Tips on driving in the states?

Colbaker

Colbaker

Colbaker

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Paignton, Devon
Hi all,

Me and the wife are going to Vegas on Saturday for a week and are hiring a car, I have never driven a car abroad (my wife has done a short journey in America), ive never even been to America before.

Have to admit I am a little nervous about driving there, any tips? Am I worried about nothing?

I am a confident driver in UK and in fact driving all different types or cars and vans is part of my job.
 
drive on the right, best tip eva!!!

DAMN!!!
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You can turn right at red lights, but have to wait to go left or straight. There are a couple of exceptions to this, certain cities and so on, so check before you do it.
 
You'll be fine.

Tips:

- Get a good satnav. The ones supplied by the car rental companies are pretty crap.

- Everyone drives at or slightly over the speed limit on highways and Interstates. This means that other vehicles will be alongside yours for far longer than on UK roads.

- You can pass on both sides, so get used to checking all 3 mirrors before changing lanes and don't freak when undertaken at speed.

- On ramps and off ramps (slip roads) can be on other side of highways and Interstates.

- US trucking companies all employ lunatics on meth. Give them a wide berth.

- Unless there's a sign prohibiting it on the traffic light, you can and should turn right at a red light at intersections.

- Come to a complete halt at Stop signs. First one to reach the sign is the first one to move off and so on.
 
Terminal_Boy said:
You'll be fine.

Tips:

- Get a good satnav. The ones supplied by the car rental companies are pretty crap.

- Everyone drives at or slightly over the speed limit on highways and Interstates. This means that other vehicles will be alongside yours for far longer than on UK roads.

- You can pass on both sides, so get used to checking all 3 mirrors before changing lanes and don't freak when undertaken at speed.

- On ramps and off ramps (slip roads) can be on other side of highways and Interstates.

- US trucking companies all employ lunatics on meth. Give them a wide berth.

- Unless there's a sign prohibiting it on the traffic light, you can and should turn right at a red light at intersections.

- Come to a complete halt at Stop signs. First one to reach the sign is the first one to move off and so on.
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In general that is sound advice but everyone speeds in the US actually. Typically 5mph over on smaller roads and duty roads but on freeways more than 10moh is the accepted. Whatever you don't don't go more than 15 over because then the legal charges get higher, e.g. Court appearances etc.

Plus they don't have speed cameras so keep your eyes open for cop cars hidden behind bridges Etc. If a cop does pull you over turn off music, get all documents out,c and put your hands on the steering wheel. Don't make sudden movements.



Another important fact is that school buses have super priority and anyone driving anywhere near a stopped school bus gets annihilated by a SCUD missile. Stop the car and wait!
 
PMKeates said:
Except in Californiaand in Michigan you can turn left on red at some "Michigan lefts"!
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You can turn left on a red light in almost every state if you are on a one way street turning onto another one way street. In some, states like oregon you can be on a 2-way street turn inning onto a 1 way street.


Also with u-tuns, in some states they are banned from all controlled intersections unless specified, in other states they are allowed at very intersection unless specified.
 
In some states they've got car pool lanes so between certain hours you should only travel on those lanes provided there's at least two of you in the car - not likely to be an issue on a family holiday but potentially if you were going to split up and do your own thing for a few hours it might matter.

Also if Nevada roads are anything like the Californian ones that I drove on then don't be surprised if lots of them are in a condition that makes British roads look good.

At petrol stations you may find that they have an attendant to "pump your gas" for you, it should be obvious pretty quickly if that is the case. I also found that in quite a few places I couldn't use my credit card to pay at the pump because it needed a zip code and wouldn't accept the UK post code - not a huge problem as you just go to the kiosk but something to be aware of.

It's nothing to worry about really, just pay attention to what you're doing and you'll be doing better than a great proportion of drivers on either UK or US roads.
 
If you get lost rely more on satnavs than walking into a gas station to ask for directions. We did that near an airport in texas and he had his hand on a gun the entire time talking to us as asking for directions to the airport with a minibus full of drunk mates maybe not the best idea.

Some are friendly people! Some.. Aint
 
Double check the turn right on red thing (the exact implementation depends from area to area and state to state) and as above if you do get pulled over do what D.P. said.

When I was out there the state troopers liked to setup on the exit from towns/cities so definitely watch your speed leaving a built up area.

Unicorn said:
We did that near an airport in texas and he had his hand on a gun the entire time talking to us as asking for directions to the airport with a minibus full of drunk mates maybe not the best idea.

Some are friendly people! Some.. Aint
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I was drawn on in Michigan for putting my hand in my pocket without thinking some of them are definitely twitchy and probably for good reason.
 
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It's easier than driving in the UK.

The 'Right on Red' thing and knowing you need to prepay for gas before you can fill the car as UK Mastercard and Visa don't work in 99% Pay at Pump (Though AMEX does as it doesn't seem to use ZIP code verification) are about all you need to know really.
 
first time i drove in america was at 11pm on a friday night in los angeles, worst drive ever trying to find our hotel, a day or so later i loved driving in the states, so much easier.



I found that people drove under the speed limit even when it was as low as 20mph in some towns.

I guess it depends where you are on how the police are, i was driving through death valley cruising at 100mph on the longest straightest road i've ever seen. A cop 4x4 caught me up pretty quick, i pooped a little but after a minute he overtook me a disappeared pretty quickly.


Have fun driving the strip at night :P
 
Gas stations will accept UK debit cards if you go in first and leave your driving licence behind the counter while you fill up. Cash is still king though.

Hire car top tip:

- If the car breaks down on a public highway, the hire company will send someone to help you.

- If the car breaks down on a private road or anything not classed as a public highway, you have to get it towed onto a public highway before they'll come to assist you.

A work colleague hired a Jeep last year on a work trip to California and managed to break an axle hooning it down a Forest Service access road. $250 for the 5 mile tow back to the highway and $5,000 to fix the Jeep.
 
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