Who’s that doing 45 in a 25 mile per hour zone, snaking through traffic in a blizzard as if the pavement were dry, sticking as close to your rear bumper as possible? Why, it’s one of those gosh darn tourists who instead of slowing down on vacation have brought their urban zest for speed and reckless abandon behind the wheel from an urban area with snow-free streets to our fair city.
And before a vocal few in the local tourism business go completely bonkers and start posting rants that I’m anti tourist, let me say that I’m writing this in defense of those zany, wacky driving tourists. Their minds are simply on vacation and many things they normally wouldn’t do at home, like driving like a maniac, go out the window when they go on vacation.
Let me amplify. Years ago I attended a tourism conference during which there was a presentation by a senior executive of a major hotel chain. His subject was expecting the unexpected when you are in the hospitality industry.
“One thing I’ve come to know over the years,” the exec noted, “is that when people go on vacation, they turn their minds off.”
He went on to describe episodes of very bright people did stupid things. One of his prime examples was of Fortune 500 CEO famous for his brilliance and fast reactions to business crisis locking his keys and his infant son in his car on a 100-degree weather on the first day of his vacation.
There were more examples and all augmented his thesis that people tended to do things they never did at home during their normal lives when they went on vacation.
I grew up in a Colorado tourist town and my teenage summer jobs were at a famous resort hotel. There, I experienced a lot of what the Hilton exec cited. “I locked myself out of car/room/lost my wallet/can’t find my child,” were commonplace complaints.
And a member of the constabulary told me they got a lot of “I didn’t realize I was going that fast” or, “I can’t believe I did that?” statements when they pulled drivers over.
And so early on I developed pity on tourists doing, well “stupid tourists tricks” like driving like a maniac in a snowstorm or treating Bend’s neighborhood streets like high-speed freeways.
When I become a tourist, as I do for a few weeks every year, I go to a resort area where I don’t have to drive and can do everything on my bicycle. In the back of my vacant on-vacation mind, I think that if I cycle I’ll be less of a hazard to locals. Probably not.
This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2010.
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What an idiotic post; I’m dumbfounded that you could possibly excuse driving that is dangerous to others. If somebody wants to kill himself or his child, that’s one thing; but endangering others by driving recklessly is inexcusible, period!
little lost by this bob. i could not disagree more. trying to show a little respect to the places you vacation in is prudent and expected. i spent the 80’s in newport, R.I. back before the USA initially lost the americas cup (12 meter yacht trophy, had it almost 200 years we did). this was a major tourist town every summer. people may have driven distracted, understood, but like aholes? no, i dont buy it that we should accept that.
All they need is am excuse and by the way what will his position be if someone he laved a in an accident and injured by one of these tourists. But tourist are not the issue with drivers in Bend it is people who move her from out of state. I moved here a little over a year ago from Salem. The reason I mention that is that Salem drivers are great compared to Bend drives (Newbies). You don’t stop at stop signs, run red lights, pull out in front of other drivers and do not know where your turn signal is. Most of yo are from Califorina who moved here to get out of the rat racem well ou needed to leave those bad habits there. To give you an example I was behind a car turning left onto Bond off Franklin. They drove for to blocks down the middle of the two lanes. I honked and they finally moved over. At a red light they rolled down their window and asked why I was upset, whats the big deal. WELL!!! It was a stupid and illegal thing to do. Call me a hater of out of stat people of you will mut most of you know I am right. But the way Salem has a low influ of out of stat residents and it is so much better there. It is not a race track in Bend and you do not own the road!! Grow UP!!
Bob
they probably just got wasted at one of our pubs… Wear a helmet
NDM learn how to type next time and your point will get across betterer
This is a moronic post based on one person’s concept of who might a tourist and who isn’t. Small town, small mind. Let me tell you what THIS tourist has noticed over years and years of visiting family and friends in Bend: it’s become crowded and congested and the citizens of this fair city are by and large the ones who are apt to stud up and drive like maniacs to get across town and cut through ‘the herd’ by any means necessary. They’re ones who ride your butt coming down the snowy highway from Bachelor. They’re the ones who don’t use signals in the roundabouts. The tourists are easily recognized by CA and WA and IA plates. It’s been my experience that they go slow, look lost and broadcast a clear ‘I’m out of my element’ signal. Then again they’re the only ones I can really be certain about as 95% of the plates here are Oregon plates. Maybe you can fill us in on what qualifies people as locals or tourists from behind your steering wheel, Bob. Or maybe you can just stop with the nonsense, hateful rants not at all cleverly disguised as an ‘in defense of’ post.
Tourist Heck! Its people with Oregon plates that wiz past me give me the finger because I am driving with my vehicle under control. I’m the one with out of state plates that just moved here. Just because you have 4×4 doesn’t mean everyone else does. And by the way 4×4 doesn’t mean 4 wheel stop. See you in the ditch.
I’ll have to agree with the majority on this; tourists and Out-of-State plates account for only a few on the “crazies” out there. I see more studded Subarus dashing through the snow than Californicated muscle cars…
Wow, Bob, You blew this one. Usually your posts are very well done and quite entertaining. I’m only a winter resident here from Alaska, but I wouldn’t defend anyone – visitor or not, who drives like an idiot. I’ve seen enough to have to agree with the other posts that it is Bend drivers in general who need to drive more courteously. No matter where they are transplanted from.
Hello posters – did you read Bob’s post? It is a phenomenon that was pointed out at a tourism industry conference. Bob’s not saying there aren’t bad drivers from every corner of the universe, but just that when tourists go on vacation they “live a little” possibly causing some mistakes in judgment that would translate to the road. “Blowing it,” “Moronic” “show some respect” . . .this is not an advocacy piece. This is perspective. Have one of your own? Fine, but are you people really saying that there is no validity to what Bob is saying. People shouldn’t drink and drive but I’m going to get REALLY crazy here and say that when on vacation they do and I can understand why. I’m not advocating it, I’m simply pointing out the phenom as is Bob. The fact that he has some empathy for these folks is, dare I say it, human.
I have to agree and disagree with Bob. I have traveled to Bend in all types of weather and will have to say that there are times (most) that I would rather drive in Portland. I think that we drivers, that have what we consider more experience in driving in inclement weather, forget what we have learned over the years. I know that tourists have a tendency to run amuck when on vacation but I would like to think that this is not the norm. Maybe if we all would slow down and take a little more time to smell the roses, and drive like we’re on vacation, and have a little more patience with our fellow man, the world or highway could be a better,safer place.