Apparently the city of Pittsburgh who claims to be “A Most Livable City” has never heard of traffic calming. If they had, the intersection at 29th and Liberty, where my office, a gym, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre among others, would have received some sort of treatment to help us navigate the highway known as Liberty Ave safely.
Since I have worked here I have witnessed four accidents during work hours and am forced to play chicken with speeding traffic. When I first contacted Pittsburgh’s non-emergency line, 311, about it this is the response I received.
None of the signal warrants are met at this location; therefore a traffic signal cannot be installed. However during evaluation, it was noticed that many of the crashes were at night. Because of this, lighting has been increased at the intersection by replacing a light pole and replacing the light with a higher wattage variety. The stop signs have been replaced to ensure reflectivity. The storage container was on the corner has be relocated to allow better visibility of oncoming traffic from southbound 29th street.
Apparently there are even more accidents happening outside of business hours in addition to the few I have witnessed and documented. Great that they addressed these issues, but none of them address the accidents that happen during the day, nor do they address pedestrian safety issues.
After my coworker was struck this morning I contacted them again and immediately received a response telling me there is nothing they can do and to contact my state representative. The Federal Highway Administration governs the installation of traffic signals and our intersection doesn’t qualify for one.
What about lowering the speed limit? What about a pedestrian signal? Nothing. They don’t care. I am afraid that just like on Braddock Ave outside of Frick Park, that it will take a death to address the issue.
This the city’s idea of traffic calming? It clearly isn’t working.
Dear Rich Lord,
I am responding to your article found at… Linking to the Bike Pittsburgh post rather than the article itself…
I commute to work on a bike three days a week and drive the other two so I see both sides of the story that you didn’t present. From my point of view both cyclists and motorists break the law daily.
I cant remember the last time I saw someone actually obey the posted speed limit, or didn’t witness someone floor it to get through a yellow light. Every day I see at least five people on their cell phone, not paying attention to the road or their surroundings.
I challenge any of your sources to give me a day when they don’t experience these things as well.
Your sources point out a small subset of cyclists in Pittsburgh who put themselves and others around them in danger with reckless riding habits. When I am on my bike I am defensive, safe and predictable as are the majority of cyclists I encounter daily. I slow at all stop signs and I stop and cautiously go at all stop lights when it is safe to do so. I don’t obey the laws exactly as they are written, but neither do 90% of the drivers I encounter.
I believe your contributors should take a long hard look at their fellow drivers habits before they choose to criticize the way cyclists share the road. Cycling is here to stay, we are not going anywhere. Time to get used to us and work with us to make our city a cleaner, better city.
Sincerely,
Ryan Sprake
Exciting news to see Pittsburgh go another step further in making the city a happy place to ride your bike.
Read about it!
There are a lot of reasons why you need to use your turn signal when driving. The main reason being people need to know where you are going! This will be an on-going series from me bitching about jerk faces who don’t use their turn signals.
Turning right when a biker is passing you in the bike lane
When you don’t use your turn signal in this case I assume your going to continue driving straight. Why would I ever assume otherwise? When you suddenly turn right and almost hit me its your fault, not mine. I saw you, I saw that your turn signal was not on and I continued riding. YOU are the one who didn’t tell me you were turning, I would have stopped if you would have said so.
Thank you jerk face.
There are a lot of reasons why you need to use your turn signal when driving. The main reason being people need to know where you are going! This will be an on-going series from me bitching about jerk faces who don’t use their turn signals.
Turning left while a pedestrian waits to cross at a cross walk
Without your turn signal on the I think your going straight. When I attempt to cross the street and you turn at the same time your not allowed to honk your horn and act like its my fault that you almost ran me over. See, I have the right away. Its a cross walk OK guy?
Use your turn signal jerk face!
