We live in the northeastern part of Philadelphia, PA so I am only speaking about this general area, but traffic and driving styles around here are so different compared to California!
In California, if you are at an intersection and need to turn left, you have your own separate turning lane and go on a green arrow. You can take your sweet ass time turning safely. But if you want to turn left at an intersection in PA, you are basically screwing over all the cars behind you because there is no turning lane, no green arrow, and a string of traffic coming in the opposite direction so you can only turn at the end of the green light, (therefore causing everyone behind you to miss the green light) or quickly turn just as the green light comes on, therefore cutting off the drivers in the oncoming traffic when they are supposed to have the right of way.
And what really drives me insane, is that sometimes there IS a shoulder to go in and drive around those left turners, but most of the time, people don't do this!!
I understand we're in a smaller area than in San Jose, therefore there are way more one-lane roads than double-lane, but good lord, I need to check myself into an anger management class that focuses on road rage. It's out of control. At least in June I will be literally just driving down the street to work cutting out all the slow pokes and left turners I get stuck behind now.
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Oh my gosh its so true! It's like that here in Arizona, if you're turning left you get a nice huge lane all to yourself! Totally different story in Pittsburgh, my hometown. Hahaha, oh east coast, you so silly.
ReplyDeleteYep, totally. One of the downsides of living in a place whose cities were constructed hundreds of years ago. Here in Santa Fe the streets downtown (the downtown area is probably around 300-400 years old) make NO SENSE, but everything outside of there (built up in the '70s mostly) is perfect for turning.
ReplyDeleteThe best city I've driven in, though, was Houston, Texas. U-Turn lanes, nice big left-turn lanes, it was amazing.
I live in MA and it's pretty much the same here too. Busy multi-lane intersections have a separate left-turn only lane but typically, nah. & We're all Massholes here so people will beep at you if you don't go (and cause a 5 car pile up). Haha
ReplyDeleteThat sounds horrible. I can't imagine life without turn lanes at some intersections.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is... You gotta remember that the west coast was settled LAST. So all the towns could do things right the first time. All the odd things the east does are there because it costs too much to fix things they did wrong the first time around.
ReplyDeletei understand that the roads have been like this since the beginning, but you'd think they could at least change the lights to have a green arrow or something for a few seconds before the other side of traffic gets their green. the oldness of the roads shows, especially when you see how close some houses are to the roads! i'm not even kidding when some of those really super old houses are back only 6 inches off the road. that's besides the point lol scary.
ReplyDeleteI always just pull forward so cars can go around me. And thankfully so do most of the people I live near.
ReplyDeleteSlowpokes though? I decided to take the backroads home from work the other night and someone was going 20 in a 35 and around the bends 15 in a 25. It was AWFUL, especially because I took that road to and from high school and you can easily do 45 on it so c'mon AT LEAST do the speed limit. Sheesh.
oh god slow pokes are the WORST! people go 10 mph under the limit on the back roads, but on the main road with double lanes, people are so reckless. idk what's worse lol
ReplyDeleteI live in California, and unfortunately a lot of places around where I live don't have turn lanes. I usually avoid it and go a different way. I hate it. It is so stressful. I hate turning left. Unless I have that fancy green arrow. My hometown just got a green arrow for right turn on red. It's very nice. You can just blow by people at the red light because no one will be blocking your right turn. I love it.
ReplyDeleteit's definitely stressful. i get really anxious and scared at this one stop sign that i have to turn left on. i almost died last week ugh.
ReplyDeleteTHE PITTSBURGH LEFT! xD Hahaha. Bigger, newer intersections here will give you a turning lane and green arrow, but most of the older, narrower city streets just say "Screw you.". There's an art to it; you need to be just aggressive enough to get into the lane to start your turn, but not get hit or screw people over. It's a delicate, bizarre skill.
ReplyDeletei've seen people do this and appreciate it. they do slightly go over into the other sides lane a little but the intersection is wide enough that people can go around on both sides...if that makes sense. but it definitely seems like a delicate skill!
ReplyDeleteWeird! Are there no left-turn-lanes even in town? I can understand country roads not having turn-lanes, but everywhere? That would definitely be annoying in lots of traffic.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading the other comments, it occured to me that the reason they have "weird" roads back East must be because those cities/towns were built waaaaaay before there were cars. That's something I never think much about over here in Oregon! Lol.
ReplyDeleteyea that's pretty much why. riding on horses didn't require lights lol
ReplyDelete