First timer driving in the states - anything to worry about?

First timer driving in the states - anything to worry about?

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Richyboy

Original Poster:

3,739 posts

216 months

Monday 17th August 2015
quotequote all
Might be going to LA. Will need to hire a car. Never driven on the right side of the road before. Never driven in the US, bit worried. Can I do it with common sense? Anyone have any tips or links to relevant webpages?

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 17th August 2015
quotequote all
Don't speed as they really don't like it.

If you get stopped by the Police stay sat in the car and await instruction.


In general it's pretty straightforward. The freeways around LA can be very very busy, but no worse that in the UK, even if they do have more lanes.

rix

2,776 posts

189 months

Monday 17th August 2015
quotequote all
Unless a sign says otherwise you can turn right on a red light if clear.

A green light doesn't necessarily mean you have any priority over pedestrians as they will have a 'walk' light on the road to your right.

Come to a complete stop a stop signs and give way to whoever has stopped before you.

Don't pass a stopped school bus.

Don't speed (much!)

NNH

1,515 posts

131 months

Monday 17th August 2015
quotequote all
It might take a few miles to get used to being on the left hand side of the car. One way is to make sure you pay attention to the left-hand lane marking, and use that as a reference so you don't accidentally drift to the right.

Oh, and don't do what I tend to do: spend the first day paying careful attention, then hopping into the car on the second day without thinking and setting off on the wrong side of the road smile

ViperDave

5,520 posts

252 months

Monday 17th August 2015
quotequote all
Stop at the line on the road not the traffic light, If you do the latter you will be in the middle of the intersection as unlike here they often don't have a light at the stop line (usually overhead in the middle or far side), its not helped by the size of the roads so the stop light may be some way off into the distance too.

Likewise make sure when turning your turning onto the right side of the road and not the oncoming turn lanes or something. Often there will be concrete dividing the directions so make sure you go to the right of it, but as i said the size of some roads can make it seem like you need to turn sooner.

Move over for stopped police and highway maintenance workers on the freeway/interstate, either leave a spare lane between or slow to 20mph below posted limit. its the law in many states.



Edited by ViperDave on Monday 17th August 22:31

Roo

11,503 posts

206 months

Monday 17th August 2015
quotequote all
What they all said.

It's actually surprisingly easy. Just keep your wits about you. There's a 99% chance a rental car will be an auto so that's one less thing to think about.

Halmyre

11,147 posts

138 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
NNH said:
It might take a few miles to get used to being on the left hand side of the car. One way is to make sure you pay attention to the left-hand lane marking, and use that as a reference so you don't accidentally drift to the right.

Oh, and don't do what I tend to do: spend the first day paying careful attention, then hopping into the car on the second day without thinking and setting off on the wrong side of the road smile
I'm happy to say I've never done that but there's two things I always do with hire cars abroad:

1. The Tour of Inspection - you walk up to the wrong side of the car, realise your mistake, pretend you've spotted something worthy of inspection and then walk round to the driver's side.

2. The Itchy Right Ear - you get into the driver's seat, reach up to your right for the non-existent seat belt and scratch your right ear to relieve the sudden maddening itch. You then reach up to your left and put your seat belt on.

crmcatee

5,691 posts

226 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
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They also park going with the traffic - so no parking on the opposite side of the road facing the traffic when you pull out.

David Beer

3,982 posts

266 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
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Personally I never pick up a car from the flight, always a hotel first night. Tell passengers to zip it, follow a car ,that's going your way! With this summers road trip of 3000 miles I think it's around 150.000 miles, only been stopped for speeding twice, both times in Texas, the second time 72 in a 70. Ok the first was around 90 , no tickets given as we Brits are paper work.

Kenty

5,029 posts

174 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
David Beer said:
Personally I never pick up a car from the flight, always a hotel first night. Tell passengers to zip it, follow a car ,that's going your way! With this summers road trip of 3000 miles I think it's around 150.000 miles, only been stopped for speeding twice, both times in Texas, the second time 72 in a 70. Ok the first was around 90 , no tickets given as we Brits are paper work.
Good advice here, get rid of jetlag. Use a competent map reader if possible, be particularly careful when you get going after a stop, food or fuel, it is very easy to forget which side of the road you are supposed to be on!

menguin

3,762 posts

220 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
rix said:
Don't pass a stopped school bus.
Eh? So if a school bus is letting kids on/off, you have to sit behind it? Even if it pulls into a layby?

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
menguin said:
Eh? So if a school bus is letting kids on/off, you have to sit behind it? Even if it pulls into a layby?
In general yes.
It doesn't apply on major roads.

It's something they should bring in here to calm traffic through villages and housing estates.

toon10

6,140 posts

156 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
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Just be mindful that if you are in the middle lane, traffic can pass you on both sides. It works most of the time and can eliminate the annoying MLM issue we have in the UK. The flip side is you can have two cars passing you on either side and then trying to move into the middle lane in front of you at the same time. I've seen a few near misses.

Truckosaurus

11,183 posts

283 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
I've done the 'not going past the central reservation' thing when turning onto a deserted road, what I thought was a 4-lane road was in fact an 8-laner.

Other 'funnies' are that the inside lane of freeways often becomes the exit at junctions so you'll need to move a lane across which becomes the new inside lane.

There are very few roadsigns so you need to know where you are going.

I also found in LA that freeway entrances were sometimes hard to find.

In suburban areas on multi-laned roads it seems the inside lane is used just when turning off into another street or into a parking lot, and in the American stop/start driving style locals seem to pretty much come to a full stop before turning in. The same with speed bumps, you'll see huge lifted pickups slowing to 1mph to get over a speed bump that you're taking at 20mph in your rental car.

Puggit

48,354 posts

247 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
menguin said:
rix said:
Don't pass a stopped school bus.
Eh? So if a school bus is letting kids on/off, you have to sit behind it? Even if it pulls into a layby?
In either direction! So if you're approaching a stopped school bus (lights flashing etc) that is travelling in the opposite direction, you still have to stop. I think...

Matt Harper

6,613 posts

200 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
Puggit said:
In either direction! So if you're approaching a stopped school bus (lights flashing etc) that is travelling in the opposite direction, you still have to stop. I think...
Correct - unless the roadway is divided by a median that is min 20ft wide - so stop in either direction if you encounter a stopped school bus with flashing red lights (not flashing white strobe).



Timmy40

12,915 posts

197 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
rix said:
Come to a complete stop a stop signs and give way to whoever has stopped before you.
This confused me a lot at first! But you get used to it.

Halmyre

11,147 posts

138 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
Matt Harper said:
Puggit said:
In either direction! So if you're approaching a stopped school bus (lights flashing etc) that is travelling in the opposite direction, you still have to stop. I think...
Correct - unless the roadway is divided by a median that is min 20ft wide - so stop in either direction if you encounter a stopped school bus with flashing red lights (not flashing white strobe).
Someone might want to raise a comparison between the draconian restrictions of (shock!) driving past a (gasp!) parked schoolbus versus the not-so-draconian restrictions of wandering into a school with a shedload of weapons.

But not me, no sirree...

Truckosaurus

11,183 posts

283 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
Indeed. They also have 'School Zones' with flashing lights and 20mph limits for about half a mile either side of the school.

Matt Harper

6,613 posts

200 months

Tuesday 18th August 2015
quotequote all
Halmyre said:
Someone might want to raise a comparison between the draconian restrictions of (shock!) driving past a (gasp!) parked schoolbus versus the not-so-draconian restrictions of wandering into a school with a shedload of weapons.

But not me, no sirree...
Your attempt at being a smart-arse just makes you out to be an arse, unfortunately. Taking 'shedloads of weapons' into a school is met with a fairly draconian response usually.

Having traffic stop for school children (and rigidly enforcing speed limits in school zones) isn't draconian - it's quite sensible really. It helps avoid accidents, you see.

Another one to consider is emergency vehicles with lights/sirens in congested urban settings. It is usual to stop (without blocking the thoroughfare) when encountering them on city streets and allow them to navigate around you - as it removes a lot of uncertainty about what your directional intentions might be.