No, what you're describing sounds a hell of a lot safer. (It's also how people make left turns in Vancouver. The fact that it's illegal in Seattle infuriates me to no end.)
The Pittsburgh left sounds like a recipe to get T-boned by an inattentive driver. Pulling into the intersection, and making a left turn when it is safe is a much better alternative.
As a long-time but not native Pittsburgher, I have to agree. The "Pittsburgh Left" is dangerous . There are arguments here that it eases traffic flow by "crowd-sourcing" a left-turn light or that without it there'd be a backup of traffic. What rubbish. A left turn light allows several (dozens at some intersections) make a left. A "Pittsburgh Left" only allows one reckless, impatient driver make this left. And I see it more often on four lane roads than on two lane roads so I discount the eases traffic flow argument. It's a moving violation with a heavy fine and points on your license - as it should be.
"The Pittsburgh Left" is very common practice there, which is to give the right of way to the opposite car in the intersection that is turning left. Definitely a much more relaxed and polite driving environment than anywhere on the east/west coasts.
It sounds like the opposite of that -- letting the left turn car go before both sides move, rather than after both sides finish.
The behaviour you just described is what everyone does in Michigan. The Pittsburgh left sounds friendlier, but more risk prone to people who don't expect it or respect it.
It's called a Pittsburgh Left?! When I first came to the US to Boston it drove me crazy, to me it was the epitome of uncivilized American driving "how dare you cut in front of me without my permission!"
But it makes sense at the right kind of intersection, and of course I adopted it because otherwise I'd be the odd one holding up the traffic making people frustrated.
Not unique to Pittsburgh (also prevalent in Rhode Island, among other places), but more importantly, letting the first car turn left first is useful to keeping traffic flowing on narrow roads—which, in the areas that use this tactic, rely on it. So, not following local customs is a good way to snarl traffic (since the oncoming traffic will be waiting for the car to take its turn).
This type of left turn is less an "asshole thing" and more a "drivers compensating for poor design" thing.
Typically, the "Pittsburgh left" is used in places where there should be a protected left turn as part of the signal cycle, but there isn't, and at times of high traffic flow it's the only way for any traffic to complete the turn (since waiting for oncoming traffic to clear on a green essentially means waiting until the multi-hour-long period of high traffic is over).
Pittsburgh needs to do what we do in (some intersections in) California — ban left turns during rush hour on intersections with no left turn lane. Everyone still gets where they need to go and traffic moves much more smoothly.
There are better solutions to this problem than coding cars to behave like bad drivers. Round-a-bouts. Banning left turns during peak hours. Adding a dedicated left turn signal at the beginning of the cycle. The Pittsburg left is a terrible convention... It puts pedestrians at risk (assuming the cross-walk signal follows the traffic signal). And nobody from outside Pittsburg knows it's a thing - if I were visiting Pittsburg, I'd run into the car turning in front of me (well, hopefully not, but it's a risk).
Correct, although the creep and go after the light is also practiced. Main reason for the Pittsburgh left's popularity is that there are a number of roads in and around the city where during rush hour it's otherwise impossible to ever make a left and have no turn lane.
After reading up on the Pittsburgh Left, that needs to be eliminated from driving culture ASAP. If there are intersections that require it, simply add a protected left.
It is legal to pull into the intersection on green or yellow, and wait until it is clear (often when the light turns red) to turn left in Seattle. It is the correct/legal way to make a left turn. Otherwise you are just going to sit there blocking traffic for multiple cycles during busy times.
It's not the safest bit of driving, but it's enormously pro-social. As that quote suggests, the problem isn't "I want to turn left" but rather "there are 30 cars behind me going straight, with no room to pass me on the right".
If people just wanted to turn left, this would happen everywhere. Instead, I see it almost exclusively in cities with narrow streets lacking left turn lanes. In extreme cases, it's even personally beneficial for the yielding driver - the alternative is sometimes gridlock that circles back around to them.
None of which makes it safe, but it's pretty obviously common for reasons other than selfishness.
I have no problem with that if it's done safely. But, I've had people try to blow through an intersection when I'm turning at a protected left. That's just asking to be hit.
You clearly have never been to Pittsburgh. There is simply no room at some intersections for a left turn lane, and a left turn signal would needlessly block traffic going the other way even when nobody wants to turn left.
It is pretty normal at least in the congested areas I know. (That left is called by a lot of different city names.) But it's not strictly legal because you don't have the right of way to make a turn. But it's one of the zillion things that people do (including jaywalking when it's hopefully safe) that people do in order to get places and, so long as they're not obnoxious or dangerous about it, no one gets either hurt or ticketed.
Here in Melbourne Australia, lots is being done to remove right turns (we drive on the left here) at the busiest intersections.
Several "P turns" [1,2] have been introduced in the most congested areas, in which you need to go straight through the intersection, then wait to do a U-turn at a designated place, then turn left into the road you wanted to turn right into (or vice versa if you're coming from the other direction).
And because we have trams (streetcars), many intersections with trams have long had "hook turns" [3], signed as "right turn from left only", in which to turn right you must first pull over to the left to clear the lanes in your direction, wait for the lights to turn green in the road you're entering, then turn right. (This is not exactly eliminating right turns but it's a much safer and less disruptive way of doing them).
It all works well when you understand it, but it confuses the hell out of visitors.
The Pittsburgh left sounds like a recipe to get T-boned by an inattentive driver. Pulling into the intersection, and making a left turn when it is safe is a much better alternative.
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