Spokane County ranks third in state as responsible drivers

Spokane County’s drivers rank as the third most responsible motorists among the state’s 10 most populous counties, according to a poll released this week.

Get real, say many Spokanites traveling local roads.

Despite PEMCO Insurance’s county-by-county rankings, which place Spokane behind Thurston and Yakima counties, some local drivers describe their compatriots as rude, careless and downright menaces on the road.

“I am wondering how terrible the rest of the state must be,” wrote Rosalie Dahlvang in response to an e-mail inquiry about the poll.

“Well, regarding Spokane County drivers, PEMCO and I must have different ideas of ‘responsible’ driving,” Anne Trevethan responded. “I constantly find drivers eating, drinking, talking to passengers, cell phoning and putting on makeup while driving and not paying attention at all.”

PEMCO commissioned the survey of 600 Washington drivers, asking them to rate their own behavior on a number of different issues including speeding, cell phone use while driving, distracted driving and vehicle maintenance.

Results were tabulated for only Washington’s 10 most populous counties. Ranked in order of driving responsibility, they are: Thurston, Yakima, Spokane, Benton, Whatcom, Pierce, Clark, Snohomish, Kitsap and King.

Spokane drivers scored better than average on remaining focused on the road, safe use of cell phones and staying within the speed limit. They scored below average on awareness of the dangers of distracted driving and near the bottom of the list on car maintenance.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Steve Vance, who owns the lube shop Grease Monkey on Spokane’s North Side. “We see a lot of deferred maintenance here. … It makes you want to go and hide.”

Drivers should pay better attention to preventive maintenance, Vance added. After all, after a home, a vehicle is usually a household’s largest investment.

“Spokane is inundated with $300 tuna boats that have broken tail lights, spider web windshields, etc.,” wrote Lloyd Thomas, a construction superintendent who works jobs across the West. Spokane driving is a wreck compared to other locales, he added.

Trevethan wrote there’s a good reason that Spokane drivers may not check their oil and perform other routine maintenance as often as their Western Washington counterparts.

“I can’t help but refer you to the dismal economic situation many Spokanites find themselves in, and it’s easy to put off car maintenance when it’s a choice between that and paying the rent. (Or these days, buying gasoline!)” she wrote.

As for the distracted driving issue, the poll rankings suggest that Spokane County drivers may not be sure what constitutes distracted driving. But that’s OK, because they don’t do those things anyway.

The Washington State Patrol doesn’t track how drivers in different counties compare to each other, but the faster pace in counties like King and Pierce could contribute to their poorer showing in the poll rankings, said WSP Capt. Fred Fakkema.

Fakkema added that other than speed, the State Patrol focuses on different driving issues than those examined by the poll, including aggressive driving, seatbelt use and driving under the influence. Those are the primary factors in collisions and related injuries, he said.

“As a general rule, I’ve found people here pretty courteous on the roads,” said Dave Overstreet, spokesman for AAA’s Eastern Washington chapter.

More serious traffic congestion issues on the West Side lead to more frustration and accompanying aggressive driving, Overstreet said, but added that he only has anecdotal evidence from his own driving experiences across the state.

But Overstreet said he would put more credence in a poll that observed driving behavior rather than asking drivers to rate themselves.

“People tend to answer the surveys the way the pollster wants them to answer,” he said.

So maybe we’re just better liars.