Official "Let's ***** about Pittsburgh drivers!" thread (Aspinwall, Freeport: real estate, transporting)

[DaBurgh]

Just think, at this very moment, someone is slowing down before entering a tunnel.

( Later moment for those who read this post later)

[Katarina Witt]

If the OP finds it irritating for people to complain about Pittsburgh drivers, I don't know why he started this thread. These types of threads are commonplace on all city boards.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by youngabe

My few cents:

A poster a while back made the comment that around here, we love to POUND city streets, drive like maniacs, and be morons IN the city, on TIGHT city streets. When these same drivers take to the Parkways, suddenly, 55 mph is scary.

The thing is that they're not the same drivers. You have crazy yinzers and crazy suburbanites with very different driving habits making a mix of on road madness.

[Q-tip motha]

My contribution:

- Pittsburgh drivers who treat the shoulder like an additional lane? We've all been to the waterfront yes? Yes. We've all gotten back on the Homestead bridge via that ramp from the shopping complex yes? Yes. That ramp has..count them..one..two..TWO LANES...TWO LANES TURNING RIGHT AH..AH..AH. Yet always it seems like someone who's either stupid or a grade 'A' culo decides to make it into a third turning lane. The same thing happens at the top of the hill in Squirrel hill as you're headed back to the parkway, only at that point its just someone being a impatient dick.

- Rt 28 North, just outside of the city. Its one lane outbound. You know this, I know this...EVERYONE WHO TRAVELS THAT ROAD KNOWS THIS!...and yet its always the same story. A-hole pittsburgh driver zooms up in the left lane instead of merging to the right earlier with plenty of opportunity, waits until the last second to merge, and causes the person in the right lane to stop to let them in. The result? Traffic backed up and 10 extra minutes tacked onto everyone's commute every morning...WHY?! I do get a great deal of satisfaction from watching some self absorbed prick get all pissy because I won't let them in at the last second.

People in this city should be happy that it isn't legal for me to throw things from my vehicle...or mount some kind of weapon on the roof.

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

One of my favorites was when the merge point was AFTER the traffic light at the 31st bridge heading north. The merge point was about 1/8 mile from that intersection and idiots were merging before the merge point. You know what happened?????? There was NO traffic moving because the light would change and we would all sit there until the 31st bridge let out and guess what happened when the light changed AGAIN???? People would try and merge before the merge point again and wouldn't fill both lanes. Hello? Can people be that stupid? One of my favorites is when two trucks drive side by side and stop flow of traffic because there is a merge point 2 miles up the road. I allegedly passed one of those idiot truck drivers on the berm in my Jag once. It was one of the greatest feelings ever to cut that idiot off in such a car. You know he was one pissed off truck driver, but he deserved it. He radioed ahead to his fellow truck drivers, but I was traveling too fast for them to react in time. I then cut in two miles ahead and carried on my way never to be seen by the idiot truck drivers. Ah, great times, but that was when I was younger. These days I wouldn't bother. I will never educate other drivers by my actions. Too many dim ones out there.

You have a point with the light being there, but without it your argument is moot. Its just people in line in one lane, and people trying to jump everyone else in the other. Thank god you didn't hit someone with your reckless behavior.

I for one would love the opportunity to get hit by your "Jag" (shameless arrogant conspicuous brand name drop on your part). Put another dent in the old pontiac and I get to take you to court. A good day all around.

[ditchdigger]

You have a point with the light being there, but without it your argument is moot. Its just people in line in one lane, and people trying to jump everyone else in the other.

It's not jumping line if there's no alternative but to merge. I'll grant you that it is jumping line to use an "exit only" lane to pass a line of through traffic and jump in at the front, (example--the bathtub area of 376, approaching the Ft Pitt Bridge, with the exit only lane for the North Side, at afternoon rush hour), but a single lane closure is different. Here's my point of view on the subject...

If there's one lane closed up ahead, by definition, all the cars are going to need to get into the open lane. Whether you like it or not, if the amount of traffic is more than the capacity of that single lane to carry it, at speed, a delay is going to result. You know that some number of drivers will get into the open lane asap, others will get into it at some mid-point of the backup, and still others will go the full distance and only merge where the orange cones make it impossible to do otherwise. (You know, by where the big orange sign says "MERGE HERE TAKE YOUR TURN".)

Knowing that, you have a choice between waiting in the backed up lane, or waiting less, in the less backed up lane. If you're dumb enough to allow people to take advantage of your patience, If you choose the more congested lane, who's fault is that?

I used to think it was best to merge into the open lane at the earliest opportunity, but after a number of years it became apparent that all I was doing was delaying myself. At the final merge point, it's still going to add up to one car from each lane, taking turns.

I am honest enough though, to suggest in an open forum such as this, that if everybody comes to the same revelation I had, that it will delay me more, but be more equitable for everybody.

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by ditchdigger

it became apparent that all I was doing was delaying myself. At the final merge point, it's still going to add up to one car from each lane, taking turns.

I am honest enough though, to suggest in an open forum such as this, that if everybody comes to the same revelation I had, that it will delay me more, but be more equitable for everybody.

Me..me..me.

And that is why we all sit in traffic, so YOU can go first.

Selfish people being selfish on the road.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Q-tip motha

And that is why we all sit in traffic, so YOU can go first.

No, it isn't.

I can't promise you it's better the other way. But I can promise you this is NOT the reason it backs up. The volume is the reason it backs up. Everything could be perfect, and with that traffic volume, it would STILL BACK UP.

The reason you're ticked off is because someone got in front of you without waiting what you think of as their turn. Trying to expand that into "That's the reason the traffic backs up!" is not going to fly.

[escilade18]

Originally Posted by greg42

No, it isn't.

I can't promise you it's better the other way. But I can promise you this is NOT the reason it backs up. The volume is the reason it backs up. Everything could be perfect, and with that traffic volume, it would STILL BACK UP.

The reason you're ticked off is because someone got in front of you without waiting what you think of as their turn. Trying to expand that into "That's the reason the traffic backs up!" is not going to fly.

How do you explain traffic flowing much more smoothly in LA then which has a ton more volume than Pittsburgh?

[greg42]

Originally Posted by escilade18

How do you explain traffic flowing much more smoothly in LA then which has a ton more volume than Pittsburgh?

More smoothly how? I've never driven in LA. You have to give it parameters though. The volume is the volume for the given number of lanes. Too much volume for the normal number of lanes minus one is going to cause a backup. This has been true anywhere I have actually driven (which is a number of different places around the country), so I will have a hard time believing it is not true in LA. LA has a ton of volume generally I would think but also a ton of capacity that in many cases is still able to handle it. Would be my guess. If you're telling me that at heaviest possible LA traffic volume you close a lane for construction and the traffic flows at speed unimpeded, well, that would be quite a wonder to behold.

Places where I've seen a lane closure and not found a backup of some kind always correspond to light traffic volume.