Posted On: June 1, 2005, 5:21 pm CDT

Posted By: john

It simply is not possible that Oregon drivers rate #1 -- or are other states truely filled with incompetent drivers?

Oregon drivers simply can not merge, they tailgate, fail to use their signal, think that if their vehicle fits it is safe to merge, sleep at green lights, cut-off trucks, do not know where they are going (only been living here for 2 decades...still don't know which bloody lane they should be in at the light), do not know how to react to snow, rain, or sun shine, lose cargo that is insufficiently secured to the top RVs, stop in the middle of the road to let someone in from a secondary road where if they had just continued that person could have entered traffic uninhibited about 2 seconds later, travel in left lanes at speeds lower the rest of traffic, fail to pay attention to what they're doing [driving], etc. The list continues.

A few weeks ago on route 5 south-bound; a pick-up truck with a trailer had an equipment failure that caused it to over-turn. Rubber-necking halted traffic on the north-bound side...there were 3 additional accidents on the north-bound side where folks rear-ended the halted traffic - obviously not paying attention, AND stopping on the highway to take-in the "sights". These are good driving skills?

Speeding does not cause accidents; not respecting the laws of physics does. Think about it; the limits are set for the worst conditions, for the worst drivers, for the worst vehicle. Then Oregon sets different speed limits for trucks on highways (10mph less than other vehicles) so that there more large slow-moving obstacles to avoid. What is it that Germany's autobahn has comparatively fewer accidents?

This report can not possibly be accurate.