Why have Pittsburgh drivers gotten so aggressive and angry? (Leechburg: moving, speeding ticket)

[Mugatu]

Originally Posted by sskink

I think you missed the #1 habit that, IMO, seems uniquely Pittsburgh: failure to merge at the merge point. You can see a sign that says "left lane closed, 1 mile" and everyone shifts to the right lane within a quarter mile, leading to a long, slow-moving line, while that last 3/4 mile of left lane stays relatively free of traffic. And then those people get annoyed when you try to merge at a hundred yards out from the merge point. I see this often on inbound Parkway West at the 79 interchange.

Don't forget, people waiting in that long line will sometimes SWING THEIR VEHICLE OUT INTO THE OPEN LANE to block drivers that are approaching in the clear lane. Absolute insanity. That's about as dangerous as it gets. I grew up in Florida, land of the crazy drivers, but I NEVER saw anyone do that even down there.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by Mugatu

Don't forget, people waiting in that long line will sometimes SWING THEIR VEHICLE OUT INTO THE OPEN LANE to block drivers that are approaching in the clear lane. Absolute insanity. That's about as dangerous as it gets. I grew up in Florida, land of the crazy drivers, but I NEVER saw anyone do that even down there.

I saw it all over Southern IL, Missouri, and Kansas when I drive across the country in the middle of October. Everyone everywhere seems to think their traffic issues are unique. Outside of the Pittsburgh left, the driving habits here can be observed in many other parts of the country. Some of you folks need to get out a little more.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

I saw it all over Southern IL, Missouri, and Kansas when I drive across the country in the middle of October. Everyone everywhere seems to think their traffic issues are unique. Outside of the Pittsburgh left, the driving habits here can be observed in many other parts of the country. Some of you folks need to get out a little more.

I've driven more than 5,000 miles in the last six weeks, and I saw the same thing approaching every single construction zone regardless of which state it was in.

For that matter, the guy in the Pennsylvania forum who ******* about how PennDOT is the only state transportation agency that narrows Interstates down to one lane in each direction for long segments during reconstruction doesn't know what he's talking about either, because IDOT (Illinois) does the same thing. I saw it first-hand in construction zones on I-57, I-64 and I-70.

[sskink]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

I saw it all over Southern IL, Missouri, and Kansas when I drive across the country in the middle of October. Everyone everywhere seems to think their traffic issues are unique. Outside of the Pittsburgh left, the driving habits here can be observed in many other parts of the country. Some of you folks need to get out a little more.

Maybe it's a midwestern thing then. I'm basing my observation on having driven primarily in the NYC, Boston, DC and Philly metros for 40+ years. Most drivers in those areas will merge as close as they can to the actual merge point instead of falling in line several hundred yards or more back of that.

Cue the "Pittsburgh isn't midwestern" responses

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Mugatu

Don't forget, people waiting in that long line will sometimes SWING THEIR VEHICLE OUT INTO THE OPEN LANE to block drivers that are approaching in the clear lane. Absolute insanity. That's about as dangerous as it gets. I grew up in Florida, land of the crazy drivers, but I NEVER saw anyone do that even down there.

I had a truck to that to me on Route 28, it had Wisconsin license plates.

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Perryview22

I drive an older car and so I'm often a victim of the "my time is more important than your life" bust a move maneuvers by aggressive drivers. Someone is always cutting and swooping in front of me in long lines of traffic, or getting over at the very last minute possible on bridge approaches.

There is also this phenom of drivers who see you signal your intention to change lanes and they actually accelerate to cut you off so that you do not get in front of them. This is not people who are relatively close behind but far enough behind so that if they suddenly start speeding up you can see in your side view mirror that your timing is now off and you have to wait.

Route 28 has gotten so out of hand with the speeding. Route 28 is a raceway now - ever since the construction was completed - except for the upstream bottleneck for the Etna exit.

I also wonder if people are commuting from such far distances from work in the Pittsburgh region that they are trying to compress their commutes - I don't know...out of hand whatever the problem is.

I drive 28 every day,from the Highland Park Bridge to the Tarentum/New Kensington exit. I don't notice any mass groups of drivers exceeding the speed limit. There's always one or two, but not as you state. "Fast" and "speed" are relative terms in this region

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by sskink

I think you missed the #1 habit that, IMO, seems uniquely Pittsburgh: failure to merge at the merge point. You can see a sign that says "left lane closed, 1 mile" and everyone shifts to the right lane within a quarter mile, leading to a long, slow-moving line, while that last 3/4 mile of left lane stays relatively free of traffic. And then those people get annoyed when you try to merge at a hundred yards out from the merge point. I see this often on inbound Parkway West at the 79 interchange.

A case in point - the merge from Banksville Rd going into the Ft. Pitt tunnel. While there's a backup of cars in the left lane of Banksville waiting to merge into the flow on Parkway West heading for the tunnel, it's much more efficient and quicker to use the right lane of Banksville and merge closer to the tunnel, even if you're goal is to move all the way across to the left lane that goes downtown/North Side. That one move is worth 4-5 minutes of commute time.

It's like you were walking down the street and come across a huge line waiting outside at some store or restaurant or club. You might think a big event or sale is going on, but then you ask someone in line what's going on and they tell you they don't really know, but it was a big line of people waiting, so there must be a good reason for it.

Additionally, a NYC, Boston or DC driver only needs 3-4 feet as an invitation to merge. A typical Pittsburgh driver needs 1.5 car lengths.

And along with that, an actual invitation, just as you say. Daily, I'll have a rare person use their signals in front of me, and then they hesitate, and hesitate, and hesitate, and hesitate..................................

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

I drive 28 every day,from the Highland Park Bridge to the Tarentum/New Kensington exit. I don't notice any mass groups of drivers exceeding the speed limit. There's always one or two, but not as you state. "Fast" and "speed" are relative terms in this region

Then you're speeding. The average speed on 28 is 75- 80 mph in that section, and the posted speed limit is 55.

79 in Allegheny County is hands down one of the most speeded on interstate in the northeast. I've you aren't going 75 or higher, you get passed by everyone.

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by sskink

A case in point - the merge from Banksville Rd going into the Ft. Pitt tunnel. While there's a backup of cars in the left lane of Banksville waiting to merge into the flow on Parkway West heading for the tunnel, it's much more efficient and quicker to use the right lane of Banksville and merge closer to the tunnel, even if you're goal is to move all the way across to the left lane that goes downtown/North Side. That one move is worth 4-5 minutes of commute time.

And yet it's people doing what you do that is causing the backup in the first place. If everyone just zippered in one at a time at the top of the ramp, there would still be traffic, but it would be systematic. Everyone zigging around creating multiple merge points and blocking the exits for 51 creates a huge mess.

[PIT2MAD]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

And yet it's people doing what you do that is causing the backup in the first place. If everyone just zippered in one at a time at the top of the ramp, there would still be traffic, but it would be systematic. Everyone zigging around creating multiple merge points and blocking the exits for 51 creates a huge mess.

It's going to be a huge mess either way, I do the same think sskink does because the right lane on Banksville is almost always empty, there's tons of room to merge before the tunnels, and there's not enough people actually trying to get to 51 where it's ever much of an issue assuming both parties are paying full attention to their surroundings (a big leap, I know).

I'm not advocating for the jagoffs that speed past everyone and jump in line at the last possible moment.. There's a special place in hell for people like that and I try to remind myself that when I see it it's usually a person unfamiliar with the roads. But what sskink described should be encouraged, otherwise we'd have a single lane of Banksville backed up past Crane every day. (Edit: to clarify further, if you can bypass the line and get over a lane at or before the halfway point of the merge zone, and you start creeping along looking for an opening, it won't take long before you find a gap or someone gives you space. Until they put an exit only sign before the merge point, that lane is fair game!)

If you drive this daily you will have noticed the fact that during periods of high traffic, the left lane on the parkway is always much slower than the right between the truck ramp and the tunnel entrance. Despite following all of your rules, it's the lane with all of the crazy sh*t going on that actually moves.