Jami Gives Driving Instructions

For any who don't know, I live in Pittsburgh, and I love it here. Today, coming home from an appointment with a client, I was pondering some of the rules of driving in Pittsburgh, and wondering how confusing it would be to driving around here, especially if you come from somewhere non-hilly, where the roads are laid out in a sensible order, like a grid. Pittsburgh Driving Rules for Non-Pittsburghers. Just so you know: 1. If you are approaching the Squirrel Hill Tunnels, no matter the time of day, weather conditions or traffic, you must slow down and possibly even stop. No one knows why, though I've heard that this is where good Catholics (about 70% of Pittsburghers) genuflect for the saint of tunnels. There must always be a traffic slow down before this tunnel in both directions. 2. You never, for any reason, EVER change lanes in a tunnel. I've been in the car with other natives when someone has broken this cardinal rule (which, BTW, is also the posted law). This causes every Pittsburgher I know to scream "YOU DON'T CHANGE LANES IN THE TUNNEL!!!" at the top of their lungs, and usually add a few angry honks and/or expletives. Trust me, unless the lane you are in is on fire, you don't change lanes. 3. Give the courtesy "Thank you" wave. This probably is universal, but just in case - if someone lets you in at one of the bazillion merge points in and around the city, you hold your right hand up, and give a little "thanks!" wave to the car now behind you. If you neglect the wave and change lanes in a tunnel, you will probably be dragged from your car and beaten. 4. The Pittsburgh Left - Several people who have lived here and move elsewhere told me this is a Pittsburgh-Only thing. You're at a light and you are making a left turn. There's no left turn lane/signal. When the light turns green, the first car turning left goes, and opposing traffic knows he's going to and lets him. A former coworker told me that when living in another state, he almost got creamed twice making the Pgh Left, before deciding that he'd better not do that anymore. 5. Don't count on any road:

• staying the same name while you're on it
• going straight
• being the same number of lanes for any particular stretch
• always being a 2-way or 1-way.

These things change very quickly on Pittsburgh roads, you while you might be driving on a one way street called X, you might go 1 block and find yourself on a 2-way street with a new name, and you didn't even turn or anything.

But that's just part of our charm.