Driving in the US - Tips

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
Similar to over here then! - a flash of headlights is a warning to others that you are there, nothing more!

99% of drivers seem blissfully unaware of this.....
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I don't know, around our way people will constantly flash you to let you into or out of junctions or to give you right of way.

Either that or flashing at after an event because they consider you have done somthing wrong.

I'm not suggesting it's what you should be doing or what the highway code states, just the general way in which people use them.
 
Take care at four way stop signs never go as fast as a cop car even though the cop is doing 60mph in a 55mph zone you should stay at 50mph.

If you see a police radar trap never flash your lights to warn others. Don't use your horn.
 
OllyM said:
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OllyM said:
:D
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All the food outlets across the top of the satnav screen? They'll be one Dunkin Donut after another I bet! :D

Heading north out of Boston I think there was a DD every 1/2 mile.
 
I am in California right now coming towards the end of a fly drive holiday, we return our car today. All above is good advice. I will add the following.

You need to pay up front for fuel in the garage. UK credit cards don't work at the pump. Unlike our pumps you stick the nozzle in, then choose your fuel grade by button and then start filling

As above has alluded to, a far as I an work out there is no fast or slow lanes on the freeways. That said, slower vehicles are instructed to keep right, and passing lanes go on the left.

Stop signs are an interesting one. At a crossroads with stop signs on all four sides, you have to come to a complete standstill and then the traffic goes in the order at which it arrives at the stop sign. Quite clever and works well, people obey it. Would never work in UK due to volume of traffic

There is no amber when traffic lights go red to green, so pay attention.

Standard of driving is generally lower than my experiences in Europe. Roads mostly straight due to huge distances. I was nervous about it but it's turned out to be fine.

Best of luck
 
Capt Doufos said:
Other than that it's common sense, like desert driving. Make sure you have plenty of water you don't want to break down without any, I know it sounds obvious but we don't have to deal with 200 miles of nothing and no shade, so it's easy not to think about it.
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To be honest neither do the Americans, even in the middle of the desert you can't go more than 5-10 miles without seeing yet another gas station, McDonalds etc etc.
 
Capt Doufos said:
I don't know, around our way people will constantly flash you to let you into or out of junctions or to give you right of way.

Either that or flashing at after an event because they consider you have done somthing wrong.

I'm not suggesting it's what you should be doing or what the highway code states, just the general way in which people use them.
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I quite agree with you, the highway code definition & the actual everyday use of the flash of headlamps are very different things....

Picture the scene, a freighted HGV is travelling at speed down a hill, the driver wants to be sure the queue of cars at a side road sees him, according to the highway code, his correct action is to flash his headlamps as a warning....

Sadly, Doris in her Micra sees this as an invitation to pull out...........

Scary thought eh?
 
[TW]Fox;22941977 said:
To be honest neither do the Americans, even in the middle of the desert you can't go more than 5-10 miles without seeing yet another gas station, McDonalds etc etc.
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Not in Texas. I drove from Houston to San Antonio. Miles with no one around.

Also check drink driving rules. Some states don't allow alcohol to be open in the car.
 
[TW]Fox;22941977 said:
To be honest neither do the Americans, even in the middle of the desert you can't go more than 5-10 miles without seeing yet another gas station, McDonalds etc etc.
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Maybe on more popular routes, but I have driven across an entire valley with nothing in it.
 
Ok sure I exagerated but an interstate trip in the US isn't some sort of expedition for which you need a crate of water in the boot or something. Sensible if going off the beaten track, sure, but on the Interstate?
 
If you are somewhere people can get to you quickly it's not so much an issue I agree. But out in 40+ degree heat in a broken down car with no working aircon, no shade anywhere to be seen and no water would get unbareable pretty quickly.

It's just wise to make sure you have it is all. With 4 of us in the car being out and about all day in the heat we were going through numerous bottles a day as it was.
 
I did a 4000 mile trip with little to no preparation this August, infact I basically just drove West from Chicago without even a plan only knowing I was going to San Francisco eventually.

Driving itself was a piece of cake bearing in mind the car was automatic and had cruise control along with A/C but I would definitely recommend making sure you have at least half a dozen bottles of water at any given time, it was ridiculously hot in some places (pushing 48C in Vegas when I was there). Some power bars and little necessities like wet wipes, hand sanitiser wouldn't go amiss as some of the road side toilets were damn right terrifying!

Another thing is make sure you have some good music/ipod with you, something I overlooked and as a result every time I will forever associate Taylor Swift's 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' with my road trip as that song was released just about the time I did the trip :( Most places like Nebraska, Arizona, Utah and Nevada played nothing but freaking country and that's if I was lucky, some places I wouldn't get any radio stations!

Good camera is a must as you will see some amazing sights, infact I bought HD Hero 2 just for the road trip and strapped it to the dash for some time lapse goodness, have gigabytes of photos I still need to assemble into some sort of a video.

Lastly though do stay vigilant and alert when driving, it's easy to become little complacent when you cruising around highways with little to no traffic and particularly driving at night when something springs on you suddenly. Infact I had rotten luck in my last 2 days of driving, first someone blew a tyre which then bounced off a truck and hit me just as I was overtaking said truck, didn't even have time to react as this was in pitch black darkness. Tore the bumper at the front and damaged the car underneath as I drove over it, couldn've been far worse bearing in mind it happened at 70mph. Got a new rental car and the following night a coyote runs right in front of me, I braked and swerved but still hit it hard and another bumper needs replacing along with you know, killing an animal.

Slightly freaky thing is that both of those happened around the same time and bumpers were both hit in the same place but the morale of the story is buy insurance! Not a question was asked, just filled an incident form for both cars and nothing extra to pay. Oh and don't drive in a middle of nowhere in a middle of the night like I did!

EDIT: Oh and one thing I realised after I finished this is that there wasn't a single speed camera on the way but the police over there can be vigilant with their speed guns, saw a lot of them pulling people over in Nevada!
 
[TW]Fox;22943786 said:
Why?

If you are renting in an area where there are tolls the rental cars will already have tag devices or plates registered for platepass - you can't just 'get on'.
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well i haven't been since 2008 so it may have changed but i was offered the option to purchase a pass and took them up on it. never heard any mention of tagging or registered plates. it was a sticker in the windshield.
 
Not travelling too far on freeways, I think that would worry me more especially as I will be in Vegas so the traffic will be heavier that the middle of no where.

Ah well in 2 weeks I will have choice but to take my brave pill :)
 
It's hella easy, you have nothing to worry about especially on freeways. People are way more chilled than in the UK, it is pretty rare you get numpties blasting along at 100mph it's more like everyone travels in every lane at about 65-75 and also almost never stuff like traffic light GPs because the next stop light/sign is inevitably 100 yards away. :p

Also autoboxes are just made for the US, stop, go, stop, go, you'll quickly realise that manual shifting is totally pointless in the US :p
 
Have you driven an auto before ?

I hadn't and didn't realise you need to put your foot on the brake in order to take it out of park. That was embarrassing when trying to tell the rental car company that my car was broke .......

Only other tip to share is to take your own Satnav and get the US maps for it. The rental companies charge you a fortune for hiring one.
 
Just come back from a trip to San Franciso from Vegas via Death Valley and Yosemite.

Roads in Death Valley and Yosemite were awesome, lots of lovely mountain roads. Hardly any cars and we didnt see any police cars till we got into San Francisco.

We hired a satnav from the hire company, it was $60 and possibly the best $60 spent on the whole holiday.
 
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