Yuppies in Escalades (Pittsburgh, Braddock: real estate, find a job, law)

[sskink]

Originally Posted by polo15129

UNLESS YOU THINK YOU ARE IN A DRAG RACE ,KEEP YOUR SAFE DISTANCE, GO BY THE SPEED LIMITS AND YOU'LL BE JUST FINE .

Not sure what part of what I posted earlier is so hard to comprehend. Even if you're at the recommended 1 car length per 10 mph distance behind a vehicle, it remains more dangerous to be behind a larger vehicle you can't see around than a smaller vehicle you can see around. Jeez. It's a simple math equation.

One does not need to tailgate nor exceed the speed limit for this fact to apply. It will always apply until we get x-ray specs that work.

[safak]

well on the other hand, a semi can't slam his brakes and stop on a dime. if you are a couple car lengths behind a semi, there is no chance you are going to rear-end him when he needs to slow down..

a car driver who will slam his brakes because he thinks you took a piece of his manhood when you merged in, and you have no idea he is angry..

[ML North]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

Maybe so. And then maybe after they get a broken neck, they'll realize it wasn't such a smart idea to screw with a stranger on the highway.

I'd bet that 95% of the time that you think someone is "screwing" with you, that person actually just made a dumb mistake. And if it's of no consequence greater than perhaps having to hit the brakes, it's really not worth it to put that person, yourself, and every other driver around in imminent danger.

Seriously, most people don't care about you or about "screwing" with you. No reason to take what is most likely a mistake or an incidence of unawareness so personally. Of course stupid mistakes are dangerous, but your aggressive lesson-teaching only compounds that danger. Also, I doubt that most people who have had the (unfortunate) opportunity to encounter your aggression on the road have thought "man, I better stop screwing with people." Rather, I bet they're thinking "Wow, that guy is insane."

You're fighting a losing battle and endangering yourself and all other drivers who have the (again, unfortunate) luck to encounter you on the road.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by ML North

I'd bet that 95% of the time that you think someone is "screwing" with you, that person actually just made a dumb mistake.

I definitely don't agree.

Recently, WTAE posted a link about what behaviors drive people crazy in traffic. There were nearly 200 people that responded in our area, and most of the answers had to do with tailgating. And I think there is a great reason why there is so much tailgating.

Two things that I see on a daily basis are people who linger in the left lane with no intention to pass, and those who intend to pass, but instead of passing in a timely manner, linger in the lane, and often slow down on purpose when they see others who aren't afraid to drive at speed and simply want to keep moving.) I often refer to other commuters as COPS (taken from the Police Academy movies, referring to Citizens On Patrol). What I mean is, native Pittsburgh drivers have little motivation to keep traffic moving, and when they encounter someone who does, they feel they need chop their brakes, or intentionally not pass to irriate the person in back of them. So a lot of the tailgaiting is understandbly caused by people who feel no one should drive faster than them, and if they are, well, they'll show me.

There's one of those large digital boards near the Warrendale exit on 79 and it had a message this morning that made my heart smile: "Drive on the right and pass on the left, IT'S THE LAW". Of course, I'm sure most ignored it.

[ML North]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

Two things that I see on a daily basis are people who linger in the left lane with no intention to pass, and those who intend to pass, but instead of passing in a timely manner, linger in the lane, and often slow down on purpose when they see others who aren't afraid to drive at speed and simply want to keep moving.) I often refer to other commuters as COPS (taken from the Police Academy movies, referring to Citizens On Patrol).

People who linger in the left lane drive me nuts. But again that's not a reason to risk killing them, which is what you're doing with the ole "brake check" maneuver. And generally, I think that the lingerers in question are mostly just oblivious to their speed and the speed limit; they're not out to get you.

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

What I mean is, native Pittsburgh drivers have little motivation to keep traffic moving, and when they encounter someone who does, they feel they need chop their brakes, or intentionally not pass to irriate the person in back of them.

Native drivers have no motivation to keep traffic moving and transplants do? Scott, I don't think that makes any sense. Regardless of where a person was born, if he's on the road, then he's trying to get somewhere. No one enjoys sitting in traffic.

[Garvdog]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

My point is, people do ridiculous things in traffic every day, knowing the police most likely aren't going to be around to do a thing about it. They also know they can screw with most people and most people are to afraid to fight back. My goal is to leave that person with the impression that it's not always a good idea to screw with any old stranger on the road.

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

I definitely don't agree.

Recently, WTAE posted a link about what behaviors drive people crazy in traffic. There were nearly 200 people that responded in our area, and most of the answers had to do with tailgating. And I think there is a great reason why there is so much tailgating.

Two things that I see on a daily basis are people who linger in the left lane with no intention to pass, and those who intend to pass, but instead of passing in a timely manner, linger in the lane, and often slow down on purpose when they see others who aren't afraid to drive at speed and simply want to keep moving.) I often refer to other commuters as COPS (taken from the Police Academy movies, referring to Citizens On Patrol). What I mean is, native Pittsburgh drivers have little motivation to keep traffic moving, and when they encounter someone who does, they feel they need chop their brakes, or intentionally not pass to irriate the person in back of them. So a lot of the tailgaiting is understandbly caused by people who feel no one should drive faster than them, and if they are, well, they'll show me.

There's one of those large digital boards near the Warrendale exit on 79 and it had a message this morning that made my heart smile: "Drive on the right and pass on the left, IT'S THE LAW". Of course, I'm sure most ignored it.

This post makes no sense. You seem to approve of tailgating someone going too slow. But what if the guy in front of you is like you, and gets angry at your tailgating and slams on his brakes? You already admitted you do this. So theoretically if you could time travel and meet yourself on the road, you might actually make yourself mad and cause yourself to wreck

I love it when someone contradicts their own behavior.

[greg42]

I would attribute the left lane squatting and similar behaviors more to drivers being oblivious to anything other than their own vehicle (and cell phone, often enough). The number who are actively slowing the traffic aka "messing with you" is pretty small, I'm reasonably confident of that.

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

[cheezit34141988]

I guess I'm just used to going 80+mph on the freeway and only using the left lane when I need to pass, or when I merge over to let someone onto the freeway (which no one else in this city seems to do).

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by ML North

Native drivers have no motivation to keep traffic moving and transplants do? Scott, I don't think that makes any sense. Regardless of where a person was born, if he's on the road, then he's trying to get somewhere. No one enjoys sitting in traffic.

Ok, I'm not saying this an "out to get me situation", but one that irritates me, and one that I've never seen until I moved to Pittsburgh.

We drive down South Braddock quite often, and often near the shopping/dinning district, people feel they have to wedge their car in to the last available space. They start to parallel park, and the cars in back of whoever is parallel parking will wait untill that parking car is neatly tucked in to their space. Instead of simply going around and keeping traffic moving when they are out of the way.

When I worked in the South Hills, I was on Beverly Road early one Saturday morning, like, 8am. I ended up counting 6 cars in front of me. The light had turned green, and we sat, and sat, and sat. My initial thought was "what in hell is holding people up at 8am in the morning?" The culprit? Someone turning left, and five cars in back of it that had no desire to simply drive around this person and keep moving. I decided to go around everyone. And then of course, people get all pissed off at me. Simply because, I wanted to keep traffic moving.

I know you have either read or taken part in discussions regarding transplants and their feelings towards native Pittsburgh drivers.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by dtrtrggr13

I guess I'm just used to going 80+mph on the freeway and only using the left lane when I need to pass, or when I merge over to let someone onto the freeway (which no one else in this city seems to do).

It's as simple as that.