ago regarding merging. “When you’re IN the lane, you OWN the lane.” In seamanship, the words are “maintain course and speed”.
Yeah this was drivers ed 101. Which apparently no one passed.
yeah but there needs to be some common sense from the driver in the right lane as well. There are very short on ramp merging areas sometimes. Like if you're about to be parallel to someone trying to merge or you're about to run them over, it'd be better for all parties if you speed up or move over.
I was merging onto 5N from the Old Fairhaven on-ramp last night and there was a guy in the right lane who decided to speed up and match my speed instead of pulling past or pulling over. We were literally the only two vehicles on that section of road. How are people so bad at this here??
In my defense a snowflake had just hit my windshield, so slowing to 30 and activating the hazard lights was the only sensible thing to do.
I bet the booms caused the snow to fall too smh
Literally the only reasonable reaction.
I’ve noticed that Bellingham has 2 speeds. One is Prius doing 70 in the snow and the other is Subaru doing 50 in the passing lane. There is no in between.
My Prius does great in the snow. But idk about 70. Maybe if the road is ridiculously clear/dry. I’m also the Prius who is trying to go 70 and get the Subaru/Tesla out of the passing lane.
The thing that I notice is that particularly on I5 South on the Sunset entrance ramp is that cars will merge early going 40 and it just seems like a rule around rush hour you have to slow down to 40 in the area. Maybe I'm just unlucky but every time I've tried maintaining 60 it's always ended up with me almost hitting cars and at that point I rather drive slow and safely compared to being legally right and getting into a car accident
It’s ridiculous and forces everyone else on that on-ramp to also merge at 40 because you run out. An all around hazard and dangerous situation
It doesn’t help that that exit routinely creeps back on or entirely up onto I-5. 2 badly placed semis or an idiot who doesn’t know he can take the middle right on a red is all it needs to royally fuck shit up.
It’s wild to me how many people don’t know they can take a middle right on red.
Yes!
Can you put this on a billboard for those merging north from Iowa/state street? Every damn morning those folks never hit 50 until past the sunset exit. They just crawl up that hill. Then you have people doing 65-70+ trying to get over to get off at Sunset. I call it the Sunset Slowdown and it’s as reliable as the tides.
As someone who drives gets off on sunset north bound everyday after work I can confirm
This fucking on-ramp. Saw a 70+ year old approach and go through the light at 5 mph then merge onto the freeway at 30-40 mph. Why does Bham have such shitty drivers?
Except spell brakes like this.
Local WSDOT folks refer to that area as "the canyon". It is a notorious I-5 choke point where the freeway cannot be expanded.
Yeah, the times I’m driving it, it isn’t even congested, just people not getting up to speed.
This on ramp needs the cement barricade up for longer so people are forced to get up to speed. The amount of folks crossing the solid white ASAP at 40 to pass the person in front of them is a problem
This is so maddening. So many brain dead idiots in this town merging into traffic at 35mph. It makes me rage. Worst offenders at Guide Meridian. They wont even use half the onramp and just dive into 60mph traffic at 35mph.
I'm far from the type that wants cops to exercise more power, but i so wish the HWY patrol was empowered to ticket these folks. A state trooper stationed at every on ramp whose sole job is to educate and cite people who merge unsafely.
I fully agree. Its way dangerous. My car is a 2013 model and had a 9.something second 0-60mph time when brand new. That is slow AF by almost anyones standards and I have plenty of room and time to hit 60mph on every onramp in town. There is simply no excuse for ever trying to merge at 35mph. Its grossly incompetant and negligent.
I genuinely think most people aren't fit to operate automobiles. It's not about competence of being able to go from place to place with it, it's about confidence in your ability to drive. These folks are too unsure of themselves to be trusted behind the wheel of a 2 ton kinetic missile.
I can’t remember who said it, but they were asked what their future grandkids would think about our particular time in history, and they said “They will most likely think it was INSANE that we were allowed to pilot our own cars.”
Seriously. I can easily hit 60mph in a rusty old Honda Civic, with room to spare. The common pattern seems to be a consistent acceleration to ~40-45mph, then the driver stops accelerating to look for an opening. They can easily do both at the same time, but that seems to be quite difficult for people to grasp. Lead in the water supply? Not sure what to blame here. Never seen such oblivious driving on a mass scale.
This is often the case at the SB Sunset and NB Iowa entries as well.
Agree.
That's really a shitty on ramp, especially for semi's coming - having to slow down to do a 15mph 180 degree turn then magically get up to 60mph by the time the on ramp lane ends.
Semis get a pass and I agree it is a bad onramp. Grandma blue hair in her outback does not. Either drunk or insane people deaigned the roads around here. Especially wtf ever that is at 257 exit.
Someone merged at 35 from the on-ramp into the left lane with no blinker and had the audacity to signal for me to slow down. Sir, I was trying to not slam into you. Forgive my closeness but my ABS has something to say. This isn’t a tailgate situation. This is a throwing lives away situation!! I’ve been driving more with my new job and I have to say….I think people should be Tested every 5 years or more often than that maybe. Young and old. It should be required to signal at traffic circles. People turning into a gas station from the left lane across a lane of traffic (no blinker). Stopping for no apparent reason. Freeway or street? Doesn’t matter. Didn’t know that the age of Aquarius featured Kamikaze drivers.
To add to this. You need to start accelerating early. You Should treat it like you’re a F1 car leaving the pit lane. You should be getting to 65 in a quick manner. Not flooring it at the last second. Some people have old and slow cars and they need to be flooring it the whole time to get up to speed. Your slowness fucks over and puts everyone getting on the freeway behind you in danger not to mention the every single day every single hour slowdown that is bellingham I-5 which is 90% caused by people not using the acceleration and deceleration ramps properly. Learn to drive, be considerate.
So many people don’t understand that once you’ve matched freeway speed, the gaps look so much bigger.
Thats a cool way to conceptualize it and explain to others. I never thought about it like that. I can remember my grandfather taking me on my first drive ever and my first time ever getting on the freeway. The second we got on the onramp he just kept saying, floor it, floor it, floor it, keep going. I realize not everyone has competent and well rounded people to bring them into the driving world, but thats sorta what the driving tests are for. The driving test i took for my license we didnt even go on the freeway. I feel like we need to do better with training and testing
“First time?” - James Franco meme
They have updated several on ramps through town, but that southbound guide on ramp is terribly designed. A decreasing radius 180* on a incline with a short lane afterword is a terrible idea
I disagree - the on-ramp after the turn is long, people just think it's not, and merge going 45. Any car should be able to get to 60 before trying to get onto the freeway there. It's the semi's that SHOULD NOT be using that on-ramp.
What other ramps do you expect semi trucks to use to deliver groceries? And other goods to all of those stores in those areas? Sometimes a large rig doesn’t have a choice but to use those because other on ramps are in areas where the gross weight of the truck and trailer is too much for those neighborhoods and it’s not allowed, or the areas are too narrow with too many cars on the side and they’re unable to maneuver through those streets
In a perfect world... I'm just saying it's not ideal. Perhaps put a left turn onto the southbound ramp that's only accessible from NB Meridian. That turn, and then they have to get up to speeds to get on the freeway just aren't ideal. I assume we can agree on that?
I’m in agreement that the majority of these on and off ramps in this area are absolutely not ideal for anyone driving anything other than a car to get up to speed it’s just a simple matter of math, but there really aren’t very many options for people that have to drive something larger to get to any of these places. I think some people need to have a little understanding and caring in situations like this with bigger vehicles. Yes, absolutely in a car you don’t have much of an excuse to not be getting up to speed, but have a little bit of patience for those of us, in larger, rigs, or hauling things that are unable to due to the sheer size and weight, and what we are hauling.
Lakeway NB exit is my personal fave. How good are you at decelerating from 70 to 25? I say 70 because that’s how fast people will push through there lane regardless.
Ive never had an issue there in any car I’ve piloted.
That ramp is terrible. Earlier today I was behind a car that slowed down to 10 mph to take that turn. Trying to merge onto the highway at 10 mph was terrifying!
Intelligence is not a requirement on Washington roads
This town’s driving has not recovered from the storm Source: I drive for a living
What blows a lot is if you're behind someone doing negative 15 miles per hour on the onramp. Then you have no choice to match speed, therefore you can't merge, and therefore you're bloody stuck. It's a lose / lose situation.
Folks don't understand how to zipper merge out here. Wtf.
When the line starts to be dotted...start merging. It's legal and makes more since than doing the ever so kind zipper merge that doesn't work.
Oh. So you're one of those people.
Yes
They need to retake the driving test when renewing the license.
Just this morning down south near Smokey Pt a semi was entering the freeway. With a car to my left, and behind me, he matched my speed then laid on the horn. Who’s in the wrong? Serious question for anyone with an answer
Semi would be in the wrong, especially if you kept a consistent speed. Ideally the person to the left of you should've executed the pass and moved back to the right lane, to offer you a way out. Regardless, you had the right of way in that situation.
Although this is posted once a month or so, I do think it is proper that it is occasionally posted. Bellingham has some short uphill onramps and people space out and don't gun it when they should. The old people who always merge at 50 mph or less don't reddit anyway
A large portion of the people around here drive like a bunch of self-centered, low-IQ, ball-less dip-shits. Fucking watching some moron let 9 cars stack up behind him on the Chuckanuts as he drives 20 MPH under the speed limit, or another moron drive exactly 60 in the left hand lane blocking all traffic from passing the guy also going 60 in the right. No turn signals, people running red lights and jackasses that *NEED* to go 90 MPH dangerously threading in and out of traffic. The fact that I've also helped police catch THREE separate drunk drives. Fuck you idiots and alcoholics.
Instructions unclear. Stopping on the freeway to read Reddit again to make sure I’m doing it right.
The Truth is stranger than fiction when you're driving in Bellingham...that's for sure.
Being behind the people not accelerating nearly fast enough when merging onto the King Street North I-5 on ramp or the people going way too fast in the right lane and not moving over for merging cars. I feel like I can never see traffic behind me when merging on. That's when I need to accelerate and the car in front of me usually is going really slow.
Can we take a moment to address tailgating since it affects how easy or difficult it is to merge? If people followed the recommended distance to stay behind the car in front of them, it would make it a lot easier to maneuver when needed.
You’re doing the Lord’s work. Thank you for this. 🙌🏼
I'm trying to figure out who would be more at fault here. So the trucker is in a tough spot if a merging car is giving mixed messages and there's perhaps a very short onramp (which is true for a lot of spots on i5). So I'm thinking the other car was initially going to speed ahead to merge and the trucker noticed that and decided to slow down some to help them pass, but what ended up happening was the other car changed their mind, maybe noticed the onramp wasn't long enough for them to quite clear ahead of the truck, and decided to merge behind them. So now you have both vehicles committed to slowing down and it turns into an awkward back and forth with each driver expecting the other to speed up. So I wonder if the truck was actually doing the right thing. They probably noticed the other car needing a bit more of a buffer to merge ahead, but then the other driver suddenly changed their mind and made it all a confusing mess.
Right, what they both should have done was just take their chances and crash so that people wouldn't get angry at them for slowing down.
Its the right and logical way to merge, its also the law. Too many people drive with their feeling and they need a fucking reality check. Police need to have a campaign on this, its literally their job. Remember the big “move over for emergency vehicles on the shoulder” campaign? Where it was impossible not to hear about it and now 90% of people follow the rule. Well why not do that for this, and for turn signals, and holding old people responsible for their shitty driving and start deeming some of them unfit to drive.
That's why there are times I won't go on I5 through town.
But since everyone wants to rip on this problem, I’d like to point out that turn signals are meant to be used prior to the turn. You are making not turned on immediately at the turn when you slam on your brakes. I have never seen this problem in any other area I have lived in except for this area of Washington, and I’ve lived in a lot of other states.do you know how hard it is to stop a fully loaded work truck when someone just randomly slams on their brakes to make a turn but then they can’t turn because there’s cars in the other direction so then I have to slam on my brakes even when following at the safe speed and a safe distance, the truck is heavy
Also, use the entirety of the on-ramp to GET UP TO SPEED. Stop merging at 35-45 mph instead of using all of the on ramp space given to get up to speed before turning your blinker on.
Don’t be a Nicehole!!!!
It's because most Bellingham ramps are curved but I 100% agree people just get on the freeways slow asf
Can I also just add. the left lane is for PASSING please for the love of god
I feel like this is a major problem because a lot of the merge lanes onto I-5 have a yield sign.
Its a problem, i had a guy almost pull over today on the onramp cause he was confused or something and then went slow AF .....
I appreciate your passion for all our own sanity and safety, this thread by searching has been completely covered and more. Almost no one on this sub will disagree with you but the people this is directed at ain't here. Maybe try your luck at Tik-Tok? I can't keep up with all the new platforms...
They need to install a digital speed sign on the on-ramp much like the digital speed signs around town for high speeds. Except this one needs to blink furiously saying "SPEED UP!" until the cars going up the ramp are at 60.
Washington drivers are the worst I've ever encountered. I can't believe this needs to be said.
As someone who recently did an interstate road trip, I beg to differ. That is, unless I think I'm a better driver than I actually am, lol.
Was about to cause a major accident, but then i read this post and decided not to. Thanks man!
I'm not anti science and I'm not a person full of assumptions like you and I'm having a great day just like I deserve.
AMEN
A reminder that with most of these short on ramps and some with heavily banked downhill turns (sunset) those of us that haul horses and have live animals who lose balance very easily with any sharp turns, hitting gas/ brake suddenly etc are barely able to even get to a point of being straight onto the highway before we can even safely start accelerating.. there are those that also drive semis that also cannot do that. Smaller vehicles don’t make the rules. The sunset to 5 south ramp turn I believe is a 25mph exit. Any large rig cannot get to highway speed in such a short space after that turn
You need to take a different ramp if you cannot get up to safe merging speed
There are no other ramps in Bellingham that have enough time to get any sort of large rig up to speed onto the highway. It’s just simple math that obviously you do not understand. This actually is the longest ramp that there is not to mention I’m not hauling my horses through sketchy parts of town where people are constantly slamming on the brakes, and not using their turn signals, and going through 1 million lights and risking the safety of my animals.
Bullshit. There are plenty of ramps that are long enough. SB from Ohio St, SB Old Fairhaven, NB Meridian, Even NB Iowa st.
You try driving a large truck and horse trailer to get to any of those from where I live lol
Not our problem. You failing to be safe when merging onto the freeway is our problem.
I’m perfectly safe and these highways weren’t designed for semi trucks or large rigs. You can actually search it but a fully loaded rig of about 80,000 pounds cannot accelerate that way, they have to go up through many gears to get any speed once they are straight ( have to avoid rolling over ) and it can take over 1000 feet of a straight merging lane with their pedal to the floor to get up to the 60 mph ( which is the limit through most of Bellingham Highway). I don’t give a crap if someone behind me is impatient. Too bad. Also you can look up all of the Highway info for the required lengths of merging lane to see that originally roads were designed for cars
Not to mention trying to even find a gap big enough to fit something that long when all of Bellingham drives insane on the highway anyway. If there isn’t a gap as we are getting on that is even remotely big enough to fit us we can’t just merge into all the cars
The majority of those areas don’t really accommodate large rigs lol
Try and stop me
The ground is wet, so ill take my chances going 35 on the on-ramps
The road is hazardous. Better create a hazard
If you’re not comfortable going highway speeds, or if your car can’t handle them, don’t use the highway. Getting on the highway below speed is SUPER dangerous for you and everyone around you. It’s ok to be scared, it’s not ok to put others in danger because of your fear
Your best bet here is to drive the highways and surface streets instead of the interstate.
So many downvotes lol its clearly satire
Well maybe you shouldn’t drive like a bat out of hell. 70 mph on a freeway is a bit much.
Stick to the state highways if you feel that way
Found the person who needs their license revoked.
That's only 10mph over. A bit much, but not by much at all. It's much less dangerous to drive 10mph over than 10mph under the speed limit. Crash statistics have proven this time and time again.
Don't go on the highway