drivers in Pittsburgh (Carnegie, Irwin, Denver: college, stats, suburbs)

[sealie]

Yeah, I generally think all the laws I break are stupid too. It's all the laws those OTHER guys break that worry me - that's just downright dangerous.

[safak]

just saw this thread but, really growing up in shadyside and then moving on to pitt(oakland).
when walking we always had the saying 'never break stride'

no one will stop to let you cross if you are stopped waiting but if your walking toward the street and step down and keep walking they stop. no ones going to run into you, except maybe a bus but thats another topic.

[RosemaryNThyme]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I may come off as a bad driver on here, but other than speeding through non-residential areas (15 miles per hour? Really?!) and not yielding to jaywalkers I'm a very safe driver. I've driven about 200,000 miles since I was 16 and have never been in an accident that was my fault (you can't fault me for having people running red lights into me).

If you don't yield to jaywalkers, what do you do? Run them over?

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by RosemaryNThyme

If you don't yield to jaywalkers, what do you do? Run them over?

Just give them a little kiss with the bumper. A little tap-a-roo to reinforce situational awareness

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by RosemaryNThyme

If you don't yield to jaywalkers, what do you do? Run them over?

Drive around them.

[SteelCityRising]

Just had an unpleasant run-in with a middle-aged woman in an older white minivan who was tailgating me down Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield (towards Shadyside). I intentionally stopped to wave across an elderly woman who was waiting to cross Liberty Avenue at a well-marked crosswalk, and the woman in the minivan nearly rear-ended me and threw a fit (from what I saw in my rear view mirror). As we approached Baum Boulevard I knew there was utility work going on directly in front of the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, so I stayed in the left-hand lane to proceed straight (towards Centre Avenue). She honked at me because I had stopped so that I wouldn't "block the box". I inched forward once I was able to fit on the other side of the intersection, but then she followed me and blocked the box herself. I flipped her off as I turned off South Aiken Avenue onto Ellsworth as she blew by me.

I also had an unpleasant run-in with a bus that also honked at me because I was hesitant to turn right from Murray onto Beacon because there was an adjacent pedestrian waiting to cross who wasn't paying attention. Needless to say my middle finger is getting QUITE the workout today!

[BarqCider]

maybe its because im from out of town, but when i was driving in oakland near campus i had no issues other than trying to find a way back to 376 (signs are confusing as hell ). Maybe dem folks saw my VA plates and said "oh hell no" and backed off from me?

i think from now on whenever i see people with VA plates and do the things you folks are talking about, ill think of them as being from PA lol.

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by BarqCider

maybe its because im from out of town, but when i was driving in oakland near campus i had no issues other than trying to find a way back to 376 (signs are confusing as hell ). Maybe dem folks saw my VA plates and said "oh hell no" and backed off from me?

i think from now on whenever i see people with VA plates and do the things you folks are talking about, ill think of them as being from PA lol.

The time of day has a lot to do with it. The morning and afternoon rush hours are usually when everyone's at their most impatient and angry.


If you really want to see people show their butts though try driving on main roads between 9 and 10 AM. These are the people who are late, mad before they even got into the car, and in a major hurry. You'll be amazed at the display of poor character.

[Sealtite]

Originally Posted by minthotchocolate

I even heard angry yells a couple of times.

Is it some Pittsburgh thing? I lived in big cities and small towns, and Pittsburgh is so far the rudest in this respect.

Get used to it, but no....it's not a Pittsburgh thing. I mean it is, but you'll find that same kind of crap in other Rust Belt cities. Cleveland is just as bad, as is Youngstown OH, South Bend Indiana, etc. It just seems like people as a whole around here just sort of threw out the notion of etiquette about thirty years ago. You'll find it here and there in pockets around here, but don't be surprised if it's not nearly as common as what you were used to.

Personally I've been all over the world, and I've come up with a pretty good analogy that sums up Pittsburgh and pretty much all of western Pennsylvania for that matter: You're essentially living in Mississippi on PCP. The population is generally comprised of backward, relatively simple-minded individuals. Not everyone falls into this category, but it's safe to say that most do, and there's nothing wrong with that. Country music and old (often "country fried") classic rock, Harleys, Chevrolets, football, and a beer-drinkin' good ol' time are all part of life in Pittsburgh and especially in the suburbs (where most people live). Again, nothing wrong with that.....

Now the PCP thing, I don't know where that comes from. I just know that these people love to fight with whoever, wherever, and over anything. People from Pittsburgh are the most socially aggressive, grating, confrontational people I've ever encountered anywhere....And I'm from here! You really have to watch yourself here. These people seem to just totally snap over the most trivial issues. My best example of this (that happened to me personally) occurred a few years ago when I was changing a tire in Natrona Heights, which is about a half an hour north of the City. I was parked on a residential street, off to the side, with my flashers on. Parking was not allowed on the street, however being that it was an emergency situation and traffic (in a 25mph zone mind you) had ample room in both directions to avoid the obstacle of myself and my vehicle. I guess that wasn't enough for the guy who had to slightly move his steering wheel to avoid me on his way home from work, which was about 100 feet beyond me, and there was no oncoming traffic at this particular moment.

For a second, I thought he'd stopped to help! Ha! He stopped, flung open his door, and in a barely decipherable yinzer accent started screaming about how I was "blocking the ****ing road", before he started hitting me with the BASEBALL BAT that I hadn't seen before it was too late. He hit me two or three times (I was sitting on the ground changing a tire) in the small of my back and base of my neck before I managed to knock his legs out from under him with the tire iron that was in my hand. Long story short, I defended myself to the best of my ability and the end result was him unconscious and me in handcuffs a few minutes later. Luckily two of his neighbors saw the attack, and I was released after it was deemed that I acted in self defense.

The only reasoning I ever got: "he's always been a hot-head". Not "his wife just left him", "he's losing his house", "his dog just died". Nope. This fella just likes to start trouble. Lotta meatheads like that here in Da' Burgh, which is why I carry. I was carrying that day, but things happened so fast I never even had a chance to think. Wanna know the most PATHETIC part of that whole story? The idiot tried to sue ME about three months afterward! Ha! A few times over the course of the next year or so, I was served with papers from the Sheriff's office stating that an "action has been taken against" me, but it never went to court. It just kind of petered out, and I never even needed to respond. It was really weird. I guess he felt like he was entitled to something because he got hurt, even though his actions alone created the entire situation. Bizarre.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Sealtite

Personally I've been all over the world, and I've come up with a pretty good analogy that sums up Pittsburgh and pretty much all of western Pennsylvania for that matter: You're essentially living in Mississippi on PCP. The population is generally comprised of backward, relatively simple-minded individuals. Not everyone falls into this category, but it's safe to say that most do, and there's nothing wrong with that. Country music and old (often "country fried") classic rock, Harleys, Chevrolets, football, and a beer-drinkin' good ol' time are all part of life in Pittsburgh and especially in the suburbs (where most people live). Again, nothing wrong with that.....


.

Other than living in the 'burbs, none of that applies to me or my friends and neighbors. Got any stats to back that up?