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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I read an article recently that said that left turns are terrible for traffic. One of the best ways to improve traffic is to ban left turns all together.
That doesn't solve it at all, you're thinking of a different problem. I got clued in from another comment that only mentioned it offhand, but this is the problem the "Pittsburgh left" tries to solve:
The traffic is a single lane, and you want to turn left. Light turns green, and you wait for the oncoming traffic to clear. All traffic behind you is stopped on a green because they can't get around you.
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).
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.
In my experience, drivers turning right on red (and across my active cross-walk) are frequently looking left for on-coming vehicular traffic (at the expense of being completely oblivious to the cross-walk).
Part of me wishes we'd just ban right-on-red outright in the US.
I’ve driven in places that forbid left turns and the impact is nowhere near what you say it is - your example appears very specific to your town where things seem particularly bad but also your phrasing (“punished” by traffic - guess what, if you’re driving, you are traffic) is not very objective for a rational, general counterpoint.
Brit living in Canada. I hate left turns in North America. Often you can't clearly see oncoming traffic, pedestrians have right of way which can leave you unable to complete a manuever and a lot of judgment is put on drivers to turn at the correct time.
There's a technical solution to this problem. Dedicated left turn lights which appear to run in some places only during peak hours.
I'm not sure what you do when you have a busy main street and lightly trafficked side streets (and driveways) that require people to make unprotected lefts. You're not going to put a traffic light on every country lane dead ending at busy road.
Forcing drivers to make left turns just to stay on the same road is a recipe for more car accidents. The proble could be resolved simply by putting up a stop light.
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.
Protected left turns don’t work well without insanely wide roads. There is not room for protected left turn lanes in most of sf, and too much traffic to do one direction at a time signals.
"By accepting a modest delay in going straight, the opposing traffic has saved the left-turning traffic waiting an entire light cycle to turn left, as well as saved an equivalent amount of time for all the cars that otherwise would have been stuck behind the left-turning car. In situations where there is so much oncoming, straight traffic that a left turn would not be otherwise possible during any part of the light cycle, the Pittsburgh left can allow a line of left turning traffic to proceed incrementally."
reply