Driving in the Rain

Today on my drive to work, the sky really let everyone have it. Hell, lake-fulls of water fell from the sky pretty much all day. I write this post not as a hackneyed rant on how much it rains in the Pacific Northwest. That complaint really doesn't have any teeth anymore, and it's something I've gotten used to as a transplanted Washingtonian. 

Instead, I'd like to spend some time here thanking everyone I passed or saw driving on I-5 on my way to work for driving safely in the rain. Wet-weather driving probably comes as second nature to most everyone who calls this corner of the U.S. home, but it is truly refreshing to see for someone coming from a completely different climate (me).

In my hometown of Las Vegas it rains as much as it did today for a few weeks in August and September; our wet season, if you will. Because of the paucity of rain showers leading to normally dry ground and the Las Vegas valley's geography, flash floods are not uncommon. The yearly occurrence of flash flooding even inspired our regional flood control district to initiate a fairly well-known billboard campaign warning of the dangers of floods with billboards like this:

Source: http://www.ccrfcd.org/2004billboards.htm

Despite these painfully obvious warnings, some people continue to not get it. Shots of stranded motorists being rescued from cars they drove into waist-deep water are a more common site on the local news than I'm comfortable admitting regularly.

You'd think images like the one above would be hard to forget.

Some Las Vegas drivers also seem to think that driving in the rain at or over the speed limit is a good idea; as if getting to their destination as quickly as possible is the best way to drive in wet weather. People eventually learn, but then inexplicably forget a year later, that driving in the rain means slowing down. The posted speed limit is not a challenge, it is the fastest most drivers can safely travel in the best conditions; roads glossy with water are far from ideal.

Fortunately, people in my adoptive state seem to get it. Most everyone I saw driving today kept a safe distance from the car in front of them and did not seem to feel the irresistible urge to go flat out. I have a feeling this will be only one of the many things with which I am continually pleasantly surprised as I grow more and more to consider Bellingham my home.