Road Tripping in the USA!

timmeh · 21 Jul 2017 at 16:47

I'm pretty sure it's a nationwide law that you have to stop if a school bus stops, regardless of the side of the road it stops on. You'll get in a lot of trouble if you don't (it's a felony offense).

Rids said:
As our road trip looms closer I'm starting to wonder if there is any preparation I should be doing for driving in the US. Driving duties will be split between three of us, two of the guys have extensive driving experience over there, I've never driven on anything other than UK roads. Obviously my plan is to let them handle the city driving bits early on, I'll handle some of the less crowded stretches until I get my confidence up, but is there any sensible preparation I can do before hand? Realise this will probably sound like a moronic question to most experienced drivers.

I'd look on the state DMV website for any literature for learner/new drivers.

A couple of random things off the top of my head:
If you're driving down a 2+ lane road you have to get over if an emergency vehicle is stopped on the hard shoulder.
If you're parking at the side of the road you have to park in the same direction as the flow of traffic (is that a law in the UK?)
If it's raining you have to put your headlights on (is that a law in the UK too?)

mOdO · 21 Jul 2017 at 16:53

[TW]Fox said:
You are far better off pre booking.

You realise driving to the South Rim for the day is like driving to the Lake District for the day from London, right? It's not even in the same State!

Yes we were thinking that!!

What company did you use to fly out?

[TW]Fox · 21 Jul 2017 at 18:13

Vision Air. If you want to do it in a day, IMHO its the only sensible option.

b0rn2sk8 · 21 Jul 2017 at 20:05

timmeh said:
I'm pretty sure it's a nationwide law that you have to stop if a school bus stops, regardless of the side of the road it stops on. You'll get in a lot of trouble if you don't (it's a felony offense).

I'd look on the state DMV website for any literature for learner/new drivers.

A couple of random things off the top of my head:
If you're driving down a 2+ lane road you have to get over if an emergency vehicle is stopped on the hard shoulder.
If you're parking at the side of the road you have to park in the same direction as the flow of traffic (is that a law in the UK?)
If it's raining you have to put your headlights on (is that a law in the UK too?)

Don't forget you can turn right on a red light unless there is a sign saying not to.

When turning left and right you must give way to pedestrians even if you have a green filter. At a junction pedestrians are generally able to cross the road in the same direction as the traffic is flowing.

You can pretty much do a U-turn at almost any junction, your bound to go wrong at some point.

OllyM · 22 Jul 2017 at 01:51

b0rn2sk8 said:
Don't forget you can turn right on a red light unless there is a sign saying not to

Except in New York City.

Also in some states you can turn left on a red light if you're turning from a one way street into another one way street (and two way streets in a few states).

acemastr · 25 Jul 2017 at 19:23

timmeh said:
I'm pretty sure it's a nationwide law that you have to stop if a school bus stops, regardless of the side of the road it stops on. You'll get in a lot of trouble if you don't (it's a felony offense).

This, unless there's a 4 foot+ median in between. Just avoid school buses, I've been here 3 years and still don't like them lol. Cops will NOT be happy if you pass one that's flashing red like a Christmas tree.

panthro · 7 Aug 2017 at 11:54

Hi guys, possibly not the right place but thought I'd try here instead of creating a new thread. I'll be going to LA and San Diego over Christmas with my wife, 1 year old, mother in law and sister in law. What size car should I be looking at?
Also, does anyone have some good recommendations for hotels in LA? Preferably close to Universal / North Hollywood as it seems like a good location.

[TW]Fox · 7 Aug 2017 at 12:46

You might as well just rent a fullsize SUV - its not exactly mega money and it'll be more comfortable for 3 adults.

Howard · 14 Aug 2017 at 14:02

Full-size "Tahoe or similar" SUV booked for Florida. I hope they are as enormous as they look :cool:

Aileron · 14 Aug 2017 at 14:18

Howard said:
Full-size "Tahoe or similar" SUV booked for Florida. I hope they are as enormous as they look

I had a Chevrolet Suburban the first time I booked the same class and a Ford Explorer the second time. Both were new & huge.

[TW]Fox · 14 Aug 2017 at 14:32

Aileron said:
I had a Chevrolet Suburban the first time I booked the same class and a Ford Explorer the second time. Both were new & huge.

Suburban is the extended size Tahoe and isn't generally given out in the same class unless they are out of cars.

Howard · 14 Aug 2017 at 14:36

[TW]Fox said:
Suburban is the extended size Tahoe and isn't generally given out in the same class unless they are out of cars.

I can hope, I suppose!

[TW]Fox · 14 Aug 2017 at 14:55

Howard said:
I can hope, I suppose!

It's exactly the same car so no real benefit to getting it over a Tahoe IMHO.

Howard · 14 Aug 2017 at 15:03

[TW]Fox said:
It's exactly the same car so no real benefit to getting it over a Tahoe IMHO.

This is true. I just presumed bigger = better

timmeh · 14 Aug 2017 at 16:02

A Tahoe will be plenty big enough unless there's more than 5 of you. Those Suburbans are obnoxiously huge.

Rids · 15 Aug 2017 at 12:09

Anybody aware what class of vehicle a Charger would full under? We have a Ford Taurus or equivalent booked at the moment, leaning towards paying the difference for a Charger when we arrive, but interested in estimating what that cost will be.

[TW]Fox · 15 Aug 2017 at 12:30

It is a standard fullsize, so likely the same class as the Taurus. I would not expect to have to pay to take a Charger over a Taurus.

Don't forget the Charger is simply a bog standard sedan. The Challenger is the Dodge Coupe now (Though really thats just a differently styled 2 door Charger).

Rids · 15 Aug 2017 at 14:14

Awesome, thanks.

A Challenger is likely to have a bit more grunt than a Taurus though, no?

Unfortunately we can't go for any kind of 2 door, there are 3 of us for the first 10 days of the trip and then 4 of us for the last week so space would become a real issue! One of the trip participants has been trying to convince us to switch to a Mustang / Challenger pretty much non-stop!

[TW]Fox · 15 Aug 2017 at 14:45

Rids said:
A Challenger is likely to have a bit more grunt than a Taurus though, no?

No, they've all got circa 300bhp engines in the V6 variants.

The Taurus isn't that common anyway.

b0rn2sk8 · 15 Aug 2017 at 20:35

We had a Taurus, will do the job fine. Plenty of space for 4 adults and a cavernous 'trunk'. Can not really say I saw more than one or two about, saw loads of Impala's though which were in the same class. It was under the 'premium' category on Alamo.

I really wouldn't do a Mustang or similar for more than 2 people, much too small.