{{Short description|Driving practice}} {{More footnotes|date=January 2010}} {{multiple image | align = right | image1 = Pittsburgh Left.gif | width1 = 225 | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Pittsburgh Left Crash.gif | width2 = 225 | alt2 = | caption2 = | footer = The Pittsburgh left is imposing potential danger to the pedestrians crossing in the same direction. }} The '''Pittsburgh left''' is a colloquial term for the driving practice of a driver at an intersection who is driving straight not advancing when a red signal changes to green; instead the straight-driving driver allows the opposing, left-turning driver to turn left, often signaling their yield by flashing their headlights or with a wave. This co-operative maneuver, associated with the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area, came into vogue because of the hilly terrain of the Pittsburgh region combined with the preponderance of two-lane roads.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Blackley |first1=Katie |title=How the Pittsburgh Left became embedded in city driving |url=https://www.wesa.fm/development-transportation/2020-07-28/how-the-pittsburgh-left-became-embedded-in-city-driving |website=www.wesa.fm |publisher=WESA Public Radio |access-date=April 24, 2025}}</ref> It has been criticized for endangering pedestrians and bicyclists by disrupting the normal flow of traffic. It is an illegal<ref name="paManual"> {{cite book |author=<!--Not stated-->|title=Pennsylvania Driver's Manual|version=Pub 95 (4-21) English Version |url=https://www.dot.state.pa.us/Public/DVSPubsForms/BDL/BDL%20Manuals/Manuals/PA%20Drivers%20Manual%20By%20Chapter/English/PUB%2095.pdf|publisher=Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing |chapter=Learning to Drive |page=48|access-date= 2023-12-13}}</ref> and controversial<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.triblive.com/news/pittsburgh-left-seen-by-many-as-a-local-right/|agency=Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Trib Live)|date=2006-06-14|author=Mike Wereschagin|title='Pittsburgh Left' seen by many as a local right|access-date=2023-12-13}}</ref> practice.
A similar maneuver has been referred to as a '''Boston left'''<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121105194708/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7957053.html THERE'S NOTHING RIGHT ABOUT THE 'BOSTON LEFT'], ''The Boston Globe,'' May 14, 2006</ref> or '''New York left,''' but those maneuvers differ from the Pittsburgh Left; in a Boston or New York Left, the left-turning driver rushes to turn left before the straight-driving driver can advance, regardless of whether the straight-driving driver yields or not.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/04/06/boston-driving-bad-needs-its-own-lingo/UM7UhGh5qCdZPVukFH37QN/story.html|agency=Boston Globe|date=2013-04-07|author=Ben Zimmer|title=Boston driving: So bad it needs its own lingo? / Terrible road maneuvers, from the Boston left to the California roll}}</ref>
== Description == The Pittsburgh left involves two cars facing one another waiting at a traffic light (which lacks a protected turn) or other stop signal: one turning left and one going straight. The left-turning car will anticipate the green light, although ideally not actually entering the intersection on the red.
As the light turns green, the left-turning car will rapidly proceed left ahead of the opposing traffic, frequently with the signaled assent of the opposing traffic. 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, potentially avoiding a gridlock situation.
Frequently, the oncoming cars will accelerate slowly enough to allow the turn to be completed without anyone slowing down or being delayed at all. This means that a "Pittsburgh left" can, in places other than Pittsburgh, be the equivalent of simply judging the oncoming traffic to be slow and distant enough to turn in front of it: something that in and of itself is not illegal.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}
== Origin == Many of Pittsburgh's roads are narrow streets with only a single lane in each direction, and most intersections lack left-turn-only lanes. If a car is attempting to turn left, no other cars behind it can proceed through the intersection. Allowing the left-turning car to proceed first through the intersection gives that driver a chance to get out of others' way, allowing for smoother flow. The Pittsburgh left was also originally encouraged by the way the Pittsburgh traffic signals worked, which caused no one to run a red light. The lights used to go from green to green-yellow, to yellow, to red. If you saw green-yellow, you could push the red light; if yellow, you stopped.
== Signals == Generally, the driver going straight will encourage the oncoming car's driver to make the left turn and/or indicate permission with a wave of the hand or by flashing their car's headlights. Similarly, the driver attempting the turn may try to signal the other driver for permission to turn with similar hand motions or headlight signals.
Sometimes, if the straight-bound driver is slow to start through the intersection, the left-turning driver will accelerate and turn rather than yielding to oncoming traffic per Pennsylvania law. {{Citation needed|date=July 2008}}
== Legality == The Pittsburgh left has no basis in law. Failing to yield to oncoming traffic while navigating a turn is a traffic violation, and is prohibited in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.<ref name="paManual" /> In Ontario, Canada, such a turn is considered stunt driving under the provincial Highway Traffic Act.<ref> O Reg 455/07, s 3(8)(iv). https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/070455</ref>
At certain intersections, left-turning traffic may be given precedence over straight-moving traffic in a regulated (and thus legal) manner, via the use of protected turn signaling.
== See also == *Pittsburgh parking chair *Michigan left
== References == {{Reflist}} *{{cite web|url=https://www.pghcitypaper.com/columns/im-still-wondering-about-the-pittsburgh-left-no-one-can-tell-me-where-it-comes-from-1334231/|title=I'm still wondering about the Pittsburgh Left. No one can tell me where it comes from.|last=Potter|first=Chris|date=June 22, 2006|website=Pittsburgh City Paper|access-date=January 7, 2010}} *{{Cite news| last = Goodman| first = Dawn| title = 'Pittsburgh Left:' A turn for the worse| newspaper = Observer-Reporter| date = 2009-09-20| url = http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/09-20-At-large-column-pittsburgh-left| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://archive.today/20130130170500/http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/09-20-At-large-column-pittsburgh-left| archivedate = 2013-01-30}} *{{Cite news| title = 'Pittsburgh Left': It's A 'Burgh Thing| newspaper = ThePittsburghChannel| publisher = WTAE-TV| date = June 14, 2006| url = http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/9371728/detail.html| access-date = January 7, 2010| archive-date = July 3, 2006| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060703045458/http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/9371728/detail.html| url-status = dead}} *{{cite news | title = Wild, wild, weird west lies in western Pa.| newspaper = Daily News| location =Bowling Green, Kentucky| agency = Associated Press| date = February 6, 1996| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZfoeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GUgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1816,398845&dq=pittsburgh-left+turn&hl=en}} *{{Cite news | last = Donovan| first = Sandra| title = Road rage boils over delayed left turn| newspaper = The Beaver County Times | date = February 10, 1999| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5nYyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rrYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3531,2537784&dq=pittsburgh-left+turn&hl=en}}
{{Pittsburgh}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittsburgh Left}} Category:Hazardous motor vehicle activities Category:Culture of Pittsburgh Category:Driving techniques