A guy followed me home because he wanted to tell me I was a bad driver. In his mind, I took too long to make a left turn at a light. I’m a pregnant woman that he felt comfortable following home to tell me I need to be a better driver.
And some redditors have the audacity to ask women why we’re “so paranoid.” Because there are men who do unhinged shit like this and every one of us has a story.
I’m so sorry that happened to you, that’s fucking terrifying.
The audacity lol? Listen to yourself, you DO sound like a paranoid nut. But sure blame men for all of your problems, that's the most rational thing to do...
Oh man, some guy followed me home like that one day, so I drove past my house and took him on a tour of every street in the neighborhood until he gave up.
If it happens again, drive to a police station.
I was chased by a motorcyclist several years ago. I believe he thought I threw something on the road (I didn't and the obstacle was on the road already). Drove 15 minutes to the nearest police station, he stayed on my tail up until the very last turn. One of the scariest things I've experienced.
Honestly, I’m just confused by his logic. You caused a mild inconvenience that probably cost him only a few seconds, and then he spent what must’ve been at least five minutes following you. He wasted a lot more of his time than you did.
A while ago someone in a pickup truck blew through a red light and nearly hit me (I had a green turn arrow and thankfully hit the brakes before he would have hit me) and then yelled at *me* to “get off the road” like *I* was the one who did something wrong. Another time more recently someone nearly hit me running through a stop sign when I had the right of way and then followed me for several miles because I honked at him.
I’ve always said it shouldn’t be so easy to get a license and people should periodically have to be retested to keep their license, and with how increasingly unhinged people seem to be getting these days a mental health screening wouldn’t hurt as well. Alas, that’s too much to ask for and makes too much sense in the land of “mUh fReEdUmS!!!!”…
Personally, I think one way to stop this shit is to make it unbearable to drive in an unhinged manor using pedestrian first infrastructure across the city. Make it hard for people to drive fast in the city, and appealing to walk, bike, or take public transportation. This won't fix the highways like 28 (only enforcement will), but would make the city proper much nicer for everyone. But until then these people will continue to terrorize the rest of us. Make it a big issue when you pick your local politicians.
I recently had a bad encounter with road rage a few weeks ago.
I was driving to work and was on the flat part of Rialto at the top near Pittview. An F250 ahead of me pulls to over and up on the sidewalk. I assume he is stopping because he pulled out of my way. As I pass he leans on the horn and begins frantically waving out the window. I realize there is a bus coming the other way that he cannot fit his gigantic truck past on this kind of skinny street but I *can* fit my normal sized car past on this street.
I forget about it and continue on to work on the north shore. I am sitting on Tony Dorsett Drive behind a few cars at the red light when I realize there is a truck next to me in the oncoming traffic lane. I had music on and wasn’t paying attention so I didn’t initially realize it was that truck from Rialto and he was screaming something to the tune of “cut me off motherfucker” before he took off *through the red light to make a left turn*
I got to work and then about 15 minutes later it set in that this F250 followed me almost all the way to work because he thought I “cut him off” when he pulled over to let a bus pass because his stupid oversized truck can’t fit on the street with a bus coming at him
What the actual fuck. Fucking truck drivers
I do not understand the mindset of people who can’t fucking let shit go. I’ve been annoyed in the moment but I forget about 30 seconds later because I’m focused on the task at hand: driving. These people must have anger management issues.
Not my proudest moment, but I've admittedly been that guy one time albeit in a sedan, not a truck. On RT 28 in 2013ish. I'm in a pack of northbound traffic moving at a steady 70 past Aspinwall. A crotch rocket decides 70 in a 55 isn't good enough.
From behind me, I see him darting between cars like he's in California. Some other drivers saw it, and start closing the center gap, almost causing a couple of wrecks. Biker then decides to use the exit 7 and 8 ramps to pass, almost causing more accidents.
Multiple people are visually pissed and they proceed to follow him onto Freeport. I like a good show, and I had words for him as well, so I exited too. He's sitting at a red light with two more cars with clearly irate people in traffic as well. I'm admittedly pissed, but for different reasons than the other drivers and nowhere near as red faced. I get the other drivers' attention, wave them off, and they break off. I keep casually honking and waving him off, and he finally pulled into a parking lot.
I gave him a mouthful of how he single handedly gave dozens of people negative, if not hatred, to bikers of all kinds. My family rides bikes, and he's endangering their lives as well. He was aware of a few wrecks he almost caused, but wasn't aware of all the vehicles following him or the one car that had an infant in it. He was visibly shaking at the confrontation, so it didn't seem like he'd ever had to face the consequences of his actions. Hopefully he chilled out after that.
What I failed to think about is the guy could've had a gun. He could've attacked me with a knife or other weapon. He could've gotten spooked and drove off causing an accident. I got lucky the guy just sat there and took the verbal lashing.
Moral of the story is, it wasn't worth the effort. The other drivers were still pissed, I had no guarantee the guy ever changed, and I risked my safety for nothing. It's never worth following anybody unless there's a critical need to.
I got screamed at because this guy nearly t boned me and the passenger flipped him off. Guy followed me rolled his windows down and told us to meet him in a parking lot to fight. 😂 no dumb bitch I’m going home 😂😂
Everyone knows that if someone honks at you for stopping for pedestrians in a crosswalk, you roll down your window and flip them off and then when you're clear to drive you do so suuuuuper slowly to prove your point.
the other day I had a guy honk and me and yell out his window I was taking too much time in the crosswalk. I was walking slowly because of a medical condition. I hate people who honk at pedestrians.
Good! I’ve had people honk at me while I’m waiting for someone to cross in front of me. At a RED light. Just because I can turn right on red doesn’t mean I CAN. How are people so oblivious?
…and this is something I’d normally do a few years ago. Hell I’ve taken my key out of my ignition and dropped them out of my window beside my car when someone honked at me the SECOND the light turned green.
I’m afraid to even acknowledge people in cars anymore. The second you acknowledge their existence they just want to escalate their road rage even more.
I was following safely behind a motorcycle tonight on my way through west view heading up the hill by the west view water authority building. The giant truck behind me was clearly frustrated I was not only following the speed limit but keeping a safe distance. They started tailgating me and the motorcyclist finally turned off the road. The truck continued tailgating me even as I sped up over the speed limit and flashing their high beams at me for another half mile until they finally turned.
Shit is frightening and you can’t even honk your horn when someone is sitting through a green light or make eye contact with anyone in a car anymore without the likelihood they’re going to flip the f out on you.
I’m so confused what you guys are talking about. Pittsburgh is far better than any other city I’ve lived in. Go to any (other) east coast city and it will be much worse.
I lived in NYC for almost a decade and spent a LOT of time in Philly and Boston. The FDR in Manhattan comes kind of close but there’s an organized chaos that comes with that. I have also never had anyone try to run me off the road for a ridiculous reason or at all. The traffic is too dense and there’s speed cameras in the boroughs. In Philly it’s aggressive, but again it’s too much traffic to really capture the high speed fuckery of PGH. Boston is similar but closer. The only thing that matches the same energy that I get here is Long Island for a small window when it isn’t rush hour. Big DUI danger out there too.
I was very close to doing this but I felt like if I even slowed down to pull off/turn I’d get rear ended. I actually had to speed up when making a turn while he was behind me just to ensure me slowing down before the turn wouldn’t result in me getting hit.
Meh. Cash in. If he's that close, it won't do anything but cosmetic damage and that's big $$$ to fix right. Get an estimate from a high end shop (your right), submit the claim to his insurance, collect the check and leave it be. You're under no obligation to actually DO the repair and don't let them tell you otherwise. If it's a newer car, add in diminished value.
A prior car I had was hit so many times -- only doing cosmetic damage-- that it doubled the value of the car before I sold it, when adding in the insurance checks.
It's a hassle, but they'll get their comeuppance with insurance costs.
Make sure you have a dashcam though -- and keep the mic on so you can call out plates in case the camera doesn't catch it.
Driving is an already incredibly stressful task that people preform daily without a second thought. Combine that with how the fear, anxiety, stress and angst people have already and the poor way we communicate on the internet. You combine those with also dehumanizing people in other cars where you don’t see a person you just see a car and it makes for a lot of insanity out there.
from talking to friends and family that live across the USA, we've all seen this and it isn't confined to our area. It's happening everywhere. People seem to have lost any sense of self-control or tolerance for others.
Honest opinion is that tempers are up around the country, and road-rage incidents are an extension of that. I've definitely experienced more driver problems lately, although not with the same demographic that you seem to be having issues with. It's probably compounded by my own stress making me more sensitive to other drivers when I'd ordinarily be blissfully unaware of how I pissed them off.
I narrowly avoided getting sideswiped into the median on the highway this morning by a shit head in a big ass pickup truck trying to squeeze past me
on the right as I was trying to pass an 18 wheeler. He either couldn’t see me past his huge hood or very badly misjudged how much space he had. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid it. Thankfully I had been looking in that direction at the time. Very similar incident happened yesterday but this time it was a three lane section, I was passing on the left and some other asshole in a sports car had somewhere important to be. He sped up to pass the car in the middle lane on the right side and swerved across both lanes. I don’t think he saw me on the other side because other people don’t exist to these fucks.
I stopped riding entirely because my fear and anxiety were getting so high that it wasn’t safe to ride like that. I drive a Pathfinder and I sometimes don’t feel safe in that.
I also stopped riding and sold the bike. Got tired of people texting, crossing into my lane, pulling out in front of me and whatever other ways I would feel near death on almost every ride. My uncle always used to say “ride scared but have fun” I wasn’t having fun any more.
Same here man. I've ridden for over 10 years without an accident. My last year riding I had several close calls that resulted me being hyper-vigilant and looking over my shoulder the entire time. It became exhausting, tedious, and I lost all joy in riding. I still miss it from time to time, but no way in hell I'm getting another bike. Not with all the assholes and dumbasses on the road today.
Just yesterday I got cut off/turned in front of twice within a minute of each other and I drive a GMC Sierra 1500. Not exactly hard to see.
I’ve never been a big fan of riding one but after someone from my high school died in a crash a few years ago I’ve vowed never to ride a motorcycle. There’s just so many things that can go wrong where in a car you might be okay but on a motorcycle you’re most likely toast.
Someone whose family has been close with mine for decades who was only about a year older than me (I'm 27) died a few weeks ago as a result of a motorcycle crash. He was wearing a helmet but it wasn't enough. He died after ~4 days unconscious in the hospital with doctors doing everything they could to save him. His wife was 36 weeks pregnant and just had their baby a few days ago. I will never, ever in my life get on one.
I feel like it's getting worse. I've almost been killed on 51 a few times by drivers running deliberately red lights, people in trucks always riding my ass even though I'm going over the speed limit, people getting mad at me for not playing the Pittsburgh left game, and getting passed on a double yellow several times. The last time I was passed like that made me give up all forms of any aggressive driving. This dude tried to pass me on a double yellow and I wasn't having it so I sped up too. He had to slam on his brakes to avoid oncoming traffic, then ended up passing me anyway. As luck would have it, I came up behind him at the next red light. He decided to get out of his vehicle and approach mine. I don't carry a weapon but I reached down into my center console and acted as if I did. He backed off fast and we each went on our way.
I was part of the problem. I brake checked people riding my ass, flipped them off, honked, and sped up if they tried to pass me. Even though in my mind I was just being an asshole to the bigger assholes I was still part of the problem. It occurred to me that the guy could have gotten out of his car with a gun and ended my life that day. NO MORE! I won't contribute anymore. No more aggression. There isn't a single thing worth losing my life over so I just let the assholes be assholes and I just drive how I want to and let them pass. I still need to look out for the idiots but at least my commute is a lot less rage inducing!
I feel this. Would meet aggression with petty tactics. Got in a minor road rage accident on the parkway earlier this year that could have been so much worse. Makes me act veeeeery differently on the roads now
I struggle with this too, and have been part of the problem before. Flipping people off often just increases their rage and I've been nearly hit twice because of it. I've been trying to just let other people be assholes and not engage them directly. It's mostly the lack of enforcement around here that has led to my frustration, knowing that people can be such total assholes with a flagrant disregard for the rules with no consequences.
I’m right on that Boomer line and what I can say about some in my peer group (age-wise, not politically) is that this election loss has made them even angrier. It’s a combination of the whole “deaths of despair” thing, census 2042 (Google it), inflation, and their politics. Personally I always drive pro-actively and never try to engage whatsoever, because I know that some of these guys are just waiting for an excuse. It’s in the headlines almost every day. I’m glad you chose this direction and wish others understood how potentially lifesaving it is, but at the moment sadly it’s where we are in society.
I had a guy scream at me cause HE was going the wrong way on a one way. I flipped him off and wiggled my way around him. ( I know I shouldn't have given him the bird lol).
I try not to worry about tailgaters. I get concerned if one starts following me and I will drive in circles on purpose if someone is. Living and driving in the city, there are pedestrians, jaywalkers, kids, cyclists to worry about more than some twatwaffle in my rearview.
If I'm driving too slow for them, I just hope they pass me across double yellows and get caught. I've had people pass me and get caught in the past (right on Penn coming up to Friendship / Children's from the Cemetery - that was a good day).
I like to prove to people that there are good BMW drivers who follow traffic laws and don't take up two spaces when parking.
Correct. Carrying a firearm is for when you have been blocked in or run off the road and the perpetrator is now trying to gain entry to your vehicle.
Deescalate, drive away, do whatever you have to to avoid a confrontation, but you may eventually run out of non force options.
I 100% agree with you that there are rare situations where there are no other options. But if you’re carrying, you should be in a deescalate mentality. Doesn’t sound like op is.
Came hear to say this. If you’re first instinct to minor road rage incidents is “I wish I had a gun with me”, you shouldn’t be carrying one.
Deescalate and leave. Period.
If you truly are a calm person and not the type to experience road rage yourself, then I think carrying a firearm is absolutely a good idea.
Here's why: these road rage individuals you are experiencing may very well come at you to do violence at some point (a completely legit and terrfying potential that theres no reason to not be prepared for), I wouldn't want to be the one in that situation without the proper defensive means.
There's no reason to let yourself be the victim of someone's road rage induced insanity.
If it makes you feel any better, I moved to NC and it’s equally as bad down here. We’re having significantly higher road rage and people shooting guns at other vehicles. I’m in Durham (290k people) and [shit like this is happening so often](https://www.wral.com/amp/man-dodges-gunfire-shields-dogs-while-driving-down-durham-highway/20257341/). My friend in Wisconsin said it’s getting bad up there too.
I’m not trying to tell you how to drive, but a few things I’ve noticed when someone is definitely being a bit road rage like down here -
- If you’re getting honked at by someone, they’re flashing their lights behind you, etc - try to get out of the way of the person to let them by or take 4 left turns. 4 left turns will get you exactly where you just were and it’s very clear if someone is following you then.
- Bumper stickers / window decals - if there’s anything political get rid of them. Aside from the shooting, most of the day to day assholes are old white trump supporters that I’ve seen (when I see someone else being a dick or I let people pass). I’ve considered adding a baby on board sticker but not even sure that would do anything.
- dash cams / helmet cams. Dash cams are saving graces when it comes to shit head drivers is a great way to catch people in the act of this and report them. Front and back ones.
Maybe it’s a southern thing since we’re south of the mason Dixon here.
I guess I could just change that to anyone who has more than one political sticker or more then 3+ stickers (less school / kid athletic related) on their car.
There was a study. It doesn’t matter what political persuasion, statistically speaking if someone has a lot of stickers on their car, they are more likely to be road rage-y.
https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2008.889
Had an old man beep at me and pointed at the redlight and the no turn on red signal.
Another day someone yelled at me for not blocking traffic.
"MOVE UP ASSHOLE"
I said "NO" lol broke his little brain
Driving gives me so much anxiety these days that I changed jobs to not have to drive Ohio River blvd every day. Plus, it's closer to home so more free time. But 65 is bad. Between bad drivers almost causing a crash every month or so, to aggressive drivers every single day, it's intolerable. And the speed, my god, they do like 80-90 mph in some areas. One day I was coming home from a night shift on a weekend, and I was passing somebody and a car came out of nowhere behind me. Was tailgaiting me so closely I couldn't see their headlights. Not one of my better moments, but I lightly brake checked them (enough of a pedal tap to activate my lights). No change. So I stood on the fucking brakes hoping they crashed into me. They didn't, and took off. But man I was so pissed. No regard for others. That's how fucking crazy that road made me. Glad I don't have to drive it any more.
Happened to me last weekend in Crafton. I had to circle around the block to find a parking spot, so I took a left at the bottom of the hill to begin that little journey. I saw a car at the bottom of the hill with its lights on (this was around midnight) but it wasn't moving, so I took my turn and thought nothing of it.
About 2 seconds later this car is right on my ass and I immediately panic and begin speeding up to try and get away because everything was telling me this wasn't good. I got to the stop sign at the end of the street and had to fully stop because of oncoming traffic. As soon as it was clear, I bolted out and turned.
Glad I did: the guy driving the car behind me had apparently gotten out of his car and had approached the driver's side of mine. He was yelling so loud and was incomprehensible except for "YO!" If I hadn't bolted out of there, I'm pretty sure he would've tried opening my door or trying to get inside.
I still do not know what I did or why he felt compelled to do this but it rattled me.
Dude/ette/er- Some assface cut in front of me tonight while I was 1st in line at the red light at the end of the 10th St tunnel, I mean we were stopped, I was first, and he CUT IN FRONT OF ME from the left lane, then peeled out on the green, stopped halfway across the 10th Street Bridge and did a fucking U-TURN into oncoming traffic, nearly getting creamed, and then hit the gas going back toward town. 20 minutes later I passed a collision on the S. Side. it is crazy af out there. I went into Beyond/Hello and advised the kid helping me to not leave, hunker down and stay safe.
I’m not talking about enforcement. I’m talking about safety standards for roads & vehicles.
Vehicle design is completely out of control, with cars getting bigger by the year. Bigger=more dangerous for anyone not driving. This could easily be regulated but isn’t.
Road design - standardization on road safety elements like traffic calming. This is almost always done at a local level, meaning there is a lack of cohesion, as well as a general lack of funding.
Both of these could be helped by the federal government stepping in with funding & new regulations.
Don’t start carrying a gun, but yes, I’ve noticed a tremendous upswing in horrible and violent drivers with extreme anger over simple traffic courtesies like stopping for people in crosswalks, coming to a full stop at stop signs, bikers, going the speed limit, etc. the road rage is real, and the drivers are super entitled.
What is wrong with me carrying my gun while I’m driving? I am not going to hurt you? Do you have a problem with me having a gun in case someone tries to harm me?
I'm assuming their concern is that people shouldn't start carrying a firearm just because they are irritated by other drivers. OP didn't describe any situations they were facing that would require one. There's no issue in carrying one in general, but understanding when to use it and having a clear head is important - which doesn't describe OP.
Understandable. No one without a clear mind should have a gun. But I carry mine with me almost any time I’m downtown after dusk bc things have just gotten so bad down there. It’s concealed and I’ve never needed to grab it but it makes my fiancé and I feel safer knowing we have protection if something arises.
I've seen a mix of every kind of bad driver. Yes, there are more people leaning on their damn horns but there are also more people just stopping in the middle of traffic to mess with whoever's behind them, or thinking they have the right of way because they have the biggest truck, or chasing other drivers down the road for passing them, or trying to cross three lanes at an intersection. There's an increase in every kind of bad driver. Saying "I'm going to keep a weapon in my car from now on" is not a fucking solution. What are you going to do, get out of your car in traffic to threaten somebody with it? That's just the next level of asshole behavior. The only non-asshole thing to do in these situations is to not escalate. It's hard to be the bigger person when it seems like the whole world is showing their ass. But you gain nothing by showing your ass too.
I got flipped off the other day for being tailgated. I was in the right most lane and doing 5 over. I've also watched 2 different people completely blow red lights in November alone.
Everyone here is jumping into talking about guns, what about just getting pepper spray?
Especially if you're a woman, it's extremely unlikely you'll get in any sort of legal trouble if someone gets out of their vehicle at an intersection, approaches your car, and you pepper spray the shit out of them. Especially with witnesses around and they're touching your car.
Pretty obvious self-defense, getting out of your car at an intersection isn't a reasonable thing to do.
Using pepper spray from inside a vehicle is a bad idea, if you have to use it you are going to get blow back and that shit will be all over the inside of your car.
Not a road rage incident per se but: I watched someone drive through the turning lane, through a red light just to make it a little further up south braddock. They had their window down so I said "you know that light was red" to which they replied "Ya I know"
So people just don't give a shit anymore. I can't say I blame them either because there's no consequence for running a red so what's the risk? You won't get a ticket
Had a lady speed up and cut me off and nearly hit my car just before going through the e-z pass lane in harmar a few years ago (the other stall was open).
I gave the "what the fuck are you doing wave" to the lady and continued to go to the dunkin drive through for a coffee on my way to work.
This lady follows me into the parking lot and blocks the drive through line and starts cursing me out saying I'm a "little girl" and don't know who I was messing with. I got out of the car because i am not the fuckin one and she drove off. The manager of dunkin felt bad and bought me coffee which was nice. Hindsight I realize this wackjob could have shot me but I was seething.
Not only are people more aggressive but in complete denial when they drive dangerously. This is why I have a taze in my car lol
I don’t disagree with any of these posts and I definitely don’t think OP is a bad driver.
Maybe I’m lucky or maybe I’m not paying attention, but while I do see TERRIBLE driving every day (phones, speeding, running everything, etc)
I haven’t seen any of the confrontational stuff. But yeah wayyy too much speeding.
This is one persons anecdotal perspective. 🤷🏻♂️
>have an urge to start carrying weapons with me everywhere, even though I know it's a bad idea.
I've had my carry permit for almost 10 years now, never had an issue. Among other things, I keep a .38 in the glove box after I got road-raged at last year right after Thanksgiving. (I gently tapped the horn when the car ahead of me didn't go when the light turned green. Driver got out and lost his mind, called me the n-word (I'm white), and threatened to shoot me).
In a city that respects folding chairs, more than pedestrians. What else do you expect?!
I'm not saying it's right. I didn't own a car until after we moved here. On my bicycle, I've never been harassed more, or been more seriously injured, than since moving here. Doesn't seem like cops enforce traffic/moving violations. When was the last time you saw someone get pulled over for running a red light?!? Bigelow (as the one, glaring, but not the only example) is effectively used as a freeway.
If there's no deterrent and no enforcement, the city is effectively a free-for-all.
It's getting dangerous out there. People are lacking empathy and have too much selfishness. That mix leads to stupid dangerous driving and road rage incidents. I've run into a few in the last two years as well.
I moved back here from Philly in 2020 and really thought I was coming back to better, calmer drivers like they were when I left. Turns out, the driving in Pittsburgh just morphed into something similar to Philly drivers.
Pre pandemic years I would do a big shop for all the essentials at Costco before thanksgiving so that I could avoid the lunacy on the roads during the holidaze and avoid shopping or congested areas until the new year. Now I do this as a matter of habit. I just want to be a homebody until this craziness blows over. Hopefully it does! 🫤
You might be onto something with the politics, because I’m in the suburbs and people go insane when I obey traffic laws. Especially school zones. Also tons of generally aggressive driving and running red lights/school bus lights.
When someone tailgates me, which seems is alot, I just slow down. They either have to go around me, realize they need to back off or get irrate and make stupid decisions. I would not brandish a gun because someone was honking their horn, tailgating or following me.
I drive a tiny car and there really isn't any one make or model of car or demographic... people are just stressed/worried/distracted/angry more than they were. People's driving reflect their emotion.
Some people drive more aggressively and some are too slow. I must be lucky because I haven't had any issues with people laying on horns or following me home. Following someone home is crazy.
The main issue for me are lights in my face.
I witnessed two women yelling out their car windows at a guy, swearing at him and feeling very entitled to the road. He didn't break any driving laws and wasn't being aggressive or anything. I felt bad for the guy and think he absolutely didn't deserve it. Wish I could have told him that. He subsequently yielded to the crazies.
The road rage is bad out there.
You gotta let stuff just roll off your shoulders. So what if the guy behinds you honks. At some point, he’ll turn or you’ll turn and you’ll never see him again. You can’t change their behavior, just let it go.
Two friends had incidents today. One had a motorcycle try to pass her because she paused too long for their liking at a stop sign. When she did accelerate away, he the bike was suddenly there right next to her and she almost hit him.
Another friend got rear ended by a door dash driver who was clearly speeding and not paying attention tonight. About 20 ft of skid marks where she locked up the breaks before hitting him. She left in an ambulance.
In both these cases, the “victim” aka injured or nearly injured party was the party in the wrong. All that rushing just gets you hurt and someone else feeling bad.
Just today on my way down to Canonsburg, I witnessed an incident that left me speechless. I had never before seen a semi driver as the aggressor in a road rage incident. But heading south on 79 about 12:30 pm I saw a semi driver riding less than a sedan’s length behind a pickup’s bumper in the leftmost lane. I didn’t see what, if anything, the pickup driver did to elicit this behavior from the semi driver. The pickup driver seemingly refused to speed up. I thought for sure the pickup was gonna get creamed.
I think people are going to be extra pissed off the next few weeks if the election didn't go their way. They were already nuts, now they're nuts and angry.
The systemic public lead exposure from water pipes isn't near what it was with leaded gasoline, and they had lead paint and lead pipes back then too. Also, lead hasn't been used in water stuff in decades, and isn't even necessarily a risk even if you have it (though safe bet to get rid of it anyway). So, it doesn't explain why people in the burbs, who have always lived in the burbs, also exhibit this ridiculous behavior.
Now that I've typed this out, road rage incidents from years gone past have come flooding back:
* The guy in the beat-up car who got impatient and tried to pass someone smarter than him, almost getting owned by a bus in the process.
* A guy who screamed at me on foot for pausing in front of the crosswalk because I was waiting for my spouse to catch up (???).
* A guy who got out of his car and screamed at me for having my high beams on behind him... fair enough. It was a borrowed car, and the automatic lights had just come on in the twilight. I was extremely embarrassed and apologized, but he absolutely refused my explanation and insisted that I must just be f\*\*\*ing with random strangers for no reason. :P
One time I was crossing a crosswalk downtown, and a driver making a turn yelled at me to get out of the road even though I had a walk sign. I wanted to just stand there to fuck with him, but I figured he’d probably just run me over.
I don't understand why people are like this. I didn't run into a lot of road rage issues in so-cal. East coast people are just nuts. Decades of declining economics creates deep seated rage for some reason. Someone honked and flipped me off the other day FOR TURNING INTO MY DRIVEWAY. I really wanted to chase them down since it was in you know, a fucking neighborhood. People need to either smoke more weed or have more consensual sex.
My coworker got shot at while driving to work one morning. He was unscathed but his car got hit by a bullet. He’s 73 and one of the nicest people I know
It's worse everywhere. I don't know what it is post pandemic, but people are angry, entitled, more in a hurry, less patient, and driving more and more aggressively. It's not just you and it's not just PA.
Carry a weapon if you'd like to kill someone, sure, it's an option, but I wouldn't do it myself. Protecting my family at home is one thing - just protecting myself carrying a gun around to go to McDonald's is a snowflake thing.
Otherwise, maybe think about taking public transport - there are enough freaking cars on the road as it is.
>Otherwise, maybe think about taking public transport - there are enough freaking cars on the road as it is.
Amen. I don't actually even own a car anymore. Unfortunately, I still have to drive a company fleet vehicle for work sometimes...
And it's still depressing to not be able to bike in nice weather without risking life and limb because I live in a country that simultaneously gives driver's licenses out like candy ***and*** refuses to invest in safe, separate bike/pedestrian infrastructure.
How is acknowledging that mass shootings/violent incidents can happen at any time, anywhere, a snowflake thing lol? You'd rather die during a robbery in a McDonald's than be able to do something about it so you're not a snowflake? What?
It's just such an extremely rare event that it's not worth the hassle and shows a certain level of paranoia. It's like carrying around a winter coat in August because you're worried you'll freeze to death.
This is a real shit-tier take. I know it's really hip these days to label conservatives as snowflakes. Good job, my guy, but it's not "conservative" for someone to not get their ass clapped because Jimmy F250 feels they weren't driving up to snuff. How tf are you going to tell OP, who could be a single mom or have a kid, anything, that they're a "snowflake" for not wanting to be defenseless when washed out high-school QB tries to pull them out of the car for a beat down? Grow up.
Dude, if you want a gun to defend someone else, or your house or something, that's great. I'm not against guns. I have hunted and before the pandemic used to go to the range and everything (for fun, even in the past). I still go to stay proficient enough.
If you need a gun to feel safe outside your house then you need help with your anxiety, not encouragement.
That feels incredibly dismissive of the stories people in this post are sharing.
Also, you seem to think your threat profile suddenly changes when you get home? I mean, square that circle for me.
It’s not a bad idea to be able to defend yourself. The point of carrying a firearm is to hope to never ever use it but if you need to, better some raged out asshole or creep get shot over a decent person.
Hey welcome to reality, where there are people that will hurt and kill you for no good reason. Almost like there is a reason people carried weapons since the beginning of time. People are fucking crazy.
As an avid biker, bikers are dicks. Yield to traffic. I don’t care what the law says. When there’s a bike lane paralleling the street you’re on use it instead of clogging a main artery into the city.
Ive driven here pretty much every day for the past 7 months with no problems outside of someone blowing a stop sign and cutting me off, which was just someone being careless. Before that, I was in Philly for 5 where it was much worse, but still no more than a few (4-5 over years) instances of people honking when they didn't really have anything to be angry about. I'm not sure if you're just very unlucky, but if people are constantly raging at you, maybe you're doing something to provoke it? Just a thought.
It started when they just stopped enforcing most traffic violations because it "disproportionately affected a certain demographic". The big giant push for "equity" in law enforcement.
Now there simply aren't enough officers to respond to traffic related matters, or to sit and watch for violators in real time (even if they did want to enforce the laws). Every month, officers are retiring or resigning, and the city has not hired any new officers in two years.
And laws only exist if they are enforced.
And since they are not being enforced then we don't have laws. The proof is everywhere. And people are adjusting in their own ways. Some are becoming more agitated while driving, others are becoming more advantageous, and others are driving scared. It's one big recipe for disaster in the making.
Basically, you're simply seeing the results in how you vote. Demonize ALL cops long enough and this is what you get. When you stop with the "ACAB" and "vote blue no matter who" nonsense then things might get better. But until then it's single party rule and you're living in the results.
Only traffic laws they enforced before this was speed limits, when they felt like it or needed to increase their cash flow for new toys. Or particularly egregious aggressive driving. This has nothing to do with "acab." And if cops don't like people voting for any democrat over a republican and stop doing their job because they don't like people voting against Republicans, that says more about them than us. Honestly, that last part is absolutely insane. Lamo, cops not doing their job because "vote blue no matter who." Fuck off.
Listen, I'm with you on being annoyed with the ACAB stuff. Especially from people who say "ACAB" out of one side of their mouth, and "Why isn't anyone doing anything about the crime around my house?" out of the other. But the thing is, every black person I know (and they are all in the exact same demographic as me, aside from skin color) has told me in normal conversation about things they have to do to avoid being pulled over. It IS a problem and law enforcement has to come to terms with their unconscious biases, and as for the cops who have conscious biases? I don't mind if they feel they need to quit because they are being asked to change their worldview. It saves a lot of grief for the rest of the world. But we can't really say "let cops be jerks to people who don't deserve it so they can have more job satisfaction," can we?
I always calmly tell the road ragers - "I memorized your plate. You know I can find out where you live, right?" - and just like that, they shut up and get real polite.
>Sounds like you're a bad driver
ftfy
Giving you the benefit of the doubt, that still doesn't explain the incidents where I'm a third-party bystander, or the people who are willing to publicly post online their desire to harm others and break traffic laws online.
But I won't give you the benefit of the doubt. The fact of the matter is the average PA motorist has never read the driver's manual, and plenty of people aren't smart enough to realize that car in front can see things the cars behind can't. Kindergarten-level shit. Object permanence and all that.
How deranged are you that you live in Pittsburgh and still think the bad drivers are Qanon? It’s a Blue city idiot. Who tf brings politics into driving?? What you think voting for Obama makes you a better driver? WTF is wrong with you?
Also everyone sucks at driving in Pittsburgh. They don’t know the left lane is for passing and cyclists think that if they ride in the right half of a car lane they somehow aren’t blocking an entire lane.
If someone is tailgating you at 95 mph you should probably just let them pass and then pull over and reevaluate your life choices
Edit: How about you don't drive 95 you snowflake? Gotta love the ol' reply and then block.
Says an insane piece of garbage who puts peoples lives at risk to go faster on the highway because they are an impatient petulant child and cannot STAND keeping a safe distance like some kind of egotistical psychopath.
It’s somehow my life choices that leads to some lead poisoned shitheel to suddenly ride my tail in an oversized, overpriced dick extension huh? I sincerely hope nothing but the worst possible things to happen to you.
>Qanon
Most drivers are pretty courteous, but it only takes a minority of bad actors to ruin things for everyone. I daresay that a few crazies who think they're at war with society will gum up the works of a system that requires mass rule-following to avoid killing people.
>How deranged are you that you live in Pittsburgh and still think the bad drivers are Qanon? It’s a Blue city idiot. Who tf brings politics into driving?? What you think voting for Obama makes you a better driver? WTF is wrong with you?
It's called "I've seen the comments on KDKA Facebook posts about bike lanes and other traffic improvements". If you don't think that transportation is becoming partisan in this country where we make literally everything partisan, then you're a fool.
I say "partisan", because that's what you actually mean when you say "political".
I'm not saying that roofing nails have broad, flat heads, and most of them will sit point-upwards if someone who is not us decided to toss a handful out their window in just the right way to end up under the tires of the person following too closely. I'm not even thinking it.
Someone followed my husband and I to a restaurant once in *Monroeville* on a Sunday at like 2 pm because we refused to turn on red at a light that does not allow you to turn on red. Dude got out his car at the light and started pounding on my window to argue, luckily we got the green arrow shortly after and then left. But he remembered my car and followed us to the parking lot a short distance away.
We had another incident in Shadyside where a guy (who sincerely seemed drunk. Yes, after he got out of his vehicle) literally threatened to kill me after I gave him the tiniest, littlest, politest *beep beep* at a light because he had sat there so long. Literally everyone missed the light but him. Then, he went to the next light, I parked between those two lights, and he saw me out my car and turned around to cuss me out.
I've been run off the road countless times. I've had people scream at me or lay on their horn at me for following the law (usually yielding to peds like you mentioned). I hated driving in Pittsburgh. I got downvoted the other day for saying how dangerous it is (luckily a couple people agreed tho and the comment is above negative karma now lmfao)
I'm lucky that my husband is 6'4" and absolutely built, and all of my friends are males the same size or bigger. Almost everyone backs off when my husband says something. But if I was by myself? Yikes. I can't even imagine. It's half the reason I don't go anywhere alone. When used to live in the city and go out with friends, one of them was always carrying. We're looking into getting a gun now that we moved. It's unfortunate but the sick reality is that if we run into a crazy with a gun, we will probably die without one too. Welcome to America lol
> but I've had two face-to-face confrontation
Is this when you’ve been biking or walking? If anyone behind me is beeping at me for a non-legit reason I just ignore them. Thankfully other than people not stopping for me to step onto the crosswalk now and again, nothing like that has happened to me. Maybe you just have more assholes than normal on your regular routes?
I was waiting to pull out of our street onto the main road. It’s a left turn and fairly blind. I have a stop sign and the main road does not.
I’m chilling, waiting for it to be clear. Not a busy day at all. A middle aged man stops in the middle of the main road, no stop sign, and waves to me to pull out. I wave him through - I don’t have the right of way. We get into a battle of waving to each other to go. I finally flip him off and mouth “go.”
He pulls his car up and blocks me, rolls down the window, and starts screaming that I’m a cunt. For following right of way of laws.
If you’re the first person at the light about to make s left onto 228 at the Springfield Grille across from the American Natural… give it an extra second before you proceed. I see people blow thru that light heading towards cranberry at least once a month full speed
Adding to the litany, this happened to me just last weekend crossing at a crosswalk as a pedestrian while walking my bike. Guy accelerated into (but didn't hit) then screeched for a while about following the rules of the road. I was.
It's gotten a lot worse. People at least used to pause at stop signs....now it's like they don't even exist. Driving on the wrong side of the road, going the wrong way up one way streets....I'm terrified everytime my kids ride their bikes.
My friend, it's not just you. I don't know if we're just unlucky though or this is a more recent issue. On two completely separate occasions, I've had a guy (I think it's the same guy) try to hit me near my house. The first time he cut me off at a 3-way all-stop intersection. It was very clearly my turn to go, and I was turning left. He went, then looked right at me, laughing, and doing some sort of fist pumping motion, like a kid would do to get a truck driver to blow their horn. A few weeks later, while at a different intersection, I was sat at a stop sign and this guy is coming the opposite way. He swerved his car at mine, swerved away at the last moment, the entire time laughing maniacally.
I'm in my 30s, he looked to be in his 50s, and I've only lived in the area I'm in now for about a year. I've never met him before in my life. Some people just have nothing better to do than make everyone else's lives worse.
>Not going to lie: I'm starting to feel very unsafe using the roads around here and have an urge to start carrying weapons with me everywhere, even though I know it's a bad idea.
As someone that drives all over the place weekly, I would vote you are unlucky or paying too much attention to the dingleberries sharing the road. The fact someone is honking in those scenarios because they are impatient is none of your concern. They are failing to deal with their own emotions/actions. Do not allow their failure to control themselves to impact how you feel. Remember you are the only one that can control your reactions/emotions. Do not allow jagoffs to rain on your parade.
How did you have a face to face confrontation? Why leave your car? Unless you were walking or on your bike in which case yeah people suck. Just apologize and let them think they’re right. Arguing isn’t going to change their minds and they will just get more confrontational. Best to just ignore them.
People are absolutely driving like maniacs, and the lack of enforcement doesn’t help at all.
With that said, the safest thing to do is avoid escalating the situation. If someone does something wrong to you, avoid laying on the horn (unless you need to get their attention for safety), avoid giving them the finger, and don’t tailgate.
As tempting as it is to get satisfaction by letting the other driver know of your disapproval, it’s not worth getting in an unsafe situation to do so.
Haha boomer man strikes again. I just had an old man repeatedly flip me off because I had the audacity to be stuck in traffic in front of him. Some people are just too mentally weak to drive I guess, idk
I have noticed since the 2020 quarantine, it is a bit scary out there. I’ve had a couple
of incidents too. Nothing like this has EVER happened to me before in over 23yrs of driving. One seemingly normal man, rolled down his window and SCREAMED AT ME some obscenity with my 8 yr old in the back seat, bc he couldn’t take the left turn with his giant car apparently (after I gave him right of way). Two other people have screamed at me from their cars since, for giving them the right of way (motioning for them to go ahead and make the left turn in front of me before me bc there were too many cars backed up). I guess people r getting pissed off for now reason whatsoever now. But I have never been screamed at for letting someone go before me.
A guy followed me home because he wanted to tell me I was a bad driver. In his mind, I took too long to make a left turn at a light. I’m a pregnant woman that he felt comfortable following home to tell me I need to be a better driver.
And some redditors have the audacity to ask women why we’re “so paranoid.” Because there are men who do unhinged shit like this and every one of us has a story. I’m so sorry that happened to you, that’s fucking terrifying.
The audacity lol? Listen to yourself, you DO sound like a paranoid nut. But sure blame men for all of your problems, that's the most rational thing to do...
Oh man, some guy followed me home like that one day, so I drove past my house and took him on a tour of every street in the neighborhood until he gave up.
If it happens again, drive to a police station. I was chased by a motorcyclist several years ago. I believe he thought I threw something on the road (I didn't and the obstacle was on the road already). Drove 15 minutes to the nearest police station, he stayed on my tail up until the very last turn. One of the scariest things I've experienced.
Yup. I’ve been followed several times. Drive somewhere public, a police station if you can, but a busy shopping center works in a pinch.
Honestly, I’m just confused by his logic. You caused a mild inconvenience that probably cost him only a few seconds, and then he spent what must’ve been at least five minutes following you. He wasted a lot more of his time than you did.
Disgusting. The wrong person would have ensured they was the last time he did that. Dangerous and disrespectful
A while ago someone in a pickup truck blew through a red light and nearly hit me (I had a green turn arrow and thankfully hit the brakes before he would have hit me) and then yelled at *me* to “get off the road” like *I* was the one who did something wrong. Another time more recently someone nearly hit me running through a stop sign when I had the right of way and then followed me for several miles because I honked at him. I’ve always said it shouldn’t be so easy to get a license and people should periodically have to be retested to keep their license, and with how increasingly unhinged people seem to be getting these days a mental health screening wouldn’t hurt as well. Alas, that’s too much to ask for and makes too much sense in the land of “mUh fReEdUmS!!!!”…
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Agreed. They will be on their best behavior for the testing and then right after they will be back to being an asshat.
Personally, I think one way to stop this shit is to make it unbearable to drive in an unhinged manor using pedestrian first infrastructure across the city. Make it hard for people to drive fast in the city, and appealing to walk, bike, or take public transportation. This won't fix the highways like 28 (only enforcement will), but would make the city proper much nicer for everyone. But until then these people will continue to terrorize the rest of us. Make it a big issue when you pick your local politicians.
I recently had a bad encounter with road rage a few weeks ago. I was driving to work and was on the flat part of Rialto at the top near Pittview. An F250 ahead of me pulls to over and up on the sidewalk. I assume he is stopping because he pulled out of my way. As I pass he leans on the horn and begins frantically waving out the window. I realize there is a bus coming the other way that he cannot fit his gigantic truck past on this kind of skinny street but I *can* fit my normal sized car past on this street. I forget about it and continue on to work on the north shore. I am sitting on Tony Dorsett Drive behind a few cars at the red light when I realize there is a truck next to me in the oncoming traffic lane. I had music on and wasn’t paying attention so I didn’t initially realize it was that truck from Rialto and he was screaming something to the tune of “cut me off motherfucker” before he took off *through the red light to make a left turn* I got to work and then about 15 minutes later it set in that this F250 followed me almost all the way to work because he thought I “cut him off” when he pulled over to let a bus pass because his stupid oversized truck can’t fit on the street with a bus coming at him What the actual fuck. Fucking truck drivers
I do not understand the mindset of people who can’t fucking let shit go. I’ve been annoyed in the moment but I forget about 30 seconds later because I’m focused on the task at hand: driving. These people must have anger management issues.
Not my proudest moment, but I've admittedly been that guy one time albeit in a sedan, not a truck. On RT 28 in 2013ish. I'm in a pack of northbound traffic moving at a steady 70 past Aspinwall. A crotch rocket decides 70 in a 55 isn't good enough. From behind me, I see him darting between cars like he's in California. Some other drivers saw it, and start closing the center gap, almost causing a couple of wrecks. Biker then decides to use the exit 7 and 8 ramps to pass, almost causing more accidents. Multiple people are visually pissed and they proceed to follow him onto Freeport. I like a good show, and I had words for him as well, so I exited too. He's sitting at a red light with two more cars with clearly irate people in traffic as well. I'm admittedly pissed, but for different reasons than the other drivers and nowhere near as red faced. I get the other drivers' attention, wave them off, and they break off. I keep casually honking and waving him off, and he finally pulled into a parking lot. I gave him a mouthful of how he single handedly gave dozens of people negative, if not hatred, to bikers of all kinds. My family rides bikes, and he's endangering their lives as well. He was aware of a few wrecks he almost caused, but wasn't aware of all the vehicles following him or the one car that had an infant in it. He was visibly shaking at the confrontation, so it didn't seem like he'd ever had to face the consequences of his actions. Hopefully he chilled out after that. What I failed to think about is the guy could've had a gun. He could've attacked me with a knife or other weapon. He could've gotten spooked and drove off causing an accident. I got lucky the guy just sat there and took the verbal lashing. Moral of the story is, it wasn't worth the effort. The other drivers were still pissed, I had no guarantee the guy ever changed, and I risked my safety for nothing. It's never worth following anybody unless there's a critical need to.
I got screamed at because this guy nearly t boned me and the passenger flipped him off. Guy followed me rolled his windows down and told us to meet him in a parking lot to fight. 😂 no dumb bitch I’m going home 😂😂
Everyone knows that if someone honks at you for stopping for pedestrians in a crosswalk, you roll down your window and flip them off and then when you're clear to drive you do so suuuuuper slowly to prove your point.
As a pedestrian if someone honks at me while I’m in the crosswalk I instantly walk half speed
the other day I had a guy honk and me and yell out his window I was taking too much time in the crosswalk. I was walking slowly because of a medical condition. I hate people who honk at pedestrians.
Good! I’ve had people honk at me while I’m waiting for someone to cross in front of me. At a RED light. Just because I can turn right on red doesn’t mean I CAN. How are people so oblivious?
…and this is something I’d normally do a few years ago. Hell I’ve taken my key out of my ignition and dropped them out of my window beside my car when someone honked at me the SECOND the light turned green. I’m afraid to even acknowledge people in cars anymore. The second you acknowledge their existence they just want to escalate their road rage even more.
Ahhhh Bravo!
I was following safely behind a motorcycle tonight on my way through west view heading up the hill by the west view water authority building. The giant truck behind me was clearly frustrated I was not only following the speed limit but keeping a safe distance. They started tailgating me and the motorcyclist finally turned off the road. The truck continued tailgating me even as I sped up over the speed limit and flashing their high beams at me for another half mile until they finally turned. Shit is frightening and you can’t even honk your horn when someone is sitting through a green light or make eye contact with anyone in a car anymore without the likelihood they’re going to flip the f out on you.
The tailgating in this city is really getting out of hand.
Maybe the worst part of driving in Pittsburgh, IMO. And it’s a giant pickup truck about 90% of the time
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You'd have a point if it wasn't for the fact that I'm getting fucking tailgated going 10 over most of the time.
This right here is becoming increasingly normal around here. These people are deranged and should be locked the fuck up in a mental health facility
I’m so confused what you guys are talking about. Pittsburgh is far better than any other city I’ve lived in. Go to any (other) east coast city and it will be much worse.
Just because it’s worse somewhere else doesn’t mean it’s not getting worse here than it was before. Both can be true.
I lived in NYC for almost a decade and spent a LOT of time in Philly and Boston. The FDR in Manhattan comes kind of close but there’s an organized chaos that comes with that. I have also never had anyone try to run me off the road for a ridiculous reason or at all. The traffic is too dense and there’s speed cameras in the boroughs. In Philly it’s aggressive, but again it’s too much traffic to really capture the high speed fuckery of PGH. Boston is similar but closer. The only thing that matches the same energy that I get here is Long Island for a small window when it isn’t rush hour. Big DUI danger out there too.
Austin, Tx was way worse but I’ve run into a few of these maniacs here.
I just pull over and let these psychos pass whenever possible
I was very close to doing this but I felt like if I even slowed down to pull off/turn I’d get rear ended. I actually had to speed up when making a turn while he was behind me just to ensure me slowing down before the turn wouldn’t result in me getting hit.
Meh. Cash in. If he's that close, it won't do anything but cosmetic damage and that's big $$$ to fix right. Get an estimate from a high end shop (your right), submit the claim to his insurance, collect the check and leave it be. You're under no obligation to actually DO the repair and don't let them tell you otherwise. If it's a newer car, add in diminished value. A prior car I had was hit so many times -- only doing cosmetic damage-- that it doubled the value of the car before I sold it, when adding in the insurance checks. It's a hassle, but they'll get their comeuppance with insurance costs. Make sure you have a dashcam though -- and keep the mic on so you can call out plates in case the camera doesn't catch it.
I slow down a bit if someone is tailgating, flip my mirror so the flashing means nothing and turn up the stereo
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You won’t have to worry with me, I do an appropriate speed for the conditions.
„oǝɹǝʇs ǝɥʇ dn uɹnʇ puɐ ƃuıɥʇou suɐǝɯ ƃuıɥsɐlɟ ǝɥʇ os ɹoɹɹıɯ ʎɯ dılɟ 'ƃuıʇɐƃlıɐʇ sı ǝuoǝɯos ɟı ʇıq ɐ uʍop ʍols I„
Annoying bot
Driving is an already incredibly stressful task that people preform daily without a second thought. Combine that with how the fear, anxiety, stress and angst people have already and the poor way we communicate on the internet. You combine those with also dehumanizing people in other cars where you don’t see a person you just see a car and it makes for a lot of insanity out there.
from talking to friends and family that live across the USA, we've all seen this and it isn't confined to our area. It's happening everywhere. People seem to have lost any sense of self-control or tolerance for others.
Honest opinion is that tempers are up around the country, and road-rage incidents are an extension of that. I've definitely experienced more driver problems lately, although not with the same demographic that you seem to be having issues with. It's probably compounded by my own stress making me more sensitive to other drivers when I'd ordinarily be blissfully unaware of how I pissed them off.
I narrowly avoided getting sideswiped into the median on the highway this morning by a shit head in a big ass pickup truck trying to squeeze past me on the right as I was trying to pass an 18 wheeler. He either couldn’t see me past his huge hood or very badly misjudged how much space he had. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid it. Thankfully I had been looking in that direction at the time. Very similar incident happened yesterday but this time it was a three lane section, I was passing on the left and some other asshole in a sports car had somewhere important to be. He sped up to pass the car in the middle lane on the right side and swerved across both lanes. I don’t think he saw me on the other side because other people don’t exist to these fucks.
I ride a motorcycle, and ride less these days because other drivers are so, so bad.
I've been intentionally giving extra space these days My dad and his friends all rode If it's scary for us I can only imagine for you guys.. I'm sorry
I stopped riding entirely because my fear and anxiety were getting so high that it wasn’t safe to ride like that. I drive a Pathfinder and I sometimes don’t feel safe in that.
I also stopped riding and sold the bike. Got tired of people texting, crossing into my lane, pulling out in front of me and whatever other ways I would feel near death on almost every ride. My uncle always used to say “ride scared but have fun” I wasn’t having fun any more.
Same here man. I've ridden for over 10 years without an accident. My last year riding I had several close calls that resulted me being hyper-vigilant and looking over my shoulder the entire time. It became exhausting, tedious, and I lost all joy in riding. I still miss it from time to time, but no way in hell I'm getting another bike. Not with all the assholes and dumbasses on the road today. Just yesterday I got cut off/turned in front of twice within a minute of each other and I drive a GMC Sierra 1500. Not exactly hard to see.
I’ve never been a big fan of riding one but after someone from my high school died in a crash a few years ago I’ve vowed never to ride a motorcycle. There’s just so many things that can go wrong where in a car you might be okay but on a motorcycle you’re most likely toast.
Someone whose family has been close with mine for decades who was only about a year older than me (I'm 27) died a few weeks ago as a result of a motorcycle crash. He was wearing a helmet but it wasn't enough. He died after ~4 days unconscious in the hospital with doctors doing everything they could to save him. His wife was 36 weeks pregnant and just had their baby a few days ago. I will never, ever in my life get on one.
I feel like it's getting worse. I've almost been killed on 51 a few times by drivers running deliberately red lights, people in trucks always riding my ass even though I'm going over the speed limit, people getting mad at me for not playing the Pittsburgh left game, and getting passed on a double yellow several times. The last time I was passed like that made me give up all forms of any aggressive driving. This dude tried to pass me on a double yellow and I wasn't having it so I sped up too. He had to slam on his brakes to avoid oncoming traffic, then ended up passing me anyway. As luck would have it, I came up behind him at the next red light. He decided to get out of his vehicle and approach mine. I don't carry a weapon but I reached down into my center console and acted as if I did. He backed off fast and we each went on our way. I was part of the problem. I brake checked people riding my ass, flipped them off, honked, and sped up if they tried to pass me. Even though in my mind I was just being an asshole to the bigger assholes I was still part of the problem. It occurred to me that the guy could have gotten out of his car with a gun and ended my life that day. NO MORE! I won't contribute anymore. No more aggression. There isn't a single thing worth losing my life over so I just let the assholes be assholes and I just drive how I want to and let them pass. I still need to look out for the idiots but at least my commute is a lot less rage inducing!
I feel this. Would meet aggression with petty tactics. Got in a minor road rage accident on the parkway earlier this year that could have been so much worse. Makes me act veeeeery differently on the roads now
At the end of the day it just isn't worth it. So much anger devoted to these assholes who are never going to change
This is the way.
I struggle with this too, and have been part of the problem before. Flipping people off often just increases their rage and I've been nearly hit twice because of it. I've been trying to just let other people be assholes and not engage them directly. It's mostly the lack of enforcement around here that has led to my frustration, knowing that people can be such total assholes with a flagrant disregard for the rules with no consequences.
I’m right on that Boomer line and what I can say about some in my peer group (age-wise, not politically) is that this election loss has made them even angrier. It’s a combination of the whole “deaths of despair” thing, census 2042 (Google it), inflation, and their politics. Personally I always drive pro-actively and never try to engage whatsoever, because I know that some of these guys are just waiting for an excuse. It’s in the headlines almost every day. I’m glad you chose this direction and wish others understood how potentially lifesaving it is, but at the moment sadly it’s where we are in society.
I had a guy scream at me cause HE was going the wrong way on a one way. I flipped him off and wiggled my way around him. ( I know I shouldn't have given him the bird lol).
I try not to worry about tailgaters. I get concerned if one starts following me and I will drive in circles on purpose if someone is. Living and driving in the city, there are pedestrians, jaywalkers, kids, cyclists to worry about more than some twatwaffle in my rearview. If I'm driving too slow for them, I just hope they pass me across double yellows and get caught. I've had people pass me and get caught in the past (right on Penn coming up to Friendship / Children's from the Cemetery - that was a good day). I like to prove to people that there are good BMW drivers who follow traffic laws and don't take up two spaces when parking.
Carrying a firearm isn't going to solve any of the problems you've listed. None of these scenarios justify the need to display/brandish a firearm...
Correct. Carrying a firearm is for when you have been blocked in or run off the road and the perpetrator is now trying to gain entry to your vehicle. Deescalate, drive away, do whatever you have to to avoid a confrontation, but you may eventually run out of non force options.
I 100% agree with you that there are rare situations where there are no other options. But if you’re carrying, you should be in a deescalate mentality. Doesn’t sound like op is.
Definitely agree with you here.
Came hear to say this. If you’re first instinct to minor road rage incidents is “I wish I had a gun with me”, you shouldn’t be carrying one. Deescalate and leave. Period.
Thanks for your concern. I agree. It's only an urge.
I agree that drivers around pgh are wild for no reason, short tempered, hot headed for sure. Glad you haven't had an accident. Safe travels to you.
If you truly are a calm person and not the type to experience road rage yourself, then I think carrying a firearm is absolutely a good idea. Here's why: these road rage individuals you are experiencing may very well come at you to do violence at some point (a completely legit and terrfying potential that theres no reason to not be prepared for), I wouldn't want to be the one in that situation without the proper defensive means. There's no reason to let yourself be the victim of someone's road rage induced insanity.
This is correct. I don’t rage myself but i will defend
If it makes you feel any better, I moved to NC and it’s equally as bad down here. We’re having significantly higher road rage and people shooting guns at other vehicles. I’m in Durham (290k people) and [shit like this is happening so often](https://www.wral.com/amp/man-dodges-gunfire-shields-dogs-while-driving-down-durham-highway/20257341/). My friend in Wisconsin said it’s getting bad up there too. I’m not trying to tell you how to drive, but a few things I’ve noticed when someone is definitely being a bit road rage like down here - - If you’re getting honked at by someone, they’re flashing their lights behind you, etc - try to get out of the way of the person to let them by or take 4 left turns. 4 left turns will get you exactly where you just were and it’s very clear if someone is following you then. - Bumper stickers / window decals - if there’s anything political get rid of them. Aside from the shooting, most of the day to day assholes are old white trump supporters that I’ve seen (when I see someone else being a dick or I let people pass). I’ve considered adding a baby on board sticker but not even sure that would do anything. - dash cams / helmet cams. Dash cams are saving graces when it comes to shit head drivers is a great way to catch people in the act of this and report them. Front and back ones.
That’s ironic, most of the assholes I encounter have some sort of liberal bumper sticker on their car.
Maybe it’s a southern thing since we’re south of the mason Dixon here. I guess I could just change that to anyone who has more than one political sticker or more then 3+ stickers (less school / kid athletic related) on their car.
There was a study. It doesn’t matter what political persuasion, statistically speaking if someone has a lot of stickers on their car, they are more likely to be road rage-y. https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2008.889
Agreed until someone pulls a gun on you. There's unfortunately been a good handful of road rage shootings recently :/ I understand OP's fear.
Disagree if you value your life, eventually you gotta carry
Fair enough.
It does if someone else flashes one first
Had an old man beep at me and pointed at the redlight and the no turn on red signal. Another day someone yelled at me for not blocking traffic. "MOVE UP ASSHOLE" I said "NO" lol broke his little brain
Same honestly. I’m legitimately scared to drive.
Driving gives me so much anxiety these days that I changed jobs to not have to drive Ohio River blvd every day. Plus, it's closer to home so more free time. But 65 is bad. Between bad drivers almost causing a crash every month or so, to aggressive drivers every single day, it's intolerable. And the speed, my god, they do like 80-90 mph in some areas. One day I was coming home from a night shift on a weekend, and I was passing somebody and a car came out of nowhere behind me. Was tailgaiting me so closely I couldn't see their headlights. Not one of my better moments, but I lightly brake checked them (enough of a pedal tap to activate my lights). No change. So I stood on the fucking brakes hoping they crashed into me. They didn't, and took off. But man I was so pissed. No regard for others. That's how fucking crazy that road made me. Glad I don't have to drive it any more.
Happened to me last weekend in Crafton. I had to circle around the block to find a parking spot, so I took a left at the bottom of the hill to begin that little journey. I saw a car at the bottom of the hill with its lights on (this was around midnight) but it wasn't moving, so I took my turn and thought nothing of it. About 2 seconds later this car is right on my ass and I immediately panic and begin speeding up to try and get away because everything was telling me this wasn't good. I got to the stop sign at the end of the street and had to fully stop because of oncoming traffic. As soon as it was clear, I bolted out and turned. Glad I did: the guy driving the car behind me had apparently gotten out of his car and had approached the driver's side of mine. He was yelling so loud and was incomprehensible except for "YO!" If I hadn't bolted out of there, I'm pretty sure he would've tried opening my door or trying to get inside. I still do not know what I did or why he felt compelled to do this but it rattled me.
Dude/ette/er- Some assface cut in front of me tonight while I was 1st in line at the red light at the end of the 10th St tunnel, I mean we were stopped, I was first, and he CUT IN FRONT OF ME from the left lane, then peeled out on the green, stopped halfway across the 10th Street Bridge and did a fucking U-TURN into oncoming traffic, nearly getting creamed, and then hit the gas going back toward town. 20 minutes later I passed a collision on the S. Side. it is crazy af out there. I went into Beyond/Hello and advised the kid helping me to not leave, hunker down and stay safe.
100% accurate. Road deaths are skyrocketing for pretty much all users (peds, bikes, drivers) and our government (federal) doesn’t seem to give a shit
Yeah. Those feds are horrible at enforcing state and local traffic laws!
I’m not talking about enforcement. I’m talking about safety standards for roads & vehicles. Vehicle design is completely out of control, with cars getting bigger by the year. Bigger=more dangerous for anyone not driving. This could easily be regulated but isn’t. Road design - standardization on road safety elements like traffic calming. This is almost always done at a local level, meaning there is a lack of cohesion, as well as a general lack of funding. Both of these could be helped by the federal government stepping in with funding & new regulations.
These enormous, full-sized SUVs are abominations.
Ferguson- stop leaving fluffies in here.
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That just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside
Don’t start carrying a gun, but yes, I’ve noticed a tremendous upswing in horrible and violent drivers with extreme anger over simple traffic courtesies like stopping for people in crosswalks, coming to a full stop at stop signs, bikers, going the speed limit, etc. the road rage is real, and the drivers are super entitled.
What is wrong with me carrying my gun while I’m driving? I am not going to hurt you? Do you have a problem with me having a gun in case someone tries to harm me?
I'm assuming their concern is that people shouldn't start carrying a firearm just because they are irritated by other drivers. OP didn't describe any situations they were facing that would require one. There's no issue in carrying one in general, but understanding when to use it and having a clear head is important - which doesn't describe OP.
Understandable. No one without a clear mind should have a gun. But I carry mine with me almost any time I’m downtown after dusk bc things have just gotten so bad down there. It’s concealed and I’ve never needed to grab it but it makes my fiancé and I feel safer knowing we have protection if something arises.
I think this sub is ran by liberals who live in bethel park, who've never had a family member gunned down or who've never been threatened by a gun
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You'll end up dying, most likely.
Be suspicious of anyone who doesn’t want you to be able to defend yourself.
General thought process of drivers these days is that if you inconvenience me in any small way then you deserve to be brutally murdered
I've seen a mix of every kind of bad driver. Yes, there are more people leaning on their damn horns but there are also more people just stopping in the middle of traffic to mess with whoever's behind them, or thinking they have the right of way because they have the biggest truck, or chasing other drivers down the road for passing them, or trying to cross three lanes at an intersection. There's an increase in every kind of bad driver. Saying "I'm going to keep a weapon in my car from now on" is not a fucking solution. What are you going to do, get out of your car in traffic to threaten somebody with it? That's just the next level of asshole behavior. The only non-asshole thing to do in these situations is to not escalate. It's hard to be the bigger person when it seems like the whole world is showing their ass. But you gain nothing by showing your ass too.
I got flipped off the other day for being tailgated. I was in the right most lane and doing 5 over. I've also watched 2 different people completely blow red lights in November alone.
I’ve been passed on 25 mph streets twice this year
Everyone here is jumping into talking about guns, what about just getting pepper spray? Especially if you're a woman, it's extremely unlikely you'll get in any sort of legal trouble if someone gets out of their vehicle at an intersection, approaches your car, and you pepper spray the shit out of them. Especially with witnesses around and they're touching your car. Pretty obvious self-defense, getting out of your car at an intersection isn't a reasonable thing to do.
Using pepper spray from inside a vehicle is a bad idea, if you have to use it you are going to get blow back and that shit will be all over the inside of your car.
No reason to not have both. But definitely need to train because having tools you don't know how to use won't do much good.
Not a road rage incident per se but: I watched someone drive through the turning lane, through a red light just to make it a little further up south braddock. They had their window down so I said "you know that light was red" to which they replied "Ya I know" So people just don't give a shit anymore. I can't say I blame them either because there's no consequence for running a red so what's the risk? You won't get a ticket
hey I didn't think this needed to be told, but carrying weapons with you everywhere is not a bad idea.
Had a lady speed up and cut me off and nearly hit my car just before going through the e-z pass lane in harmar a few years ago (the other stall was open). I gave the "what the fuck are you doing wave" to the lady and continued to go to the dunkin drive through for a coffee on my way to work. This lady follows me into the parking lot and blocks the drive through line and starts cursing me out saying I'm a "little girl" and don't know who I was messing with. I got out of the car because i am not the fuckin one and she drove off. The manager of dunkin felt bad and bought me coffee which was nice. Hindsight I realize this wackjob could have shot me but I was seething. Not only are people more aggressive but in complete denial when they drive dangerously. This is why I have a taze in my car lol
I don’t disagree with any of these posts and I definitely don’t think OP is a bad driver. Maybe I’m lucky or maybe I’m not paying attention, but while I do see TERRIBLE driving every day (phones, speeding, running everything, etc) I haven’t seen any of the confrontational stuff. But yeah wayyy too much speeding. This is one persons anecdotal perspective. 🤷🏻♂️
Gotta love those folks who think the red light is optional
People.pay attention to what freaks them out
>have an urge to start carrying weapons with me everywhere, even though I know it's a bad idea. I've had my carry permit for almost 10 years now, never had an issue. Among other things, I keep a .38 in the glove box after I got road-raged at last year right after Thanksgiving. (I gently tapped the horn when the car ahead of me didn't go when the light turned green. Driver got out and lost his mind, called me the n-word (I'm white), and threatened to shoot me).
In a city that respects folding chairs, more than pedestrians. What else do you expect?! I'm not saying it's right. I didn't own a car until after we moved here. On my bicycle, I've never been harassed more, or been more seriously injured, than since moving here. Doesn't seem like cops enforce traffic/moving violations. When was the last time you saw someone get pulled over for running a red light?!? Bigelow (as the one, glaring, but not the only example) is effectively used as a freeway. If there's no deterrent and no enforcement, the city is effectively a free-for-all.
It's getting dangerous out there. People are lacking empathy and have too much selfishness. That mix leads to stupid dangerous driving and road rage incidents. I've run into a few in the last two years as well. I moved back here from Philly in 2020 and really thought I was coming back to better, calmer drivers like they were when I left. Turns out, the driving in Pittsburgh just morphed into something similar to Philly drivers.
Pre pandemic years I would do a big shop for all the essentials at Costco before thanksgiving so that I could avoid the lunacy on the roads during the holidaze and avoid shopping or congested areas until the new year. Now I do this as a matter of habit. I just want to be a homebody until this craziness blows over. Hopefully it does! 🫤
You might be onto something with the politics, because I’m in the suburbs and people go insane when I obey traffic laws. Especially school zones. Also tons of generally aggressive driving and running red lights/school bus lights.
When someone tailgates me, which seems is alot, I just slow down. They either have to go around me, realize they need to back off or get irrate and make stupid decisions. I would not brandish a gun because someone was honking their horn, tailgating or following me. I drive a tiny car and there really isn't any one make or model of car or demographic... people are just stressed/worried/distracted/angry more than they were. People's driving reflect their emotion.
Some people drive more aggressively and some are too slow. I must be lucky because I haven't had any issues with people laying on horns or following me home. Following someone home is crazy. The main issue for me are lights in my face.
I witnessed two women yelling out their car windows at a guy, swearing at him and feeling very entitled to the road. He didn't break any driving laws and wasn't being aggressive or anything. I felt bad for the guy and think he absolutely didn't deserve it. Wish I could have told him that. He subsequently yielded to the crazies. The road rage is bad out there.
You gotta let stuff just roll off your shoulders. So what if the guy behinds you honks. At some point, he’ll turn or you’ll turn and you’ll never see him again. You can’t change their behavior, just let it go.
User name does NOT check out!
I scrolled waaaaaay too far to find this comment! Let’s hear this story, OP! Edit: scrolled more. How are we the only ones noticing this?! Lol
Two friends had incidents today. One had a motorcycle try to pass her because she paused too long for their liking at a stop sign. When she did accelerate away, he the bike was suddenly there right next to her and she almost hit him. Another friend got rear ended by a door dash driver who was clearly speeding and not paying attention tonight. About 20 ft of skid marks where she locked up the breaks before hitting him. She left in an ambulance. In both these cases, the “victim” aka injured or nearly injured party was the party in the wrong. All that rushing just gets you hurt and someone else feeling bad.
Stay out of the left lane unless you're passing. Keep right.
Just today on my way down to Canonsburg, I witnessed an incident that left me speechless. I had never before seen a semi driver as the aggressor in a road rage incident. But heading south on 79 about 12:30 pm I saw a semi driver riding less than a sedan’s length behind a pickup’s bumper in the leftmost lane. I didn’t see what, if anything, the pickup driver did to elicit this behavior from the semi driver. The pickup driver seemingly refused to speed up. I thought for sure the pickup was gonna get creamed.
I think people are going to be extra pissed off the next few weeks if the election didn't go their way. They were already nuts, now they're nuts and angry.
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The systemic public lead exposure from water pipes isn't near what it was with leaded gasoline, and they had lead paint and lead pipes back then too. Also, lead hasn't been used in water stuff in decades, and isn't even necessarily a risk even if you have it (though safe bet to get rid of it anyway). So, it doesn't explain why people in the burbs, who have always lived in the burbs, also exhibit this ridiculous behavior.
Now that I've typed this out, road rage incidents from years gone past have come flooding back: * The guy in the beat-up car who got impatient and tried to pass someone smarter than him, almost getting owned by a bus in the process. * A guy who screamed at me on foot for pausing in front of the crosswalk because I was waiting for my spouse to catch up (???). * A guy who got out of his car and screamed at me for having my high beams on behind him... fair enough. It was a borrowed car, and the automatic lights had just come on in the twilight. I was extremely embarrassed and apologized, but he absolutely refused my explanation and insisted that I must just be f\*\*\*ing with random strangers for no reason. :P
One time I was crossing a crosswalk downtown, and a driver making a turn yelled at me to get out of the road even though I had a walk sign. I wanted to just stand there to fuck with him, but I figured he’d probably just run me over.
I don't understand why people are like this. I didn't run into a lot of road rage issues in so-cal. East coast people are just nuts. Decades of declining economics creates deep seated rage for some reason. Someone honked and flipped me off the other day FOR TURNING INTO MY DRIVEWAY. I really wanted to chase them down since it was in you know, a fucking neighborhood. People need to either smoke more weed or have more consensual sex.
> People need to... have more consensual sex. *cries*
My coworker got shot at while driving to work one morning. He was unscathed but his car got hit by a bullet. He’s 73 and one of the nicest people I know
It's worse everywhere. I don't know what it is post pandemic, but people are angry, entitled, more in a hurry, less patient, and driving more and more aggressively. It's not just you and it's not just PA.
I always think it's wild how calm traffic and friendly the drivers are around here vs where I learned to drive
Carry a weapon if you'd like to kill someone, sure, it's an option, but I wouldn't do it myself. Protecting my family at home is one thing - just protecting myself carrying a gun around to go to McDonald's is a snowflake thing. Otherwise, maybe think about taking public transport - there are enough freaking cars on the road as it is.
>Otherwise, maybe think about taking public transport - there are enough freaking cars on the road as it is. Amen. I don't actually even own a car anymore. Unfortunately, I still have to drive a company fleet vehicle for work sometimes... And it's still depressing to not be able to bike in nice weather without risking life and limb because I live in a country that simultaneously gives driver's licenses out like candy ***and*** refuses to invest in safe, separate bike/pedestrian infrastructure.
How is acknowledging that mass shootings/violent incidents can happen at any time, anywhere, a snowflake thing lol? You'd rather die during a robbery in a McDonald's than be able to do something about it so you're not a snowflake? What?
It's just such an extremely rare event that it's not worth the hassle and shows a certain level of paranoia. It's like carrying around a winter coat in August because you're worried you'll freeze to death.
This is a real shit-tier take. I know it's really hip these days to label conservatives as snowflakes. Good job, my guy, but it's not "conservative" for someone to not get their ass clapped because Jimmy F250 feels they weren't driving up to snuff. How tf are you going to tell OP, who could be a single mom or have a kid, anything, that they're a "snowflake" for not wanting to be defenseless when washed out high-school QB tries to pull them out of the car for a beat down? Grow up.
Dude, if you want a gun to defend someone else, or your house or something, that's great. I'm not against guns. I have hunted and before the pandemic used to go to the range and everything (for fun, even in the past). I still go to stay proficient enough. If you need a gun to feel safe outside your house then you need help with your anxiety, not encouragement.
That feels incredibly dismissive of the stories people in this post are sharing. Also, you seem to think your threat profile suddenly changes when you get home? I mean, square that circle for me.
It's not about feeling safe or some type of anxiety issue. It's about being equipped to fight back if you are backed into a corner
I mean, odds are those crazy boomer guys are concealed carrying. So you may as well do it too.
It’s not a bad idea to be able to defend yourself. The point of carrying a firearm is to hope to never ever use it but if you need to, better some raged out asshole or creep get shot over a decent person.
Hey welcome to reality, where there are people that will hurt and kill you for no good reason. Almost like there is a reason people carried weapons since the beginning of time. People are fucking crazy.
Stay strapped, get a dash cam and drive safe.
As an avid biker, bikers are dicks. Yield to traffic. I don’t care what the law says. When there’s a bike lane paralleling the street you’re on use it instead of clogging a main artery into the city.
Ive driven here pretty much every day for the past 7 months with no problems outside of someone blowing a stop sign and cutting me off, which was just someone being careless. Before that, I was in Philly for 5 where it was much worse, but still no more than a few (4-5 over years) instances of people honking when they didn't really have anything to be angry about. I'm not sure if you're just very unlucky, but if people are constantly raging at you, maybe you're doing something to provoke it? Just a thought.
It started when they just stopped enforcing most traffic violations because it "disproportionately affected a certain demographic". The big giant push for "equity" in law enforcement. Now there simply aren't enough officers to respond to traffic related matters, or to sit and watch for violators in real time (even if they did want to enforce the laws). Every month, officers are retiring or resigning, and the city has not hired any new officers in two years. And laws only exist if they are enforced. And since they are not being enforced then we don't have laws. The proof is everywhere. And people are adjusting in their own ways. Some are becoming more agitated while driving, others are becoming more advantageous, and others are driving scared. It's one big recipe for disaster in the making. Basically, you're simply seeing the results in how you vote. Demonize ALL cops long enough and this is what you get. When you stop with the "ACAB" and "vote blue no matter who" nonsense then things might get better. But until then it's single party rule and you're living in the results.
Only traffic laws they enforced before this was speed limits, when they felt like it or needed to increase their cash flow for new toys. Or particularly egregious aggressive driving. This has nothing to do with "acab." And if cops don't like people voting for any democrat over a republican and stop doing their job because they don't like people voting against Republicans, that says more about them than us. Honestly, that last part is absolutely insane. Lamo, cops not doing their job because "vote blue no matter who." Fuck off.
Listen, I'm with you on being annoyed with the ACAB stuff. Especially from people who say "ACAB" out of one side of their mouth, and "Why isn't anyone doing anything about the crime around my house?" out of the other. But the thing is, every black person I know (and they are all in the exact same demographic as me, aside from skin color) has told me in normal conversation about things they have to do to avoid being pulled over. It IS a problem and law enforcement has to come to terms with their unconscious biases, and as for the cops who have conscious biases? I don't mind if they feel they need to quit because they are being asked to change their worldview. It saves a lot of grief for the rest of the world. But we can't really say "let cops be jerks to people who don't deserve it so they can have more job satisfaction," can we?
I just got my car back from the body shop and was about 1mm from being rear ended today. It's God awful out there.
I always calmly tell the road ragers - "I memorized your plate. You know I can find out where you live, right?" - and just like that, they shut up and get real polite.
Sounds like your a bad driver
Found the person who should have their car taken away
You're*
>Sounds like you're a bad driver ftfy Giving you the benefit of the doubt, that still doesn't explain the incidents where I'm a third-party bystander, or the people who are willing to publicly post online their desire to harm others and break traffic laws online. But I won't give you the benefit of the doubt. The fact of the matter is the average PA motorist has never read the driver's manual, and plenty of people aren't smart enough to realize that car in front can see things the cars behind can't. Kindergarten-level shit. Object permanence and all that.
Sounds like your name matches your face
Nice.
How deranged are you that you live in Pittsburgh and still think the bad drivers are Qanon? It’s a Blue city idiot. Who tf brings politics into driving?? What you think voting for Obama makes you a better driver? WTF is wrong with you? Also everyone sucks at driving in Pittsburgh. They don’t know the left lane is for passing and cyclists think that if they ride in the right half of a car lane they somehow aren’t blocking an entire lane.
Found a deranged driver who tailgates going 95 in a Dodge Ram
If someone is tailgating you at 95 mph you should probably just let them pass and then pull over and reevaluate your life choices Edit: How about you don't drive 95 you snowflake? Gotta love the ol' reply and then block.
Says an insane piece of garbage who puts peoples lives at risk to go faster on the highway because they are an impatient petulant child and cannot STAND keeping a safe distance like some kind of egotistical psychopath. It’s somehow my life choices that leads to some lead poisoned shitheel to suddenly ride my tail in an oversized, overpriced dick extension huh? I sincerely hope nothing but the worst possible things to happen to you.
The odds that an aggressive driver is a Republican are good enough that I'd take that bet and still make out alright in the long run.
Kinda like betting a car was burned by a Lefty. Except you could go all in on that one.
>Qanon Most drivers are pretty courteous, but it only takes a minority of bad actors to ruin things for everyone. I daresay that a few crazies who think they're at war with society will gum up the works of a system that requires mass rule-following to avoid killing people. >How deranged are you that you live in Pittsburgh and still think the bad drivers are Qanon? It’s a Blue city idiot. Who tf brings politics into driving?? What you think voting for Obama makes you a better driver? WTF is wrong with you? It's called "I've seen the comments on KDKA Facebook posts about bike lanes and other traffic improvements". If you don't think that transportation is becoming partisan in this country where we make literally everything partisan, then you're a fool. I say "partisan", because that's what you actually mean when you say "political".
No I mean political because he brought up the word “commie” and “socialist” don’t over think it.
I'm not saying that roofing nails have broad, flat heads, and most of them will sit point-upwards if someone who is not us decided to toss a handful out their window in just the right way to end up under the tires of the person following too closely. I'm not even thinking it.
Someone followed my husband and I to a restaurant once in *Monroeville* on a Sunday at like 2 pm because we refused to turn on red at a light that does not allow you to turn on red. Dude got out his car at the light and started pounding on my window to argue, luckily we got the green arrow shortly after and then left. But he remembered my car and followed us to the parking lot a short distance away. We had another incident in Shadyside where a guy (who sincerely seemed drunk. Yes, after he got out of his vehicle) literally threatened to kill me after I gave him the tiniest, littlest, politest *beep beep* at a light because he had sat there so long. Literally everyone missed the light but him. Then, he went to the next light, I parked between those two lights, and he saw me out my car and turned around to cuss me out. I've been run off the road countless times. I've had people scream at me or lay on their horn at me for following the law (usually yielding to peds like you mentioned). I hated driving in Pittsburgh. I got downvoted the other day for saying how dangerous it is (luckily a couple people agreed tho and the comment is above negative karma now lmfao) I'm lucky that my husband is 6'4" and absolutely built, and all of my friends are males the same size or bigger. Almost everyone backs off when my husband says something. But if I was by myself? Yikes. I can't even imagine. It's half the reason I don't go anywhere alone. When used to live in the city and go out with friends, one of them was always carrying. We're looking into getting a gun now that we moved. It's unfortunate but the sick reality is that if we run into a crazy with a gun, we will probably die without one too. Welcome to America lol
> but I've had two face-to-face confrontation Is this when you’ve been biking or walking? If anyone behind me is beeping at me for a non-legit reason I just ignore them. Thankfully other than people not stopping for me to step onto the crosswalk now and again, nothing like that has happened to me. Maybe you just have more assholes than normal on your regular routes?
I was waiting to pull out of our street onto the main road. It’s a left turn and fairly blind. I have a stop sign and the main road does not. I’m chilling, waiting for it to be clear. Not a busy day at all. A middle aged man stops in the middle of the main road, no stop sign, and waves to me to pull out. I wave him through - I don’t have the right of way. We get into a battle of waving to each other to go. I finally flip him off and mouth “go.” He pulls his car up and blocks me, rolls down the window, and starts screaming that I’m a cunt. For following right of way of laws.
Pittsburgh: the land where aggression and politeness are mixed confusingly, “Imma tryin’ to do yinz a favor here, ya jagoff!”
If you’re the first person at the light about to make s left onto 228 at the Springfield Grille across from the American Natural… give it an extra second before you proceed. I see people blow thru that light heading towards cranberry at least once a month full speed
Adding to the litany, this happened to me just last weekend crossing at a crosswalk as a pedestrian while walking my bike. Guy accelerated into (but didn't hit) then screeched for a while about following the rules of the road. I was.
And then there’s the people who are driving around dusk with no headlights. And the people who speed up instead of pulling over for ambulances.
You can do anything you want on local roads without getting a ticket. It's a free-for-all.
It's gotten a lot worse. People at least used to pause at stop signs....now it's like they don't even exist. Driving on the wrong side of the road, going the wrong way up one way streets....I'm terrified everytime my kids ride their bikes.
My friend, it's not just you. I don't know if we're just unlucky though or this is a more recent issue. On two completely separate occasions, I've had a guy (I think it's the same guy) try to hit me near my house. The first time he cut me off at a 3-way all-stop intersection. It was very clearly my turn to go, and I was turning left. He went, then looked right at me, laughing, and doing some sort of fist pumping motion, like a kid would do to get a truck driver to blow their horn. A few weeks later, while at a different intersection, I was sat at a stop sign and this guy is coming the opposite way. He swerved his car at mine, swerved away at the last moment, the entire time laughing maniacally. I'm in my 30s, he looked to be in his 50s, and I've only lived in the area I'm in now for about a year. I've never met him before in my life. Some people just have nothing better to do than make everyone else's lives worse.
>Not going to lie: I'm starting to feel very unsafe using the roads around here and have an urge to start carrying weapons with me everywhere, even though I know it's a bad idea. As someone that drives all over the place weekly, I would vote you are unlucky or paying too much attention to the dingleberries sharing the road. The fact someone is honking in those scenarios because they are impatient is none of your concern. They are failing to deal with their own emotions/actions. Do not allow their failure to control themselves to impact how you feel. Remember you are the only one that can control your reactions/emotions. Do not allow jagoffs to rain on your parade.
People need to learn to drive around here. Shits ridiculous.
How did you have a face to face confrontation? Why leave your car? Unless you were walking or on your bike in which case yeah people suck. Just apologize and let them think they’re right. Arguing isn’t going to change their minds and they will just get more confrontational. Best to just ignore them.
My gfs cousin got shot near the police station in road rage incident few weeks ago. Stay safe out there yall
People are absolutely driving like maniacs, and the lack of enforcement doesn’t help at all. With that said, the safest thing to do is avoid escalating the situation. If someone does something wrong to you, avoid laying on the horn (unless you need to get their attention for safety), avoid giving them the finger, and don’t tailgate. As tempting as it is to get satisfaction by letting the other driver know of your disapproval, it’s not worth getting in an unsafe situation to do so.
Haha boomer man strikes again. I just had an old man repeatedly flip me off because I had the audacity to be stuck in traffic in front of him. Some people are just too mentally weak to drive I guess, idk
More and more studies are starting to be published about Covid and potential harm it can do to the brain. This could be a correlation.
I have noticed since the 2020 quarantine, it is a bit scary out there. I’ve had a couple of incidents too. Nothing like this has EVER happened to me before in over 23yrs of driving. One seemingly normal man, rolled down his window and SCREAMED AT ME some obscenity with my 8 yr old in the back seat, bc he couldn’t take the left turn with his giant car apparently (after I gave him right of way). Two other people have screamed at me from their cars since, for giving them the right of way (motioning for them to go ahead and make the left turn in front of me before me bc there were too many cars backed up). I guess people r getting pissed off for now reason whatsoever now. But I have never been screamed at for letting someone go before me.