How come drivers in Pittsburgh do not know how to merge? (Philadelphia: income, dangerous)

[Craziaskowboi]

I've attempted "Pittsburgh lefts" in Athens, GA with universal success.

[tallydude02]

While I agree there are some merging issues in Pittsburgh, my biggest irk is when drivers will not move over when one is trying to merge onto the interstate. I drive alot in this country and even in the most fast, aggressive places, drivers will move over so you can merge onto the road. That alone may solve some of the merging issues.

Route 50 that goes through Clarksburg, WV has very short merge lanes (like the PA Turnpike) too and people there do the same things you see in Pittsburgh. It can be frustrating at times as travel flow can get haphazard.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by tallydude02

While I agree there are some merging issues in Pittsburgh, my biggest irk is when drivers will not move over when one is trying to merge onto the interstate. I drive alot in this country and even in the most fast, aggressive places, drivers will move over so you can merge onto the road. That alone may solve some of the merging issues.

.

What if you can't move over because a car is parallel to yours? Merging ain't that tough to learn.

[Craziaskowboi]

If everybody moved left on the Parkway East to accommodate merging traffic, then the left lane would be slammed.

[zip95]

All of the accidents there occurred because people have refused to merge

A southbound vehicle in the passing lane had stopped to allow the northbound car to turn into a parking lot. The pickup, southbound in the curb lane, struck the passenger side of the car, police said.

Construction zone review planned after Pleasant Hills crash - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

[bradjl2009]

A pickup truck driven by Mexicans from Maryland at 9:30 this morning sure irked me because they were driving down the center of a two lane horn. So just waking up a I layed the horn on them. Go back to Maryland we have enough ppl who can't drive here already!

[Copanut]

Never, ever exceed the speed limit in North Park. Today, I had some ahole on my bumper, honking the horn because I was doing 25. I pulled over, let him pass me at about 40 mph, ah, justice. The cops pulled him over.

[Phyxius]

The problem isn't the drivers, it's the highway itself. Whether it's Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania road are poorly design.

[MissShona]

Originally Posted by Copanut

What if you can't move over because a car is parallel to yours? Merging ain't that tough to learn.

True; that was the situation with me in the original post.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Copanut

What if you can't move over because a car is parallel to yours?

Then you shouldn't. But I think it is true that too often in this area a person could shift lanes, but doesn't, and that is particularly a problem when the onramp is too short to allow acceleration to full traffic speed.

Edit: In fact this reminds me of more anecdotes from my early days driving in Pittsburgh. Based on my driving experience elsewhere, I pretty much assumed that if the other lane was clear, people would shift over. Combined with the short onramps, this led to quite a few occasions where I found myself on the shoulder, wondering why the heck the person in question hadn't thought to shift over. Again, I had to learn to expect people not to shift over, even when they clearly could.