Forget for a moment what you think about Oregon drivers. How safe or unsafe they are, how courteous. Just wipe it from your mind and take in the following bit of traffic trivia: Washington drivers are more likely to leave a note after hitting a parked car than their Oregonian counterparts.
About 10 percent of drivers in the Northwest have hit a parked car, according to a recent poll by PEMCO Insurance. Among those motorists in Washington, 28 percent say they have hit an unattended car and fled without leaving a note. Cross the Columbia River and that percentage spikes to 47 percent. Yes, that means if your vehicle gets dinged in Portland, you have about a 50-50 chance that the offender will actually come clean.
I remember sitting at the Waffle Window on Alberta Street in Portland and cringing as I watched an SUV’s driver sideswipe a car parked across the street, pull into a spot and walk away.
You could say that Washington drivers are simply more careful drivers, but I wouldn’t be so hasty. In Washington there are more “repeat offenders.”Among those drivers who admit to hitting a parked car, 32 percent have done that at least twice, compared with 9 percent of Oregon drivers.
A percentage of people — however small — may not realize when they’ve hit a car, said Vancouver police Cmdr. Dave King. It doesn’t take much to do some damage. A bump in the parking lot could scrape the paint and dent the car; the offending motorist might not even feel the impact.
Washington laws states that any motorist who strikes an unattended vehicle must find the vehicle owner or leave a note in an obvious place. Otherwise, it’s considered a hit-and-run, which is a crime.
So, where are these parked car collisions occurring? Clark College’s expansive parking system seems like a mecca for motor vehicle accidents with thousands of commuter students coming and going throughout the day. While the parking system has evolved over the last few years, the number of reported hit-and-runs has been relatively consistent.
Last year, there were 25, according to campus security. In 2009, when the north parking lot was under construction, there were 22 hit-and-run collisions. When it reopened in 2010, there were 19.
Typically, campus security gets reports from students that they just witnessed an accident and that the driver drove off. If there was no witness and no camera that caught the crime, it didn’t happen. Campus security files a “damage found” report instead of a hit-and-run.
Here’s another point of contention: The PEMCO poll also found that men are involved in significantly more car accidents than women. Men are also more likely to take the blame — 62 percent of Washington men report being at fault for at least one car accident, compared with 51 percent of women.
