Safety Tips in Seattle

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There are warning signs at the Woodland Park Zoo about valuables being stolen inside the cars parked. Make sure not to leave your valuables inside your car. Also, don't put purses or bags laying out in the car that can be seen even if they don't have any valuables in them. These also attract thieves to break your car windows and that is more costly to fix!

This is very helpful to tourists. If you are planning to visit Seattle, make sure to come in April, May, June, July and August. These are the best months to explore the city and the outskirts of Seattle. There are many things to do and to see here.

However, please don't come here during the Snow Days as the people in Seattle don't really know how to drive in the snow. Just for 2-3 inches of snow, most of the people will prefer to stay at home. Most of the businesses will be closed and you will be stocked in your hotel. Most of the roads except on the freeways are inaccessible because the city don't really have a lot of snow truck plows to plow the neighborhood roads and accommodate the needs of the residents.

It is very dangerous to drive here during the snow days. The steep hills and roads are not being snow-plowed so the roads are closed or blocked.

An example is the past two weeks (December 18, 2008 - December 26, 2008), most of the streets in Seattle were closed. The schools and some government businesses remained unopened. Most of the shopping malls were open but there were few shoppers going in. The people here much rather stay at home safe and warm in their homes than driving out and having their cars stocked on the slippery and icy roads!

Again, if you see a group of crusty youngens dumperdiving outside your hotel don't assume that they are trying to steal your identity. There are many places in seattle, such as Essential Baking Company and The Naked Juice Factory where good food is thrown out because it cannot leagally be sold in stores anymore. Many of the dumpster divers even make meals for walkouts and protests with the scavenged goods. These people are just trying to recycle food, not harm anyone.

Seattle is well-known for the morning fog. I was driving one October morning from Seattle to Everett on the I-5. It was a clear morning. All of a sudden, the freeway was enveloped in thick fog, such that visibility was reduced to about 100m and things on both sides of the freeway could not be seen. Be careful of sudden fog while driving in Seattle in autumn.

A measure to enact a smoking ban in all public bars and restaurants goes into effect on December 1, 2005. This ban also means no smoking within 25 feet of a door, window, or ventilation system. It's great news for non-smokers, but smoking visitors should take note.

Here is a picture I secretly and very discreetly took from the window of my hostel. It is a group of thugs out on the street. If you look closely you can see one guy counting large sums of money. I can only speculate where the money came from as can you.

If your alone and come are walking upon situations like this its wise to simply be careful and mind your own business. After witnessing this on night one, I was very curious on night two. So when I was walking toward the hostel and approaching the same group I tried to look to hard and made eye contact with one guy in the group.

He very promptly started to asked, "What the F*&k are you looking at?" Luckily for me I was now at the hostel door, so I avoided a reply and quickly entered the hostel. If your alone and had decided on some other course of action it might have developed into a situation.

After saying all of this you should know Seattle is one of the safest cities in the USA but a different group appear on the streets at night versus day and the city always seemed to be busy.

You may find it strange that Seattleites will wait patiently for the walk sign even if there isn't a car in sight. Seattle police are famous for handing out tickets for Jay Walking. So be careful when crossing.

If you've read my Things To Do tip about Frank Gehry's Experience Music Project then you already know how I feel about it... ahhh...architecturally. This, however, is the Warnings or Dangers section and I have much loftier objectives. If you happen to be peering through the security bars of the Space Needle from the observation deck and spot what appears to be the collapse or implosion of several brightly colored gigantic tin cans...don't panic. It's just Frank showing us his creative side.