Pittsburgh Traffic Laws and Pittsburgh Drivers Thread (Washington, Butler: club, bus)

[avm316]

Here are my biggest pet peeves about drivers in the Pittsburgh area:

Tailgating/following too closely
Not paying attention to traffic in front of them
Running red lights
Speeding
Not signaling when they're about to turn
Not yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk
Music is loud
Parking in a no parking zone
Honking the horn excessively
Harassing other drivers

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by avm316

Here are my biggest pet peeves about drivers in the Pittsburgh area:

Tailgating/following too closely
Not paying attention to traffic in front of them
Running red lights
Speeding
Not signaling when they're about to turn
Not yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk
Music is loud
Parking in a no parking zone
Honking the horn excessively
Harassing other drivers

All of these things happen in the Washington DC area, too.

What is it about human beings that they think all drivers in a given city drive like all other drivers in that city, and unlike the drivers everywhere else?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by ditchdigger

I think Hopes must've been drinking last night. Or very, very, bored.

If you read my "police violence" thread, you'll quickly understand the inspiration for this thread. >>>>> //www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...-violence.html

[sparrowmint]

Originally Posted by jay5835

All of these things happen in the Washington DC area, too.

What is it about human beings that they think all drivers in a given city drive like all other drivers in that city, and unlike the drivers everywhere else?

Haven't lived everywhere, but I have lived a small variety of diverse places, and Pittsburgh drivers are the worst I've personally experienced. That there are drivers who act similarly in Washington DC doesn't mean much to me, I don't live there. Doesn't change the fact that a too high percentage of Pittsburgh drivers regard other vehicles as inanimate objects that don't have other human beings inside. No one in this town is so important that they need to be running reds, honking at people at "no turn on red" signs, tailgating constantly, speeding at ridiculous speeds around blind sharp curves, and other things I see all the damn time. There is no excuse to be acting like a five star ******* at best or sociopath at worst on the road.

[avm316]

Originally Posted by jay5835

All of these things happen in the Washington DC area, too.

What is it about human beings that they think all drivers in a given city drive like all other drivers in that city, and unlike the drivers everywhere else?

I wasn't implying that ALL drivers in Pittsburgh were bad.

[groar]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

As far as those who reprimanded me in the other thread for tailgating while making excuses for those who hog the left-hand (passing) lane may I ask you why that person won't just move to the right? When I'm driving my eyes are constantly scanning the entire "buffer zone" around my vehicle. I check every few seconds to see what's behind me, what's coming up beside me in an adjacent lane, who may be up ahead approaching a crosswalk on the left, etc. Are these left-hand lane-hoggers just NOT scanning their mirrors while driving, as they SHOULD be? I'm usually passing everyone else, but in the rare event I see someone approaching me from behind quickly I immediately signal and move to the right-hand lane as soon as it's safe to do so.

as my mama always said, two wrongs don't make a right. i don't think it's right to drive in the left lane if you're not passing, especially if you're going slower than surrounding traffic. but that does NOT justify tailgating. nothing does. slow down and deal with it, there are idiots everywhere. that doesn't mean you get to do extremely dangerous things in response to them.

[groar]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Only a jerk would tailgate someone

fixed 4 u.

[groar]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

This brings me to another pet peeve: People who refuse to let others in during a "zipper merge". There are many old-school Pittsburghers who will sit in the right-hand lane in the never-ending Route 28 outbound construction mess and shake their fists at people passing them in the unobstructed lane to their left. Then when those people in the left lane get to the front of the line at the merge point, a lot of people in the right-hand lane will NOT let them in because they view that as being "cut" in line. PennDOT advises people that traffic will flow more smoothly in the long-run if people use both lanes right up to the merge point, yet people still insist on taking twice as long by sitting in the right-hand lane and then NOT letting others in at that merge point.

i do agree with this. people NEVER merge properly here, they move over way in advance and don't let people in at the merge point. it is called a merge point for a reason!! there are even signs that say "use both lanes to merge point" but they work about as well as the "maintain speed through tunnel" signs!

people don't always do it right other places either, but they do it a lot more. i was driving in connecticut the other week and was involved in a perfect zipper merge and realized i couldn't remember the last time that happened in pittsburgh.

[hnsq]

Not necessarily driving, but parking chairs...everyone time I see one it drives me crazy

[youngabe]

I have lots of driving gripes, but I especially hate people who want to pound the tight, narrow city streets like they're in the flat, spacious dessert. But, you find someone on the Parkway who won't do a digit over 50 when it's 55.