Why have Pittsburgh drivers gotten so aggressive and angry? (Gap: safe, vehicles)

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

Why don't you just move to a part of town requiring less driving? You'll live longer.

When I'm home, I can walk, bike ride, or bus ride anywhere I want or need to go. I could ride a bus to work, but from Point Breeze to the Robinson Ikea, it's nearly an hour and a half bus ride, with at least one transfer involved.


The bigger question is, why don't people just keep moving here? Out of all the stresses in life, driving should be low to not at all on that list, but I'm now at the point of taking 376 to 79 to 65 and then either 28 or back to 376, just to simply get back to Point Breeze at night. Entirely too much running around when it should be a simple 32 minute drive all on 376.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

The bigger question is, why don't people just keep moving here? Out of all the stresses in life, driving should be low to not at all on that list, but I'm now at the point of taking 376 to 79 to 65 and then either 28 or back to 376, just to simply get back to Point Breeze at night. Entirely too much running around when it should be a simple 32 minute drive all on 376.

"Traffic" is only other people, I guess.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

The bigger question is, why don't people just keep moving here? Out of all the stresses in life, driving should be low to not at all on that list, but I'm now at the point of taking 376 to 79 to 65 and then either 28 or back to 376, just to simply get back to Point Breeze at night. Entirely too much running around when it should be a simple 32 minute drive all on 376.

You are being very unreasonable. The phenomena may be called a "shock wave". if someone a mile ahead of you taps the brakes, the driver behind HIM does the same...and so on, until you find yourself going very slowly. When the highway is just overwhelmed, this is bound to happen.

Do you think people are driving slowly on purpose?!?

The alternative is to move as one large mass, with your neighbor having planted his front end into your chrome status name plate.

I think if the speed limit were LOWERED at select times, that might make vehicle movements (changing lanes, highway entering and exiting) easier, and with less chance of having to brake, and thereby causing a shockwave. It's a theory, anyway.

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

When I'm home, I can walk, bike ride, or bus ride anywhere I want or need to go. I could ride a bus to work, but from Point Breeze to the Robinson Ikea, it's nearly an hour and a half bus ride, with at least one transfer involved.


The bigger question is, why don't people just keep moving here? Out of all the stresses in life, driving should be low to not at all on that list, but I'm now at the point of taking 376 to 79 to 65 and then either 28 or back to 376, just to simply get back to Point Breeze at night. Entirely too much running around when it should be a simple 32 minute drive all on 376.

Drivers aren't going to do what you want them to. It's delusional to believe otherwise. The answer is - get a job near where you live, or move near your work.

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

Drivers aren't going to do what you want them to. It's delusional to believe otherwise.

And it's not like most people just randomly decided to go driving at 8 A.M. and 5:30 P.M. just to cheese off certain people.

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

You are being very unreasonable.

Unreasonable?


Last night, I left my office on Summit Park drive around 6:20pm. A quick check of Google maps showed a 45 minute ride home to Point Breeze, with the main hold up being between Carnegie and the Fort Pitt Tunnel, which started at the closure of the Liberty Bridge and seems to continue even though it's now open. It showed the additional 12 minutes was because of that back log. Unreasonable? After 6pm on a Friday evening? That's what's unreasonable.


I started off on to 376 east bound. Keep in mind, on my way home, no accident, no law enforcement making anyone slow down, no construction. As I approach Settlers Ridge, speeds vary between 18-35 miles an hour. Why? Apparently, because that's how people are taught how to merge here. Unreasonable? For sure. There's no reason to slow to those speeds to allow people to merge. Also, I was in the left lane (passing lane to the rest of the country) and I had a car in back of me that drifted from approximately three car lengths behind to nearly six car lengths behind. Unreasonable? For sure. No reason to leave that kind of gap on a highway where speeds should be at least 55 mph.


I got off on 79. People slowing to 50 mph or under on the s curves because of the scary rain.


I traveled along 65 heading back to take 376. It's now 7pm. On to 376 Eastbound, and those digital warning boards state congestion 1 mile ahead, heading east from the jail. I took it anyway, because those messages are not always updated up to the minute. It was correct at night. 376 backed up east bound at 7pm at night? Unreasonable? It sure is. 18mph entering the tunnel and then a complete stoppage in the middle of the tunnel. People riding their brakes on the uphill climb towards the Wilkinsburg exit.


Unreasonable? It sure is.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

Unreasonable?


Last night, I left my office on Summit Park drive around 6:20pm. A quick check of Google maps showed a 45 minute ride home to Point Breeze.......As I approach Settlers Ridge, speeds vary between 18-35 miles an hour. Why? Apparently, because that's how people are taught how to merge here. Unreasonable? For sure. There's no reason to slow to those speeds to allow people to merge. Also, I was in the left lane (passing lane to the rest of the country) and I had a car in back of me that drifted from approximately three car lengths behind to nearly six car lengths behind...No reason to leave that kind of gap on a highway where speeds should be at least 55 mph...Unreasonable? It sure is.

Friday evening. Beautiful weather. Football season. Yes, of course it should be open highway for prince of Point Breeze!

The car behind you lagging from 3 car lengths then 6...maybe he saw a potential conflict to the right, and so acted prudently. Maybe he was allowing someone with an active turn signal to get to the left.
Or maybe you punched it out of impatience that the 3 lengths went to 6 in a hurry. You might be a dangerous driver and not even realize it!

Mind readers really do not exist. No one can communicate telepathically. If you think there is no reason a merge point, at rush hour, should not be delayed, then you must feel you yourself are perfection in a shiny german box (i'm just wagering you are the VW type).

How many people are in your car for your cross-county jaunt....oh, just one?

You must simply accept that there are thousands of other vehicles around you, with different strategies on getting to a destination alive and unharmed. I sympathize with the frustration, and I honestly do not say that to be patronizing (I've complained on this board about my past life living in the sprawling hinterlands of Fairfax County). But life is too short to expect one's own personal comfort and gratification in a community of thousands (especially when it comes to driving)!

Oh, and "Summit Park"..."Settler's Ridge"...nauseatingly generic suburban development names.

The driving is probably not that bad overall - there are just TOO MANY CARS USING THE ROAD AT ONCE, guy!

[tallydude02]

I've been driving for about 18 years. Most of those years have been in the greater Pittsburgh region and the northern areas of WV and western MD. I've noticed a steady decline in the quality of drivers during that time. It seems like this region is finally catching up to the rest of the nation in the area of aggressive driving. I-79 used to be a leisurely drive with most driving the speed limit and following the left lane passing rule. Now I see wild maneuvers that I didn't see years ago.

[_Buster]

Anyone who thinks that people only abuse the left lanes in Pittsburgh, must not have traveled very much, or are not paying attention when they do. This happens everywhere in a city of any size.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by _Buster

Anyone who thinks that people only abuse the left lanes in Pittsburgh, must not have traveled very much, or are not paying attention when they do. This happens everywhere in a city of any size.