Official "Let's ***** about Pittsburgh drivers!" thread (Erie, Grove City: fit in, college)

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by youngabe

On a sort of related note, I enjoy the people in my office building that INSIST upon walking up or down the escalators. God forbid you get on the escalator and just let it move you. That extra 2.5 seconds you get by aggressively walking up/down the escalator is the difference between longevity and an early death! [/font]

Eh, that's a Pittsburgh pet peeve of mine - everywhere else I've been
'riders' stayed to the right side of the escalator and the left side is used by walkers. Same with the moving walkway in the airport. Some people ate actually in that much of a hurry. I won't say this is strictly a Pittsburgh thing, but the excavator etiquette or whatever you want to call it is different in larger cities.

[Paint It Pink]

Originally Posted by sskink

Not when you're trying to make a left turn against oncoming traffic and just as you get a tiny window to turn, some putz walks right into the intersection against the walk signal.

Thank you, SS.

Scot, that's what I was trying to say. You know the light at 7th and Grant? You have only a few seconds to make that left hand turn with the green turn signal before the onslaught of traffic blocks you from doing so.

But THATS the exact time that people choose to cross the street- against the "people walk" sign as well.

It happens every morning. And then all lanes of traffic get the green, and you sit there until the next red light. Then you get the turn arrow...AND PEOPLE CROSS THE STREET AGAIN... its a vicious cycle.

[mjost7]

That type of pedestrian/vehicle conflict annoys me. Since pedestrians often ignore the solid DONT WALK signal and cross on the vehicular protected left green arrow, I wonder how we could solve this:

A one-way street might help

Letting the pedestrians WALK at the start of the through vehicle phase but then have the protected green arrow turn on as a "lagging" phase after the through movement (note this is opposite of what you usually see in PA where you green arrow almost always comes first or "leads" the signal cycle before the regular through traffic). This way most peds would clear long before the green arrow comes on. Not sure whether this would actually work.

Make an all-pedestrian phase. But peds seem to ignore this and cross in conflict with turning vehicles anyway.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by Paint It Pink

Thank you, SS.

Scot, that's what I was trying to say. You know the light at 7th and Grant? You have only a few seconds to make that left hand turn with the green turn signal before the onslaught of traffic blocks you from doing so.

But THATS the exact time that people choose to cross the street- against the "people walk" sign as well.

It happens every morning. And then all lanes of traffic get the green, and you sit there until the next red light. Then you get the turn arrow...AND PEOPLE CROSS THE STREET AGAIN... its a vicious cycle.

Then start using public transportation

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

Apparently, you have to get somewhere so important that 15 seconds is holding you up. People who feel pedestrians and cyclists hold them up are some of the most pathetic people in the world.

Says the guy who brags about his road rage incidents.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Says the guy who brags about his road rage incidents.

I'm never in a hurry to get ANYWHERE. I work in Warrendale and leave an hour early every day, and generally leave at least a half hour early (usually 45 minutes early) for anywhere I go in the city. My complaints are never because I'm running late, they are because people are holding up the simple flow of traffic.

[WestLibertyAve]

I've noticed that the left lane driver thing is FAR less of an issue on the highways around here with more than 2 lanes. With only two lanes, in any moderate amount of traffic, there's often enough on/off traffic and much slower semis in the right lane that it's often much easier to just cruise in the "fast lane"

I've been in a line of 10 cars in the left lane going 60ish mph, but they're still passing cars in the right that are going even slower. It's stupid in this instance to keep getting over after every pass..just to catch up to another slow car and then be unable to get BACK into the left lane because that long line is now passing you. If you're first in line, you should get out of the way...anyone else, it's hard to blame them for staying in the faster of the two lanes, even if that "fast" is not quite as fast as you want to go.

Sometimes, you've just gotta chill out and wait for the traffic to break up a bit...it's not always practical for everyone to move out of the left lane just because one guy wants to go 5 mph faster than the rest.

[calvin20874]

Having grown up in Pittsburgh and having moved to the east coast (DC area) some time ago, I remember how much more aggressive the drivers were around DC than I was used to. As a Pittsburgh sports fan, I still drive up to the Burgh several times a year for Steelers, Penguins, and Bucs games. One thing I've noticed is that aggressive driving, once a rarity around Pittsburgh, has become much more common, particularly with younger drivers. Not that I'm all that timid. Yet it seems that the rude, inconsiderate, and dangerous driving practices so common in the big population centers of the east coast are spreading to Pittsburgh, which is unfortunate.

[youngabe]

Originally Posted by calvin20874

Having grown up in Pittsburgh and having moved to the east coast (DC area) some time ago, I remember how much more aggressive the drivers were around DC than I was used to. As a Pittsburgh sports fan, I still drive up to the Burgh several times a year for Steelers, Penguins, and Bucs games. One thing I've noticed is that aggressive driving, once a rarity around Pittsburgh, has become much more common, particularly with younger drivers. Not that I'm all that timid. Yet it seems that the rude, inconsiderate, and dangerous driving practices so common in the big population centers of the east coast are spreading to Pittsburgh, which is unfortunate.

THIS is very true. I am a rather aggressive driver myself and I'm always kind of shocked to hear out-of-towners or even people that don't make into Pittsburgh proper much make remarks about aggressive driving. I'm used to it, but to someone that maybe expected PGH to be more passive, it might be a bit of shock.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by calvin20874

Having grown up in Pittsburgh and having moved to the east coast (DC area) some time ago, I remember how much more aggressive the drivers were around DC than I was used to. As a Pittsburgh sports fan, I still drive up to the Burgh several times a year for Steelers, Penguins, and Bucs games. One thing I've noticed is that aggressive driving, once a rarity around Pittsburgh, has become much more common, particularly with younger drivers. Not that I'm all that timid. Yet it seems that the rude, inconsiderate, and dangerous driving practices so common in the big population centers of the east coast are spreading to Pittsburgh, which is unfortunate.

Depending on how long you've been away, I think the big change you see is the influx of transplants like myself who have never seen some of the ridiculous driving habits you find in this area.

I drove back and forth between Pittsburgh and Erie twice this past weekend. Once you get north of I-80 on I-79, you can look as far as the eye can see and you don't see the left lane cloggers like you do here in Pittsburgh. Sure enough, on our way back, just past Grove City, here come the line of ten cars in the left lane, brake lights glaring.