Driving in America - a view from an Englishman.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I've just got back from a trip in the US where I drove from Newark, NJ to the Geneseo region of New York (about 350 miles). This was my first time driving in America and the first time I've ever driven on the wrong side of the road. So here are a few of my thoughts.

1) Undertaking- So on busy stretches of interstate it is perfectly acceptable to undertake on the inside? Three minutes into my 5 hour drive and I have traffic passing me on both sides and no idea which lane I'm supposed to be in.

2) Speed limits- What are they for? Because nobody sticks to them. I'm sticking to the 65mph limit and I still have lorries and cars flying past me.

3) Text areas 5 miles ahead- So you have areas at the side of your freeway that are there so drivers can text each other...

4) Prepaying for fuel - I had no idea that you had to pay for your petrol before you could fill up. So how much do I need to pay...........

5) $35 for a tank of fuel - Can I fill up my suitcase please while I'm here?

6) Road-kill - Most British children would be traumatised at the sight of Bambi dead on the side of the road every 90 miles.

7) Musical bridges - The tarmac over bridges makes a different road noise to the rest of the road. Sounded musical to me.

8) Road side diners - And you mock British food for being inedible? What is with your obsession of putting 'American imitation cheese food' on everything?

9) Stop signs - I really think roundabouts are a more efficient way of dealing with intersections.

10) Freeway exits in the middle lane- So I'm looking for my exit so I move over to get in the right-hand lane and now I've driven past my exit because it was in the middle lane???

So it was an educational experience but I can't help but think that driving in Britain would be more difficult for an American.

[Starter]

I've just got back from a trip in the US where I drove from Newark, NJ to the Geneseo region of New York (about 350 miles). This was my first time driving in America and the first time I've ever driven on the wrong side of the road. So here are a few of my thoughts.

1) Undertaking- So on busy stretches of interstate it is perfectly acceptable to undertake on the inside? Three minutes into my 5 hour drive and I have traffic passing me on both sides and no idea which lane I'm supposed to be in.

A result of the poor driver training we have here. The rule is drive right, pass left. Unfortunately, many drive in whatever lane they feel like with no regard for those behind them.

2) Speed limits- What are they for? Because nobody sticks to them. I'm sticking to the 65mph limit and I still have lorries and cars flying past me.

Speed limits are for collecting revenue. Most speed limits here are way too slow and are therefore widely ignored. Generally if you are 7 to 10 mph over the posted speed then you'll be in the middle of the flow of traffic.

3) Text areas 5 miles ahead- So you have areas at the side of your freeway that are there so drivers can text each other...

Better than texting while driving.

4) Prepaying for fuel - I had no idea that you had to pay for your petrol before you could fill up. So how much do I need to pay...........

Easy if you use a credit card at the pump. With cash they don't want you filling up and then driving off without paying.

6) Road-kill - Most British children would be traumatised at the sight of Bambi dead on the side of the road every 90 miles.

You only saw them every 90 miles? One of the biggest causes of accidents and injuries here is deer hits. No natural predators left (except for the auto) and bambi lovers saying you can't do a controlled kill to thin them out. They are breeding like mad. They're on the side of the road because most happen between dusk & dawn and it takes a while for the locations to be reported and the highway dept getting someone out to collect them.

8) Road side diners - And you mock British food for being inedible? What is with your obsession of putting 'American imitation cheese food' on everything?

What, you don't have any McDonalds? You need to look for the non chain places and there is still plenty of good grub out there.

9) Stop signs - I really think roundabouts are a more efficient way of dealing with intersections.

Couldn't agree more.

[Alexamateo]

Starter addressed everything except #10. Left (middle) exits are pretty rare. I have seen them on toll roads where the service areas for fuel/dining/service etc were in the middle and serving both directions of traffic. The ones there usually have an exclusive contract to serve that particular highway. Were you on a toll road?

[Storm]

Yeah I haven't seen any middle lane exits in my drives either..of course I haven't driven in NY state either

Speed limits? on a 65 posted I used to put cruise control on 65 but like you John, everybody seemed to fly around me...so after a couple of days, I always put it on 70 and going up to 80/85 to overtake stuff (especially higher for the behemoths called semis) and then back to 70/72. Where I drove someplaces even had limits as low as 55/60 nearer urban areas and still most people seemed to be doing 70mph.

[zako85]

1) Undertaking- So on busy stretches of interstate it is perfectly acceptable to undertake on the inside? Three minutes into my 5 hour drive and I have traffic passing me on both sides and no idea which lane I'm supposed to be in.

Too many old, distracted or overly passive drivers who forget that they're on the left lane. The impatient drivers behind tend to pass on the right instead of signaling the slow driver in front.

2) Speed limits- What are they for? Because nobody sticks to them. I'm sticking to the 65mph limit and I still have lorries and cars flying past me.

I agree. In many states +5 or +10mph is the norm. Having said that, I am in San Antonio right now, and this city happens to have some of the most passive and distracted drivers in the country who often drive 5 to 10 mph below speed limit, just in case.. or something.

4) Prepaying for fuel - I had no idea that you had to pay for your petrol before you could fill up. So how much do I need to pay...........

Use a credit/debit card at the pump.

6) Road-kill - Most British children would be traumatised at the sight of Bambi dead on the side of the road every 90 miles.

Here in Texas hill country, on a good day you see some road kill seemingly every mile. Sometimes even large birds that descend to eat the dead animals are also killed. It's kind of sad.

[Rollo]

10) Freeway exits in the middle lane- So I'm looking for my exit so I move over to get in the right-hand lane and now I've driven past my exit because it was in the middle lane???

So it was an educational experience but I can't help but think that driving in Britain would be more difficult for an American.

Freeways in the United States (thanks to Charles Wilson's massive bit of grift) are lovely things. Compared to what we have in Oz, they're fantastically signposted and the numbering system is as good as the UK's.

I have no idea where I-29 is but I could guess that it's a spur of a North-South expressway somewhere in the middle of the country.
For the most part, numbers get higher from West to East and from South to North, odd numbers are uppy-downy and evens are acrossy.

[airshifter]

Just imagine if you had more time to explore more of the US roads. Then you'd find out all the even stranger stuff that happens as you travel. There are places here in the US where there are even more special types of idiots on the roads on a regular basis.

As for roundabouts, they would just screw those up too. There is one up near where my wife is from, and according to driving regs our rules are the same as most places. That being you yield going into the roundabout to those already in it. But up there they decided the main road should have right of way. So I'm IN the roundabout already, and cars are approaching as if they would just run into us. Officially I was in the right, but hichtown USA decided they had their own set of rules.


Speed limits? For the most part they only somewhat apply off the major roads. The highway is almost always fair game. If people are going slow, there is probably a speed trap in the area. We have express lanes locally where the speed limit is 65 MPH, but going that speed would often get you run over.

Once while travelling through the desert in California, I passed a State Trooper on a two lane road while going close to 90 MPH. And I didn't get a ticket. Dead serious.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Easy if you use a credit card at the pump. With cash they don't want you filling up and then driving off without paying.

Use a credit/debit card at the pump.

Now that's another thing. I tried to buy a Metro card for the New York subway with my credit card and couldn't because it asked for a zip code. I'm assuming that the pump would ask for a zip code rather than a pin code, which is what we use over here. You don't use chip and pin in the states.

[Starter]

Now that's another thing. I tried to buy a Metro card for the New York subway with my credit card and couldn't because it asked for a zip code. I'm assuming that the pump would ask for a zip code rather than a pin code, which is what we use over here. You don't use chip and pin in the states.

No we don't use the chip & pin though most major card issuers are going that way. Long overdue. The magnetic strip is way too easy to fool. and there is massive fraud here as a result. In a number of ways you guys are ahead of us.

[A.F.F.]

I didn't mind undertaking at all because it flowed like a dream, traffic was like a controlled chaos. Very different to Finland. I enjoyed every minute of driving in US.