Seems like a lot of people think the Pittsburgh Left merely involves gunning it to make a left as soon as the light turns green, quickly getting out of the way before the first oncoming car starts to cross the intersection. That happens everywhere, and is perfectly fine IMO (as long as there aren’t pedestrians/cyclists around). But it’s not what people actually do here.
Instead there are hordes of idiots who like to pretend that they have a left turn arrow at all times. They nonchalantly go 0.05 mph into a line of oncoming cars, dawdling across traffic and forcing everyone who actually has the right of way to slam on their brakes. It drives me up the freaking wall, to the point that I wish I had an armored truck so I could have the pleasure of demolishing their cars and having them cited for not knowing how to drive.
Pittsburgh drivers do have one major redeeming quality, though. When a line of cars are stopped at a red light, people almost always leave openings for parking lots and side streets so others can get in or out. I really wish that was more common in other cities.
I’ve noticed it in LA. At least it’s an increase over what I saw while living in DC, which admittedly isn’t saying much. DC drivers are pretty good about letting the first person in line turn right into the flow of traffic from a side street or parking lot, but leaving gaps to cross multiple lanes? Nope. Here, I see it more often.
The other interesting phenomenon is the “Los Angeles left,” by which you pull out into the intersection when the light turns green, sit there, wait until it turns red, and then run it. Along with 3 cars behind you. This is a necessity because there are tons of left turn lanes but no arrows. All the other drivers seem to expect it, because there’s a delay in people moving off the line from the thru lanes once their light turns green. I had one near accident when my DC mentality of “floor it the instant your light turns green” nearly caused me to broadside someone pulling an LA left. Then I learned.
That’s basically how it’s always done in CA. I wonder if that’s technically legal – but that’s how we were taught in Driver’s Ed.
More specifically: Pull into the intersection while still green. Depending in the size of the intersection, two cars could get at least part-way into the intersection, maybe even three.
When the light changes to yellow, then red, complete the turn when you can. Regardless of the light turning red, and turning green on the other street, cars already in the intersection have the right of way. (Like, what else are they supposed to do? Back up out of the intersection?) Cars with the green light don’t have the right of way until the intersection is clear.
I recently studied the driver handbook for Oregon. Apparently it’s different there. If you enter an intersection and the light turns red before you get out, you can get a ticket for running a red light. So it seems like you’re not supposed to do that there.