drivers in Pittsburgh (York: vehicles, parking, teaching)

[sealie]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Bad drivers or bad roads? The Nonsensical Roads of Pittsburgh

This is a keeper for sure

[LIRefugee]

I still don't understand how anyone can claim that Pittsburgh's roads are more confusing that Boston's. It's a comparison between the weird and unusual with the utterly and confoundingly bizarre. I don't know if it's gotten better since I left, but there were some roads in Boston and environs that were so bad, you might as well be driving down an old rutted wagon trail.

Nice website, though, I agree that it's a keeper.

[Mugatu]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Bad drivers or bad roads? The Nonsensical Roads of Pittsburgh

That site is great. It should be required reading for all newcomers to Pittsburgh. It touched on every road issue I had when I first moved here, some of which still baffle me today. Apparently, I'm not alone.

My first experience with a stop sign on a highway on-ramp was the "stop sign of doom" they mentioned in Greentree. I blew right through it without even a tap of the brakes because I had never seen an on-ramp without a merge lane before. I kind of saw the stop sign in my peripheral vision and thought "was that a stop sign? No way, this is on an ramp. That would be insane!" Apparently no one was coming in that lane, or I wouldn't be here today.

[minthotchocolate]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Columbus, Chicago, and Cincinnati are 3 I've visited in the past year and have not had any experiences being nearly run down as a pedestrian. Drivers are also more calm (yes even in Chicago) than they are here. While this may be a Midwest thing, I've never had a problem in Boston, NYC, or DC as a pedestrian either (although driving in those places was obviously not pleasant). There has yet to be a US city I've been to that's been so care-free when it comes to pedestrian safety. Sorry, Pittsburgh in my personal experience tops that list by leaps and bounds.

I'll add Indianapolis, SF, Santa Barbara and Tuscon to this. And I just got back from DC and it is way less stressful there both to drive and to walk (although they do have the worst traffic in the country).

[Copanut]

I will admit that when it comes to crosswalks, most drivers think they have the right of way. I was amazed when I went to Chicago how the drivers always yielded. Lately you see more crosswalk signs in and around the city, guess it will just take time. BUT, I still can't understand when some people blindly cross the street without looking, that's nuts.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Copanut

BUT, I still can't understand when some people blindly cross the street without looking, that's nuts.

Sometimes I'm drunk. Sometimes I'm preoccupied. Mostly, I am looking but I don't want the driver of the car to see I'm looking because they'll never stop if they know if they know you see them.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Sometimes I'm drunk. Sometimes I'm preoccupied. Mostly, I am looking but I don't want the driver of the car to see I'm looking because they'll never stop if they know if they know you see them.

OK, but you won't win that battle if he hits you. Am I the only one that remembers learning in grade school to look both ways before crossing? Of course, back then it was for dinosaurs.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Copanut

OK, but you won't win that battle if he hits you.

I never carry the issue past the point where I can move out of the way. Except by accident when I'm drunk or preoccupied.

[greg42]

So, I noticed something yesterday that I wonder about as far as pedestrians and turning cars.

I usually drive home via the HOV lane. Sometimes it's questionable whether it saves any time because instead of getting right on the Ft Duquesne Bridge I have to wade through several traffic lights on my way to the HOV entrance. But anyway, this time I came over the Clemente Bridge and have to make a right at the first light onto General Robinson St. When I got there the light was green, and there were no cars in front of me for some time that had turned right. And yet, there was a guy partly in the crosswalk, walking towards downtown, who had stopped.

Here is where some confusion might arise. Obviously, he has the right of way. Or maybe it wasn't so obvious to him, quite possibly there was a Don't Walk sign already lit, I don't remember that detail, but he's in the crosswalk so he has the right of way. But I get the distinct feeling if I had stopped (which I didn't in this case) he would have waived ME on rather than walk in front. I've certainly had that happen before a few times, as well as stopping for people at crosswalks who turned out to just be standing there and not intending to walk.

It is impossible to judge that situation 100% correctly, and to be sure I'm the one driving the 3000-pound vehicle and he's the one standing in the street. He could be afraid that traffic just won't stop there, perhaps based on prior experience. I have gone that way many times and waited for many pedestrians there, but why didn't I stop that day? The guy was already stopped walking, I never saw him move, which is odd. But he was standing well off the curb so I can't figure he meant anything other than to walk across Gen Robinson St. My split-second judgment was that he was yielding to me, for whatever reason in his head that such a thing made sense. I know if I was walking across I would keep on walking. But maybe in some people's mind that is a death wish, don't know.

BTW, if you want to see the most rampant jaywalking ever, swing by E. General Robinson St about 5:05-5:10pm on a weekday. Everyone's jaywalking to the parking garage, in multiple spots over and over all along the block between Federal and Sandusky.

I'm not trying to justify what I did; technically I didn't yield to a pedestrian. I'm aware of that, and thought much about it right after. But I do wonder what drives people to STOP walking like that, well in advance of the arrival of the car? And what drives people to wave the cars through when the cars have already troubled to stop for them?

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Although I have never waved a car on in a crosswalk, I find that sometimes "yielding to cars" as a pedestrian has saved me a few trips to the hospital. The reason for this is past experiences where cars will not yield to you and appear to be more inclined to run you down rather than wait 5 seconds or so like they are supposed to.

The fact that you even have to think about "yielding to cars" as a pedestrian in a crosswalk is absurd, but a needed survival technique in this city. Maybe if drivers weren't so entitled, selfish, and oblivious here (especially when it comes to pedestrian right of way) this wouldn't be a problem.