When I first saw videos of this exit I was imagining it to be designed horribly, but after seeing this and learning it’s in Seattle, people just suck at driving.
The most shocking thing about this video is that it's possible to get on I-5 at Mercer and manage to merge across all the lanes necessary to exit at Union.
It's pretty much the same as the 520 > Mercer merge. It's a pretty tough megre, if this was at 5pm, or 8am... But I can see how 8:30pm has light traffic like this.
Oh that’s actually not too hard to do. Most people that get on from SR 520 into the left lane actually have to take the exit before this one. They are all trying to merge in the first half mile, blocking all the traffic that’s on the freeway, but leaving the lanes pretty clear ahead of them, so it becomes very easy to hit the union street exit at full speed even after crossing all five lanes to get to it.
There are 2 signs and multiple arrows indicating that you are making a sharp right turn. One sign says 30 mph then the second says 20 mph. There’s also a sign that indicates a light is approaching. You’re supposed to slow down when making turns because you can’t see what’s in front of you. That’s driving 101. Everyone just loves to drive fast to go no where. Clearly this video demonstrates it’s easy to slow down when you’re paying attention.
I guess it's also a case of 'Car Control 101' as well, even at speed, you shouldn't be crashing here. Sure it's a steep turn, but if you enter too fast, don't slam on the brake or you're just going to spin yourself around or understeer into the barrier, or both as we've seen from the compilations! :) I think if more people knew how to handle their car better, it would be less of an issue.
its not the drivers, its the way its made. in the usa, lanes are super wide, and people don't check the speedomiter every 2 seconds, and just go how fast they feel like its possible. thats why in your neighboorhood people might speed alot, because the road is insanly wide, in the usa, we try and use signs and education, when we should be making roads less wide, and trying to make the envoirment to how fast you should go, so you natually go slower
It's honestly not too hard. My only gripe with it is that it's hard to see if a car is comming if you are trying to merge into the right hand side. But taking the exit safely is easy enough.
the very first time my texas country ass drove into seattle i was in an antique dodge truck towing a 24 ft travel trailer and i took that exit by mistake.. had no problem with it whatsoever.. no drama at all.. pretty routine actually. i got lost, but that was my fault..
Came to this video from another video of crashes just before the stop light. People just don’t know how to drive. 20 mph and a stop light is clearly marked. As soon as a car goes onto the off ramp, driver needs to reduce the speed to surface traffic speeds. Especially if you’re going on a blind curve.
@@mar0239 I lived in Europe and very few if any cities at all would have a highway cutting straight through the city center in the first place. It wouldn't be allowed even during the rebuilding after WW2. They go around bypassing city centers. But it made sense here at the time since Seattle is newer and few people lived and work in the corridor that the U.S. Dept of Transportation chose to use eminent domain.
American Sign Guide Green Sign: Reading optional unless lost White Sign: Road hints! Blue Sign: Read on full bladder Red Sign: Must read! Yellow Sign: Deer, kids or curves, neither of which you wanna hit fast.
@@Xevion Did you understand what I meant? I’m not going for a Pulitzer here, just a few laughs. Grammar Nazis are becoming worse than actual Nazis. Sometimes I intentional misspell things or use incorrect punctuation just to irritate your brain cells. if correcting people’s grammar online releases the tiniest amount of endorphins for you, then you are a narcissistic waste of air. Touch grass and do something important with your life. And no, you are not cool for having an X that is pronounced as a Z. Stop. Just stop it. Don’t. You were better before you started typing. Now I’m hungry. Do you like hot dogs?
@@bradgiles8324 Funny the only time I've (a friend was driving and I was passenger) come close to nailing a kid was at 2 am on a street with no lights and she was doing 55 mph. I noticed a white speck far down the road, maybe .2-.4 miles down, moving back and forth across the street kinda slow. I told her to cut back to 45 and throw on the highbeams. Lord and behold it was some stupid kid, late middle school age, that stared like a deer in headlights at us as we passed. She was freaking out so bad about what if she hit him. I bumped her on the shoulder and told her not to sweat it. You hit you hit him and it is his own dame fault. The parents will get in a lot of trouble for letting their kid be out unattended at 2 am. Either insurance or that kid's parents will pay for the damage or replace the car. No big deal. I said all that with a straight face and without a hint of joking. She paused looked over at me kind of shocked. I responded with "Darwin Award." She realized that night that I don't care for stupid and I'm very realistic. Which led to her falling for me. High school was fun. 😅
Absolute platinum ranked professional driver here. Definitely the signs’ fault that it’s unsafe. They should have people wearing reflective jackets standing in the middle of road to REALLY give people at least 49 chances to slow down. That will 100% solve the problem.
Well, it's not like the rocket scientists who crash here even care to learn about stuff like that. Come to my city where half the population doesn't know how the fuck to navigate a 4 way intersection with stop signs. I kinda feel tempted to leave my car with the doors unlocked to see if they can drive it since I have three pedals under the floor. Bet those jackasses will wonder "What the frick is wrong with the parking brake? I press it and it won't stay put!"
Every person that wants to get a drivers' license in the US should be flown out to Seattle just to drive on the Union Street exit off of Interstate 5 for the ultimate test.
When I first saw the video of people crashing, I thought it could have maybe been due to a poorly designed road, but after watching this and another video of people successfully taking this off-ramp without a hitch and with the benefit of seeing it from the driver's point of view, my conclusion (which is very much logical) is that those crashes were the result of bad driving. Here's the breakdown of my argument: This is an off-ramp, which automatically means the driver should slow down because they are about to merge into an environment where cars are going at city speed. Secondly, well in advance, there are at least two yellow, cautionary speed limit signs before the exit. What did we all learn in driver's ed when seeing signs like those? We learned that it is wise to slow down and take the curve or turn at the suggested speed. Thirdly, there is a sign indicating that a traffic light is at the end of the ramp, which further emphasizes the necessity to slow down because the light could be red. Then there is a sign with an arrow indicating a sharp curve, which implies that it's wise to slow down. And then there are three signs that reinforce the sharp curve. All in all, how many more warnings do some of these drivers need? Not having signs would be one thing, but those signs are placed there for a reason, and that reason is the design of this particular exit. It's like a lot of drivers just think that they can go at whatever speed they want, ignore any and all cautionary signs, and then are surprised when they crash. Basically, it's every excuse not to go the posted speed limit. That's what I think it is. If drivers would slow down just a little, they might be able to process the cautionary signs in enough time to make a wise decision on how they should execute these turns, curves, exit ramps, or whatever.
The fact alone that this particular intersection has more crashes than other intersections in the same area means that it is poorly designed. It might have all the street signs necessary to drive through it safely when the driver is focused, but then you are only relying on people looking at the signs. 100% of drivers paying attention 100% of the time is not reality and must me kept in mind when designing infastructure. Almost all highway exits are built (atleast here in Finland) in a way that there is a long exit ramp with gradual slow down. You barely need to touch any brakes to drive though them. This exit ramp in the video has you going from 60mph to 20mph in around 3 seconds. That is a massive drop in speed in a very short amount of time. Then after few more seconds there is a very sharp turn. This is leaves almost no room at all for driver error and is vastly different from what drivers are used to in other highway exit ramps. What could be done to improve safety is adding speed bumbs or rumble strips, as well as monitor that will show if you are going over the speed limit.
@@Catrik 100% of drivers paying attention 100% of the time………. must be kept in mind when designing infrastructure. Did you really just post this nonsensical bs? Should the road and traffic engineers just install rubber bumpers like in a bowling alley for kids to prevent catastrophic damage when people aren’t focused on the main task of driving and fuck up?
@@Erik_C_251 One of the jobs of an engineer is to make traffic safe. If they make an intersection that somehow gets a lot more accidents than all the other intersections around it, then they did a bad job. The bad drivers are also driving on all the other intersections, but since they dont get as many accidents there then obviously something is desgined worse on the one that does get more accidents.
It's people relying on depth perception instead of the speed advisory signs. It's hard to judge how sharp a turn is in a tunnel because you can only see the beginning of the turn instead of all of it. Also you have the green off-ramp sign and the first speed advisory appearing nearly simultaneously, drivers new to the area are going to be reading the off ramp sign above them instead of the advisory sign to their right. Then once they are on the off-ramp they have about 3 seconds to notice the other advisory signs before it becomes too late to make the turn.
It’s not unheard of. There are plenty of off-ramps and exits with such lights in the states. Why this isn’t implemented here is beyond me considering how many documented accidents there are here. Seattle Government at work I guess
I would love to see signs saying “beware: hard turn. slow down or risk crashing” or something like that. States can get a federal exemption, Colorado did it for the I-70 “don’t be fooled” signs
Hear me out on this cheap solution: rumble strips. You sleepy? Awaken! Did not see the sign? Startle mode! Late braker? I jiggle you! If you follow the speed limit, you’re a bouncy Mercedes SUV.
@@DMitchell6274 It makes me think there must be another exit in the area that feels similar but is higher speed. Because seeing it for the first time, I don't get the impression that I can take the corner quickly. But I'm sure my perception is biased by the roads I'm familiar with
I had to take this exit 6 days a week for 7 months about 15 years ago. It’s a really shitty exit, especially during rush hour. Coming from north bound puts you in the far left lane and the very next intersection is a “t”. So you have tons of people on a packed 3 lane road needing to get to the opposite side with almost no time to do it. It requires a ridiculous amount of situational awareness at very early hours of the morning and is a very stressful way to start your day.
I'll jump in as a Seattle native and continuous resident, old enough to remember the freeway being built (although I didn't have a license for another 5 years or so). From the get-go, the central-Seattle corridor had a compromise freeway design, with several major entrances and exits on both right and left sides in close proximity. The "Mercer Weave" necessary to drive between Bellevue/Kirkland and the Seattle Center (Space Needle etc.) has such full-width merges required, going either direction, spaced ~one mile apart. Like the Union St. exit, this all was driven by minimizing land use area, probably unwisely. The Mercer Weave is only now undergoing a significant reconstruction for improvement, to be done about 2025-26 I think. The Union exit also was degraded somewhat (from a driving safety point of view) by the construction of Freeway Park 10 years after I-5 opened, placing the exit in the dark underground, so to speak. I have driven the Union exit perhaps 1000 times since the 1970s and it is totally easy if you are familiar. It's also easy, like the video, if you're paying attention. But it's unforgiving if you've got both those strikes against you. We all have those lapses at least a handful of times over a lifetime if we admit it to ourselves.
See that bus? To help ease congestion on downtown Seattle's surface streets, they used to move the buses underground as part of a transit tunnel. Originally it was supposed to be a subway tunnel but the people voted against it and it became a bus tunnel that would later become light rail. The tunnel opened in 1990, and the light rail opened in 2009. For almost a decade it had the unique operation of buses sharing the tunnel with the light rail, with Pittsburgh being the only other place in the US that does this. Why did the buses move out? Because like I said, it was meant to be a light rail tunnel, but also the Washington State Convention Center's (seen at 0:35) intention to expand left the Convention Place (where buses entered the tunnel) to be demolished which sped up the transition process.
The traffic light is one that catches people off timing I've noticed I have a traffic light on my way to work like this. It seems out of since with the flow of traffic. Lots of accidents at these types of lights and can be off by milliseconds.
do it japanese ways with rumble strip and special road painting + additional marking to signify the danger of the curve then slowing down but oh well, people in the US won't bother anyway
Tight cresting curve, then immediately a crossweave on the right and a traffic signal. Old American freeway design ftw. I've seen similar gauntlets on DC area thoroughfares
Flashing yellow light with a sign saying REDUCE SPEED and a few rumble strips in the road. If you don’t already know the exit, there is no sense how insanely close you really are to joining street traffic and exiting directly to a busy city intersection.
It actually doesn't give the right experience from drivers of the crash compilations video unless you can time travel back in time..lol. What we're viewing here are the improvements to the signage in 2021 after several complaints. The crash compilations video are prior to the installation of the Reflective tubular barriers around the radius of the curve and the 20 MPH" advisory label to the "Exit 165B" sign right at the beginning of the ramp to make it a little clearer that this is an exit ramp, not a Hot Wheels loop-de-loop track.
Thanx for sharing I just flew in here from tiktok about all these cars crashing, I can now see they were all idiots! No need to crash just be cautious and respect the speed!
I think the huge blindspot due to the wall on the right is a major part of what's catching drivers off-guard if they aren't familiar that this particular off-ramp leads abruptly to a stoplight once the turn is made. If drivers can see the stoplight ahead without that wall, maybe they can better gauge and monitor their speeds coming off the ramp.
Yea, you’re right. It’s also a metaphorical IQ test to find out whether or not you’re stupid enough to continue speeding 2 times what the sign said going through a tunnel that you can’t see the end of. That’s like driving on the opposite side of the road when you can’t see the road ahead.
It would be crazy to see one of these videos where the poster is driving normally and is safe but right next to them a driver falls for this exit's trap and crashes their car.
Oh, god. I've driven past some of those. It's like they give you 150ft to accelerate from a near dead stop to 60. Seeing that for the first time from the cab of a semi truck was unnerving! O^O
I used to work right at that intersection with the red light and drove that exit everyday for a year. I never had a single accident there. BUT I did see several other accidents. So many people came to seattle from all over the country and they just can't drive.
So many comments saying “this video shows it’s possible to be safe in this off-ramp, that proves that the people crashing are all bad drivers.” My question to those commenters is this: what makes the drivers on this particular exit so much worse than drivers elsewhere even in just Seattle? If the issue is drivers sucking, the amount of crashes should not spike only in this one location, it should be fairly consistent all over the city. Since that isn’t the case (otherwise this exit wouldn’t be so notorious) there must be something unique about this exit. What’s unique about it? It’s a far sharper turn and shorter stopping distance after the turn than the vast majority of other exits. Signs and paint are not infrastructure, this exit needs to either be closed or have significant traffic calming or people are gonna keep getting hurt. And not just the “bad drivers” who take the exit too fast, but also those who are stopped at the light getting rear-ended, or pedestrians trying to cross the street at the crosswalk. City planning isn’t about making something technically possible to navigate safely, it’s about making it as unlikely to be dangerous as possible.
nah it is drivers sucking just because this one offramp actually requires you to follow traffic law for your own safety doesnt mean its badly designed. people who crash here should legit have their license taken away for a year since theyre obviously habitual rule breakers and negligent with other peoples lifes.
I don’t know about you but when I drive I scan the road and signs, like most people, especially when it has a sign that you’re approaching a traffic light muscle memory tells me to release my foot off the pedal versus slamming on the brakes which is tends to make the car drift from high speeds.
Thousands of drivers use this off-ramp and never get in an accident. The speed at which those cars come off this ramp and crash is evident that they are not going 20 mph or less as the sign tells them to do. Speeding always increases your chances of getting into an accident. Some situations more than others.
I would also add flashing yellow warning lights and rumble strips to get the attention of the drivers that there is a sharp curve ahead. It means SLOW DOWN! This could help to reduce the number of accidents even further.
I do have to ask when the 20 speed sign got put up. I remmber a video about something similar where there was a lot of crashes the 20 sign or what speed it was was set up and (not the one tiny side that keep getting blocked). and the accident rate fell down significant.
Executed just right! Wow, amazing! (I think I’m even hearing lane-by-lane turn signal use…WOWEE-WOW!!!)…What a concept?!?!…maintaining speed till OFF the freeway completely, which means to be totally ON the exit, then braking…as hard as necessary…to be at a safe speed for whatever else the exit holds…a short runoff…a tight turn…frequently damp pavement…a red light at the end. WOW!!! Someone was actually able to handle ALL of these things CORRECTLY?!?! It’s AMAZING!!!!!! You must’ve learned to drive in WA or anywhere but CA sometime before the CA takeover of WA back in the ‘80s-‘90s!!!
The question is, how are most other exits in the US? For example Im from New Zealand, now living in Germany, and it did throw me off a bit that autobahn exits can be quite tight where as on NZ, its always very gradually curves and one mostly doesnt have to brake too much. So if most exits are fast, then 1 slow one is definitely a potential for surprises
Austin, Texas, I-35... heading south into Downtown... the so-called 8th Street exit... or heading north, the 6th Street exit. A one block PLUMMET not an exit. The 8th Street Exit (ie, heading south) is a bit safer because visibility is longer. But heading north to the 6th Street - it's a true plummet downward INTO a busy 6th-Street Stoplight intersection. It's as blind as this Seattle Union Station exit. But steep, downhill.
On right, Exit 30mph at 38 sec. On right, Turn speed warning of 20mph at 40 sec. On left, turn speed warning again at 48 sec. There were multiple signs.
It said 30 at the exit then said 20 twice. But the improvements could be made to signage. I also notice your streetlights are on wires which is trashy.
@@zipWith I think its more about entitlement. People assume the speed limit on all federally designed highways is 70 but in most downtown areas the design limit, speaking as a registered professional civil engineer, should be more like 55 mph. Given that the speed limit around the turn is 20mph that means the the design speed is 30 mph, so it shouldn't be that hard for Seattlites to slow down from 55 to 30 to make this turn.
@@zipWith Its about entitlement. This highways stretch should have a speed limit of 55 mph and so taking an exit from 55 mph to 30 mph shouldn't be a problem. I'm a registered professional civil engineer and so the design speed of this curve is 30 mph, not 20.
@@jefboy28 urban highways should be limited to 40mph, so urban freeways can curve tighter to destroy less stuff. Urban non-separated highways should be
Honestly I think there should be delineators on the solid white line before the exit so that way people don’t have to exit at the last minute which is pretty much the cause of most of the accidents there.
...So sharp turn, abnormally sharp, it's not well designed, real sudden stoplight but it's still mostly in combination with the factors of the vehicle and it's driver. A lot of people carry too much speed and a lot of modern cars understeer. The deciding factor is they all panic. They're sliding and they think braking will save them, when that just seals it for them.
I think some hard right [arrow] signs/symbols ought to be place above center of the road (i.e. right next to the exit sign @ 0:29 and 0:36). That sign on the wall to the right @ 0:41 is too small for someone driving at 65mph.
They need flashing yellow lights on the left side of the wall, and they also need to paint the left-hand side curb with alternating yellow-and-black paint marks to bring attention to the fact that vehicles need to SLOW DOWN!
When I first saw videos of this exit I was imagining it to be designed horribly, but after seeing this and learning it’s in Seattle, people just suck at driving.
Turns out it’s just the United States of America that’s designed badly
Yep. Also the media likes to hype up everything!
seriously, I have seen exits with tighter turns than that. Like you said, people just suck at driving!
90% of motorists think they drive better than the average. 😉
that's exactly the same thing I thought, it's pure negligent driving.
The most shocking thing about this video is that it's possible to get on I-5 at Mercer and manage to merge across all the lanes necessary to exit at Union.
That’s what I was thinking.
It's pretty much the same as the 520 > Mercer merge. It's a pretty tough megre, if this was at 5pm, or 8am... But I can see how 8:30pm has light traffic like this.
@@mentalcompass omg, that's so much worse than us.
Oh that’s actually not too hard to do. Most people that get on from SR 520 into the left lane actually have to take the exit before this one. They are all trying to merge in the first half mile, blocking all the traffic that’s on the freeway, but leaving the lanes pretty clear ahead of them, so it becomes very easy to hit the union street exit at full speed even after crossing all five lanes to get to it.
Or you could just take Westlake down to 7th and skip I-5.
There are 2 signs and multiple arrows indicating that you are making a sharp right turn. One sign says 30 mph then the second says 20 mph. There’s also a sign that indicates a light is approaching. You’re supposed to slow down when making turns because you can’t see what’s in front of you. That’s driving 101. Everyone just loves to drive fast to go no where. Clearly this video demonstrates it’s easy to slow down when you’re paying attention.
yeah this video pretty much shows that the people crashing here shouldn't be allowed to drive
I guess it's also a case of 'Car Control 101' as well, even at speed, you shouldn't be crashing here. Sure it's a steep turn, but if you enter too fast, don't slam on the brake or you're just going to spin yourself around or understeer into the barrier, or both as we've seen from the compilations! :)
I think if more people knew how to handle their car better, it would be less of an issue.
its not the drivers, its the way its made.
in the usa, lanes are super wide, and people don't check the speedomiter every 2 seconds, and just go how fast they feel like its possible. thats why in your neighboorhood people might speed alot, because the road is insanly wide,
in the usa, we try and use signs and education, when we should be making roads less wide, and trying to make the envoirment to how fast you should go, so you natually go slower
@@Humulator nah if you lookin at a wall doing 60 and you don't slow down youre just too dumb to drive
@@jaysoto1182 But it's my RIGHT to drive and there should be flashing lights or something to catch my eye because I'm using my phone. "Wink"
I’ve never been to Seattle, but after watching all these Union street exit videos, I’m confident that when I see this exit I’ll know what to do.
why weren't you already doing it ?
where do you guys get your license to drive, seriously ?
It's honestly not too hard. My only gripe with it is that it's hard to see if a car is comming if you are trying to merge into the right hand side. But taking the exit safely is easy enough.
*plays eurobeat and dumps that clutch mid turn*
Accelerate!
the very first time my texas country ass drove into seattle i was in an antique dodge truck towing a 24 ft travel trailer and i took that exit by mistake.. had no problem with it whatsoever.. no drama at all.. pretty routine actually.
i got lost, but that was my fault..
Came to this video from another video of crashes just before the stop light. People just don’t know how to drive. 20 mph and a stop light is clearly marked. As soon as a car goes onto the off ramp, driver needs to reduce the speed to surface traffic speeds. Especially if you’re going on a blind curve.
0:35 there is also a 30 mph sign before that if you didn't catch it.
@@BagoPorkRinds yes I saw it
I mean to be fair this lane isn't long at all, in Europe these exit lanes are 5x longer
Yup people don’t like to pay attention like how can you not see all those dam signs
@@mar0239 I lived in Europe and very few if any cities at all would have a highway cutting straight through the city center in the first place. It wouldn't be allowed even during the rebuilding after WW2. They go around bypassing city centers. But it made sense here at the time since Seattle is newer and few people lived and work in the corridor that the U.S. Dept of Transportation chose to use eminent domain.
American Sign Guide
Green Sign: Reading optional unless lost
White Sign: Road hints!
Blue Sign: Read on full bladder
Red Sign: Must read!
Yellow Sign: Deer, kids or curves, neither of which you wanna hit fast.
yes, always remember to hit kids slow
Plural of deer is deer.
@@Xevion Did you understand what I meant? I’m not going for a Pulitzer here, just a few laughs. Grammar Nazis are becoming worse
than actual Nazis. Sometimes I intentional misspell things or use incorrect punctuation just to irritate your brain cells. if correcting people’s grammar online releases the tiniest amount of endorphins for you, then you are a narcissistic waste of air. Touch grass and do something important with your life. And no, you are not cool for having an X that is pronounced as a Z. Stop. Just stop it. Don’t. You were better before you started typing. Now I’m hungry. Do you like hot dogs?
I usually never kids over 25mph to reduce serious mechanical problems
@@bradgiles8324 Funny the only time I've (a friend was driving and I was passenger) come close to nailing a kid was at 2 am on a street with no lights and she was doing 55 mph. I noticed a white speck far down the road, maybe .2-.4 miles down, moving back and forth across the street kinda slow.
I told her to cut back to 45 and throw on the highbeams. Lord and behold it was some stupid kid, late middle school age, that stared like a deer in headlights at us as we passed.
She was freaking out so bad about what if she hit him. I bumped her on the shoulder and told her not to sweat it. You hit you hit him and it is his own dame fault. The parents will get in a lot of trouble for letting their kid be out unattended at 2 am. Either insurance or that kid's parents will pay for the damage or replace the car. No big deal.
I said all that with a straight face and without a hint of joking. She paused looked over at me kind of shocked. I responded with "Darwin Award." She realized that night that I don't care for stupid and I'm very realistic. Which led to her falling for me. High school was fun. 😅
Absolute platinum ranked professional driver here. Definitely the signs’ fault that it’s unsafe. They should have people wearing reflective jackets standing in the middle of road to REALLY give people at least 49 chances to slow down. That will 100% solve the problem.
😂😂😂😂
Would it though...?
100% is too optimistic
more like 10%
Probably could just put some bumpy things on the road to make sure people take the hint early.
More Bigger brighter signs n flashing lights should do the trick.
Quick Tip: The space between the arrow signs on a curve indicate how tight the bend is. Incase you didn't know
@@rob-fb5xs I still think it's pretty clear your heading into a wall unless your make a sharp turn even without them
Well, it's not like the rocket scientists who crash here even care to learn about stuff like that. Come to my city where half the population doesn't know how the fuck to navigate a 4 way intersection with stop signs. I kinda feel tempted to leave my car with the doors unlocked to see if they can drive it since I have three pedals under the floor. Bet those jackasses will wonder "What the frick is wrong with the parking brake? I press it and it won't stay put!"
@@largol33t1 The H-pattern shifter will be the next surprise.
How so?
Every person that wants to get a drivers' license in the US should be flown out to Seattle just to drive on the Union Street exit off of Interstate 5 for the ultimate test.
Ofc you watched this video
😭😭😭 when all other levels are completed & you finally reach “THE BOSS”
Been some time primo!
Nah, Mercer st to I-5 nb to lakeview exit.
I love how the lore keeps getting deeper lol
The sarcasm in "until I pass the 2nd 20 MPH sign" is palpable
When I first saw the video of people crashing, I thought it could have maybe been due to a poorly designed road, but after watching this and another video of people successfully taking this off-ramp without a hitch and with the benefit of seeing it from the driver's point of view, my conclusion (which is very much logical) is that those crashes were the result of bad driving. Here's the breakdown of my argument: This is an off-ramp, which automatically means the driver should slow down because they are about to merge into an environment where cars are going at city speed. Secondly, well in advance, there are at least two yellow, cautionary speed limit signs before the exit. What did we all learn in driver's ed when seeing signs like those? We learned that it is wise to slow down and take the curve or turn at the suggested speed. Thirdly, there is a sign indicating that a traffic light is at the end of the ramp, which further emphasizes the necessity to slow down because the light could be red. Then there is a sign with an arrow indicating a sharp curve, which implies that it's wise to slow down. And then there are three signs that reinforce the sharp curve. All in all, how many more warnings do some of these drivers need? Not having signs would be one thing, but those signs are placed there for a reason, and that reason is the design of this particular exit. It's like a lot of drivers just think that they can go at whatever speed they want, ignore any and all cautionary signs, and then are surprised when they crash. Basically, it's every excuse not to go the posted speed limit. That's what I think it is. If drivers would slow down just a little, they might be able to process the cautionary signs in enough time to make a wise decision on how they should execute these turns, curves, exit ramps, or whatever.
The fact alone that this particular intersection has more crashes than other intersections in the same area means that it is poorly designed. It might have all the street signs necessary to drive through it safely when the driver is focused, but then you are only relying on people looking at the signs. 100% of drivers paying attention 100% of the time is not reality and must me kept in mind when designing infastructure.
Almost all highway exits are built (atleast here in Finland) in a way that there is a long exit ramp with gradual slow down. You barely need to touch any brakes to drive though them. This exit ramp in the video has you going from 60mph to 20mph in around 3 seconds. That is a massive drop in speed in a very short amount of time. Then after few more seconds there is a very sharp turn. This is leaves almost no room at all for driver error and is vastly different from what drivers are used to in other highway exit ramps.
What could be done to improve safety is adding speed bumbs or rumble strips, as well as monitor that will show if you are going over the speed limit.
Can you repeat that
@@Catrik 100% of drivers paying attention 100% of the time………. must be kept in mind when designing infrastructure. Did you really just post this nonsensical bs? Should the road and traffic engineers just install rubber bumpers like in a bowling alley for kids to prevent catastrophic damage when people aren’t focused on the main task of driving and fuck up?
@@Erik_C_251 One of the jobs of an engineer is to make traffic safe. If they make an intersection that somehow gets a lot more accidents than all the other intersections around it, then they did a bad job.
The bad drivers are also driving on all the other intersections, but since they dont get as many accidents there then obviously something is desgined worse on the one that does get more accidents.
It's people relying on depth perception instead of the speed advisory signs.
It's hard to judge how sharp a turn is in a tunnel because you can only see the beginning of the turn instead of all of it.
Also you have the green off-ramp sign and the first speed advisory appearing nearly simultaneously, drivers new to the area are going to be reading the off ramp sign above them instead of the advisory sign to their right.
Then once they are on the off-ramp they have about 3 seconds to notice the other advisory signs before it becomes too late to make the turn.
Installing several flashing amber lights on this exit would not be a luxury.
Greeting from France.
This is America. Nobody pays attention to that shit. lmao
Americans should be so lucky if their US DOT would BAN red rear facing turn signals on vehicles so expecting flashing amber lights WOULD BE A LUXURY.
It’s not unheard of. There are plenty of off-ramps and exits with such lights in the states. Why this isn’t implemented here is beyond me considering how many documented accidents there are here. Seattle Government at work I guess
I think it's a great way to weed out the idiots who can't follow the speed limit signs that are posted!
Lol
3 sets of rumble strips like when you approach EZ-pass/tolling booths would solve a lot
Um...no
I would love to see signs saying “beware: hard turn. slow down or risk crashing” or something like that. States can get a federal exemption, Colorado did it for the I-70 “don’t be fooled” signs
Live in CO and can confirm.
for all the people saying that those drivers are just bad, that video with the crashes was recorded before the additional signage was put into place.
Source?
Hear me out on this cheap solution: rumble strips.
You sleepy? Awaken!
Did not see the sign? Startle mode!
Late braker? I jiggle you!
If you follow the speed limit, you’re a bouncy Mercedes SUV.
potholes....many!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm from Texas, idk how I got here but I've been finding videos about this exit for the past week lmaoo
1 year later, here I am getting these recommendations. First I saw the compilation with all the crashes, now this.
Still super confused as to how so many people are crashing here.
One word.
*SPEED*
@@DMitchell6274 It makes me think there must be another exit in the area that feels similar but is higher speed. Because seeing it for the first time, I don't get the impression that I can take the corner quickly. But I'm sure my perception is biased by the roads I'm familiar with
I had to take this exit 6 days a week for 7 months about 15 years ago. It’s a really shitty exit, especially during rush hour. Coming from north bound puts you in the far left lane and the very next intersection is a “t”. So you have tons of people on a packed 3 lane road needing to get to the opposite side with almost no time to do it. It requires a ridiculous amount of situational awareness at very early hours of the morning and is a very stressful way to start your day.
America
@@DMitchell6274 you mean oblivious
I'll jump in as a Seattle native and continuous resident, old enough to remember the freeway being built (although I didn't have a license for another 5 years or so). From the get-go, the central-Seattle corridor had a compromise freeway design, with several major entrances and exits on both right and left sides in close proximity. The "Mercer Weave" necessary to drive between Bellevue/Kirkland and the Seattle Center (Space Needle etc.) has such full-width merges required, going either direction, spaced ~one mile apart. Like the Union St. exit, this all was driven by minimizing land use area, probably unwisely. The Mercer Weave is only now undergoing a significant reconstruction for improvement, to be done about 2025-26 I think. The Union exit also was degraded somewhat (from a driving safety point of view) by the construction of Freeway Park 10 years after I-5 opened, placing the exit in the dark underground, so to speak. I have driven the Union exit perhaps 1000 times since the 1970s and it is totally easy if you are familiar. It's also easy, like the video, if you're paying attention. But it's unforgiving if you've got both those strikes against you. We all have those lapses at least a handful of times over a lifetime if we admit it to ourselves.
See that bus? To help ease congestion on downtown Seattle's surface streets, they used to move the buses underground as part of a transit tunnel. Originally it was supposed to be a subway tunnel but the people voted against it and it became a bus tunnel that would later become light rail. The tunnel opened in 1990, and the light rail opened in 2009. For almost a decade it had the unique operation of buses sharing the tunnel with the light rail, with Pittsburgh being the only other place in the US that does this. Why did the buses move out? Because like I said, it was meant to be a light rail tunnel, but also the Washington State Convention Center's (seen at 0:35) intention to expand left the Convention Place (where buses entered the tunnel) to be demolished which sped up the transition process.
Thanks for the info, Kim!
Lil alarming to me as a Seattleite that King Jong-un knows so much about Seattle's transit system! 🤔
There’s a convention center on top of that tunnel. Redesigning would be a monumental task. Just follow the damn signs.
they think the 20mph sign is a suggestion then get surprised about the curve and crash
Perhaps adding the rumble strips will help
The traffic light is one that catches people off timing
I've noticed I have a traffic light on my way to work like this. It seems out of since with the flow of traffic. Lots of accidents at these types of lights and can be off by milliseconds.
If you survive it the first time, you don't forget to slow down.
not aways................
@@rearspeaker6364 "Life is tough. Its tougher when you're stupid."
John Wayne
@@zeninabox9818 that's true too.
do it japanese ways with rumble strip and special road painting + additional marking to signify the danger of the curve then slowing down
but oh well, people in the US won't bother anyway
Tight cresting curve, then immediately a crossweave on the right and a traffic signal. Old American freeway design ftw. I've seen similar gauntlets on DC area thoroughfares
is this some sort of challenge to see who can navigate this the fastest
I am speed.
Based on all the other videos I've seen of this exit, I was convinced there was a hot wheels launcher just prior to the turn
Flashing yellow light with a sign saying REDUCE SPEED and a few rumble strips in the road. If you don’t already know the exit, there is no sense how insanely close you really are to joining street traffic and exiting directly to a busy city intersection.
Wow, now that I see the exit from a drivers perspective I now know its just designed to eliminate bad drivers. No changes necessary. Leave as is 😀
I'd be fine with that if there weren't a crosswalk at the light after the exit
I live in Seattle. I made sure to take this exit just to see what the fuss is about. It's no big deal.
It actually doesn't give the right experience from drivers of the crash compilations video unless you can time travel back in time..lol. What we're viewing here are the improvements to the signage in 2021 after several complaints. The crash compilations video are prior to the installation of the Reflective tubular barriers around the radius of the curve and the 20 MPH" advisory label to the "Exit 165B" sign right at the beginning of the ramp to make it a little clearer that this is an exit ramp, not a Hot Wheels loop-de-loop track.
We're so smart yet we can't slow down for a sharp curve on an interstate exit ramp, even when there's multiple warnings in advance
Thanx for sharing I just flew in here from tiktok about all these cars crashing, I can now see they were all idiots! No need to crash just be cautious and respect the speed!
more please! this is as good as the can-opener bridge... excellent stuff.
and the milwaukee roundabout.
I think the huge blindspot due to the wall on the right is a major part of what's catching drivers off-guard if they aren't familiar that this particular off-ramp leads abruptly to a stoplight once the turn is made.
If drivers can see the stoplight ahead without that wall, maybe they can better gauge and monitor their speeds coming off the ramp.
this is not a solution with equality fairness and inclusion in mind and very ableist thinking.
bootlicker. ACAB BLM ANTIFA made this post
I like this stopgap, because it's already common for American highway traffic lights along curves
Does it matter whether you can see the light? Anyone could be walking, cars could be backed up, etc. If you can't see around the curve, slow down!
Yea, you’re right. It’s also a metaphorical IQ test to find out whether or not you’re stupid enough to continue speeding 2 times what the sign said going through a tunnel that you can’t see the end of. That’s like driving on the opposite side of the road when you can’t see the road ahead.
Wrong. There's a sign warning of the approaching stoplight. If they're not looking at the sign they won't look at the lights.
YES! YOU DO IT!! YOU SURVIVED! YOU ARE THE BEST
I remember my first time taking that exit i drove past it second time I made it on n didn’t expect it to turn so sharp so fast
With the arrows and signs saying to slow down you didn’t expect it to be sharp?
whoever designed that wall they crash into, needs a pay raise pronto!!
It would be crazy to see one of these videos where the poster is driving normally and is safe but right next to them a driver falls for this exit's trap and crashes their car.
All I know is never be in that left lane after the exit 🗣
Dude turned it into a challenge
We’re just obsessed with this damn exit now 😂
That’s not as bad as I had assumed it must be. I’ve seen on-ramps in Pennsylvania that were that short and just as blind, though they’ve fixed some.
Oh, god. I've driven past some of those. It's like they give you 150ft to accelerate from a near dead stop to 60.
Seeing that for the first time from the cab of a semi truck was unnerving! O^O
Looks easy enough 👌 🤔
Try telling these people
ua-cam.com/video/DeFY9u69tkE/v-deo.html
I used to work right at that intersection with the red light and drove that exit everyday for a year. I never had a single accident there. BUT I did see several other accidents. So many people came to seattle from all over the country and they just can't drive.
I am surprised there are so many accidents there. It doesn't seem to be that messed up.
Congratulations for not crashing, it means you have eyes and common sense.
Are the off ramps prior to and after this one longer? Is this the only short off ramp in the area?
So many comments saying “this video shows it’s possible to be safe in this off-ramp, that proves that the people crashing are all bad drivers.” My question to those commenters is this: what makes the drivers on this particular exit so much worse than drivers elsewhere even in just Seattle? If the issue is drivers sucking, the amount of crashes should not spike only in this one location, it should be fairly consistent all over the city. Since that isn’t the case (otherwise this exit wouldn’t be so notorious) there must be something unique about this exit.
What’s unique about it? It’s a far sharper turn and shorter stopping distance after the turn than the vast majority of other exits. Signs and paint are not infrastructure, this exit needs to either be closed or have significant traffic calming or people are gonna keep getting hurt. And not just the “bad drivers” who take the exit too fast, but also those who are stopped at the light getting rear-ended, or pedestrians trying to cross the street at the crosswalk.
City planning isn’t about making something technically possible to navigate safely, it’s about making it as unlikely to be dangerous as possible.
nah it is drivers sucking
just because this one offramp actually requires you to follow traffic law for your own safety doesnt mean its badly designed.
people who crash here should legit have their license taken away for a year since theyre obviously habitual rule breakers and negligent with other peoples lifes.
@@Togmot sounds like you’ve never driven a car before
I don’t know about you but when I drive I scan the road and signs, like most people, especially when it has a sign that you’re approaching a traffic light muscle memory tells me to release my foot off the pedal versus slamming on the brakes which is tends to make the car drift from high speeds.
Thousands of drivers use this off-ramp and never get in an accident. The speed at which those cars come off this ramp and crash is evident that they are not going 20 mph or less as the sign tells them to do. Speeding always increases your chances of getting into an accident. Some situations more than others.
Right on man! This is the best take.
Wow, thought this was a magical car wreck portal.
This is where paying attention to what you're doing really pays off.
I would also add flashing yellow warning lights and rumble strips to get the attention of the drivers that there is a sharp curve ahead. It means SLOW DOWN! This could help to reduce the number of accidents even further.
They should paint the speed limit on the road so it's easier to see
I do have to ask when the 20 speed sign got put up.
I remmber a video about something similar where there was a lot of crashes the 20 sign or what speed it was was set up and (not the one tiny side that keep getting blocked).
and the accident rate fell down significant.
Does NFSU2 happen to use this highway/exit?
ANY blind corner, no matter what signs are there, I’m automatically reducing my speed.
There is only one explanation: Washington drivers.
Getting on at Mercer and getting off at Union is a fools errand.
Dude, that red light is optional.
The ones that crashed had skill issue
signs: slowdown!!! sharp right turn!! traffic light ahead!!!
people in Seattle: ...floor it
Bonus, you got some sweet Model 3 footage!
Executed just right! Wow, amazing! (I think I’m even hearing lane-by-lane turn signal use…WOWEE-WOW!!!)…What a concept?!?!…maintaining speed till OFF the freeway completely, which means to be totally ON the exit, then braking…as hard as necessary…to be at a safe speed for whatever else the exit holds…a short runoff…a tight turn…frequently damp pavement…a red light at the end. WOW!!! Someone was actually able to handle ALL of these things CORRECTLY?!?! It’s AMAZING!!!!!! You must’ve learned to drive in WA or anywhere but CA sometime before the CA takeover of WA back in the ‘80s-‘90s!!!
I was expecting a short exit like in DTLA but there's tons of warnings.
The question is, how are most other exits in the US? For example Im from New Zealand, now living in Germany, and it did throw me off a bit that autobahn exits can be quite tight where as on NZ, its always very gradually curves and one mostly doesnt have to brake too much. So if most exits are fast, then 1 slow one is definitely a potential for surprises
Wow, merging from the left and then trying to exit right less than one mile later with five lanes of traffic must be tough at rush hour.
Not fair! The ground is dry. Try that when the roads are all wet.
Austin, Texas, I-35... heading south into Downtown... the so-called 8th Street exit... or heading north, the 6th Street exit. A one block PLUMMET not an exit. The 8th Street Exit (ie, heading south) is a bit safer because visibility is longer. But heading north to the 6th Street - it's a true plummet downward INTO a busy 6th-Street Stoplight intersection. It's as blind as this Seattle Union Station exit. But steep, downhill.
Multiple signs stating the speed limits, exit and turn warnings.., drivers oblivious to any road signs, or common sense.., priceless...LMMFAO
THIS is how you properly take this exit.
Hitting walls proves you've never played a racing game in your life.
Do you even need to get on I-5, especially when it's often a parking lot?
They have quite a few signs... Perhaps they also need a small led overhead speed sign as well since people still crash there!
I’d this the exit and curve that everyone comes around too fast on and bounces off the wall?
On right, Exit 30mph at 38 sec. On right, Turn speed warning of 20mph at 40 sec. On left, turn speed warning again at 48 sec.
There were multiple signs.
Thousands of drivers--old pros and first-timers alike--use this exit every day without incident.
tik tok should make a speed challenge to see who can clear the corner at highest speed.
Its like the Milwaukee Roundabout. It's easy to navigate if you're not doing anything horribly stupid!
Compared to some of the exits in New York and Florida, I don't think that turn is that crazy lol
That was extreme
At this point, there should be a sign at the exit that says "slow the fuck down"
Seattle looks to be a pretty but moist city.
It said 30 at the exit then said 20 twice. But the improvements could be made to signage. I also notice your streetlights are on wires which is trashy.
aye that’s because you’re meant to be going 30mph by the time you pass the 30mph sign and 20mph by the time you pass the 20mph sign
@@zipWith I think its more about entitlement. People assume the speed limit on all federally designed highways is 70 but in most downtown areas the design limit, speaking as a registered professional civil engineer, should be more like 55 mph. Given that the speed limit around the turn is 20mph that means the the design speed is 30 mph, so it shouldn't be that hard for Seattlites to slow down from 55 to 30 to make this turn.
@@zipWith Its about entitlement. This highways stretch should have a speed limit of 55 mph and so taking an exit from 55 mph to 30 mph shouldn't be a problem. I'm a registered professional civil engineer and so the design speed of this curve is 30 mph, not 20.
@@jefboy28 urban highways should be limited to 40mph, so urban freeways can curve tighter to destroy less stuff. Urban non-separated highways should be
@@jefboy28 you seem to disregard the crossweave and traffic signal immediately around the curve, which warrant the 20mph
Honestly I think there should be delineators on the solid white line before the exit so that way people don’t have to exit at the last minute which is pretty much the cause of most of the accidents there.
Even if you missed the mph signs there are very harsh bold yellow and black arrows which is universal for a very sharp curve.
Ok so that was how 3 civilized motorist take the Union St exit. Ok, got it! 😂😂😂
They should add small bumps on the road plus tons of flashing lights so people will actually pay attention and slow down.
People yardsaling this exit is a symptom of how absolutely awful most people are at scanning ahead and recognizing whats going on.
There's a 11'8"+8 bridge vs. Union St. exit war.
and the milwaukee roundabout here too!
This is the street where most crashes were recorded right on inside edition
Dt Seattle looks like Dt Chicago 90/94 with that tunnel bridge thing
...So sharp turn, abnormally sharp, it's not well designed, real sudden stoplight but it's still mostly in combination with the factors of the vehicle and it's driver. A lot of people carry too much speed and a lot of modern cars understeer. The deciding factor is they all panic. They're sliding and they think braking will save them, when that just seals it for them.
Street looks fine to me. No idea how people manage to crash there. I guess some have to push themselves past the limit and find out the hard way.
I think some hard right [arrow] signs/symbols ought to be place above center of the road (i.e. right next to the exit sign @ 0:29 and 0:36). That sign on the wall to the right @ 0:41 is too small for someone driving at 65mph.
i think they would just see that as a challenge
We have there everywhere is Boston. People just aren’t used to those type of sharp turns off exits in
Pov of watching a compilation of accidents around this exit then finding yourself here with "huh, it wasn't as bad as they made it":
My Miata would cut through that corner doing 40 like butter 😎
I’ve taken that exit at 70 in my S5 when it’s dry
@@SeattleBoatdog good brakes for the light i suppose?
They need flashing yellow lights on the left side of the wall, and they also need to paint the left-hand side curb with alternating yellow-and-black paint marks to bring attention to the fact that vehicles need to SLOW DOWN!
The lights would get vandalised, the lane+curb warning paint would not