Why are Pittsburgh drivers so angry? That's what I want to know.

After recently moving here from Minnesota to work and attend the University of Pittsburgh, I was quite surprised at the amount of honkers. If you need a definition of a "honker," clearly you haven't been on the city streets longer than 30 seconds at any given time.

Just in case, I'll provide a definition:

A honker is a driver who honks his or her horn within a few seconds of the light turning green. Not only do honkers usually strike at stoplights, but they also make appearances at four-way stops and during rush hour.

Some honkers, usually overly excited soccer moms, like to also open their windows and stick their arms out so the driver in front can see just how exasperated they are. Once in awhile, a honker takes his hand off the horn long enough to flick his middle finger or will go so far as getting out of the car in order to take it outside ... to the side of the road.

My personal favorite is when the honker is so irritated he or she pulls into the shoulder of the road in order to speed off toward the next red light.

These are not exaggerations. I have had encounters with all of these varieties of honkers. But let me tell you, standing at 5 feet tall and weighing about 105 pounds, I am not about to fight anyone on account of me not pulling forward fast enough.

In May, a Post-Gazette headline declared "Drivers in Pittsburgh Nicer Than in Other Cities." It was on an article about a nationwide survey taken by AutoVantage, showing that Pittsburgh drivers were considered "nice" in comparison to drivers from other metropolises. In fact, Pittsburgh claimed first as the nicest area in two categories: cell-phone use and slamming on the brakes at the last minute. While I will refrain from discussing the subjectiveness of the word "nice," I do have a few things to say about this survey.

First of all, Pittsburgh was being compared with cities such as Boston, New York and Miami. I should hope that we are nicer than drivers navigating around millions of other people in the Big Apple. Secondly, being nice cell-phone users doesn't seen like a hard category to win. Does that mean we hang up faster than other drivers, or are we just better at multitasking?

Lastly, how can you nicely slam on the brakes at the last minute? You can't. If you could, 16-year-olds nationwide would have a better chance at passing their drivers tests.

I do want to give this city some wiggle-room on the topic, though. The sentiment that Pittsburgh drivers are nice isn't completely erroneous. There are drivers in Pittsburgh who are "nice." I have had the privilege of sharing the road with those rare few who do practice the "Pittsburgh left" and allow cars to smoothly merge off and onto the highway. Unfortunately, the majority of real love that I have for Pittsburgh drivers has been honked-out by Mr. I-Drive-a-Massive-Suburban-So-You-Might-Die-If-You-Don't-Speed-Up.

I am sure many readers and drivers have already written me off as naive to the ways of the East (or Mid-Atlantic or whatever region Pittsburgh is officially in).

And they are probably right -- I am too used to Minnesota Nice. In my defense, I will say that I have lived in Rochester and Minneapolis, which are both well-developed cities. Yet I would argue that I am very adaptable to everything here beyond the unrealistic and cranky drivers.

I don't want to get used to "Pittsburgh Impatient" or "Pennsylvania Pre-emptively Accelerate in Bumper-to-Bumper Traffic." I like letting the other guy go first at four-ways and slowly accelerating at stoplights instead of lurching forward because my car is in fifth gear before you can say miles-per-hour.

Pittsburgh drivers -- you can hate me, just don't honk at me -- I apologize for deterring your arrivals to wherever really important people must go by 15 seconds.

But in all seriousness, honking at me won't help your cause. I can see the green light just as clearly as you can.

I am OK with the way that I drive. At the end of the day, I've wasted less gas and had more moral victories than most Pittsburgh Impatients.