Two drivers square off at 4-way stop in Pittsburgh

Two drivers squared off at a 4-way stop in Pittsburgh this morning. No other cars were at the intersection when an older man driving a Buick Electra and a young mom driving a Nissan Quest mini-van arrived at the same time. Neither driver indicated any intention to turn as no turn signals were actuated.

Both drivers waited a full 10 seconds for the other driver to proceed yet no movement took place. The young mother than waved her hand for the man to go ahead. He shook his head and motioned for her to go ahead. The glare from her window prevented her from seeing anything in his car, so she rolled down the window and waved again. Raised to be a gentleman, the man refused, again waving her forward, muttering to himself, “Come on, lady, we don’t have all dag-gum day now.”

“Go, mom!” one of the kids exclaimed from the hollows of the mini-van. “He’s waiting for you!”

“I don’t know, honey, he looks older so I don’t want to go and then he turns into me. You know how Grandpa was.”

At press time, the cars were still at the intersection as their gas tanks neared empty.

“I see this all the time in Pittsburgh,” said a recent transplant from Philadelphia. “In Philly they don’t wait. In fact, you have to be careful because many times when a driver takes their turn at the 4-way, the car behind will tailgate them through the intersection so they don’t have to wait. It’s chaos there.”