Why have Pittsburgh drivers gotten so aggressive and angry? (Greensburg: live in, bus)

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

I normally wouldn't reply to a thread like this that is generally going to incite an argument, but I need to vent and this seems like the proper location. The title of this story is "Is this a thing?!?" Allow me to explain.

Yesterday, I was minding my business cruising on 28 north to my men's league hockey game. As I passed the Pittsburgh Mills mall, a driver in a Toyota Tacoma truck entered the highway in what could be described as moderate traffic - it was moving, but both lanes were too congested to make a pass or anything of the sort. I observed the Tacoma entering the highway behind a red Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Toyota appeared to be in quite a hurry, as he attempted to make a pass on the Jeep but there was not adequate room. In anger, the Toyota began tailgating the Jeep, quickly accelerating and decelerating in alternate fashion to display his aggression. You might think, wow, nothing to see here, just a normal case of road rage that we see everyday. But no, there's more!

The Toyota then appeared to pull his cell phone out and rest it on his steering wheel, as if he were videotaping a scene. The next thing is what was crazy. He pulled into the left lane, nearly rolling the truck, drove beside the driver of the Jeep for approximately 1/4 mile until there was a car directly in front of the Toyota, and the Toyota then swerved as hard as he could in front of the Jeep, cutting him off. He was still using his camera on the wheel. He spiked the brakes and reduced speed from approximately 70 MPH to 30 MPH in an instant.

Again, you may think, hmm, this isn't interesting. But after this, he sped up, moved into the left lane, and allowed the Jeep to pass casually. He proceeded to get behind the Jeep, phone on the wheel still appearing to video it, and nearly ram the Jeep. The Toyota then tailgated at < 6 feet for about a quarter mile, when the Jeep finally had enough and spiked his brakes. He did this a couple of times and every time the Toyota tailgated even more aggressively - with the camera on the wheel. It was as if the Toyota driver purposely incited a road rage incident through his own aggression, then put himself behind the driver that he enraged, started taping him, and tried to get the driver in front to cause an accident, all while on video.

My title now makes more sense. Is this a thing? Is this something that people do? I have NEVER in my life seen something like that. It was crazy. Then guess what he did? He did the SAME thing to me after the Jeep was able to exit the highway. The whole situation was nuts, and it completely rattled me. My only thoughts are this was a one-off crazy person or that he is aware of some sort of scam that people are attempting and he was trying to get in on it to cash in. Any thoughts here?

My thought is, I would have pulled over immediately and got a plate number and description and called the police.

[Agbor]

I know of a scam popular on the East Coast, people drive at night with no head lights on, on purpose, they hit someone on
purpose, then when the cops come, they said the person hit them,(their word against the other person's)..in order to collect
some insurance money.

I think this guy was doing something similar, trying to cause an accident in order to collect some money...I agree a plate
number and description should have been recorded and reported to the police.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

My thought is, I would have pulled over immediately and got a plate number and description and called the police.

Originally Posted by Agbor

I know of a scam popular on the East Coast, people drive at night with no head lights on, on purpose, they hit someone on
purpose, then when the cops come, they said the person hit them,(their word against the other person's)..in order to collect
some insurance money.

I think this guy was doing something similar, trying to cause an accident in order to collect some money...I agree a plate
number and description should have been recorded and reported to the police.

That would've been the move to make. Unfortunately, the traffic was too tight and this happened too fast for me to do that. It was a wild and awful thing to experience. I hope that guy gets caught.

Also good to know this isn't a Pittsburgh thing, which is what I suspected.

[sparrowmint]

Dash cams are cheap now so everyone should get one. That is how Russians fight insurance fraud, the idea is sound.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by sparrowmint

Dash cams are cheap now so everyone should get one. That is how Russians fight insurance fraud, the idea is sound.

It's also how they keep the internet from going to all cat videos and porn.

Still, I'm not sure this was insurance fraud. It sounds way too likely to have gotten the ********* killed, even if they didn't care about anybody else.

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Agbor

I think this guy was doing something similar, trying to cause an accident in order to collect some money...I agree a plate
number and description should have been recorded and reported to the police.

Or it could have been over the simple fact that that area of 28 is full of people who seem to clog the left lane and he may have been as tired of it as I am, and acted way out of line.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

It's also how they keep the internet from going to all cat videos and porn.

Such efforts must be thwarted!

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

Or it could have been over the simple fact that that area of 28 is full of people who seem to clog the left lane and he may have been as tired of it as I am, and acted way out of line.

Not the case. The Jeep, who initially had no one to his left, was driving in the right lane with the flow of traffic at about 70 mph. This was not a case of someone being mad because they couldn't drive fast enough unless you think 90 mph is how fast people should be going in the right lane. This was a crazy person.

[corpgypsy]

To the original posted question: Perhaps most drivers on the road are no longer native Pittsburghers.

[DaisyDaisy]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

Not the case. The Jeep, who initially had no one to his left, was driving in the right lane with the flow of traffic at about 70 mph. This was not a case of someone being mad because they couldn't drive fast enough unless you think 90 mph is how fast people should be going in the right lane. This was a crazy person.

They live everywhere. Sorry that happened.

I drive on the Schuykill (philly) pretty often and we were recently on the DC beltway and both seem to still have more agressive drivers overall, particularly with the moving from lane to lane to get around cars. That said, yes, I think Pittsburgh drivers may also be getting more aggressive. I think our road systems are also so old that we don't have enough space on streets and some of the highways need more lanes, all of which can add to the drama.