Driving in the USA

[pinotnow]

I am starting to get anxious about the driving element of our summer trip to the USA. I have never driven there before and am the only adult/driver as it's me and my teens going.

One worry is navigation. We rely on my inbuilt Satnav at home and with roaming charges I don't think Google maps on our phones is going to be doable? Would a separate Satnav I bought here work? It's one of many worries...We're not driving a huge amount - from Philadelphia to Annapolis to York Town to Charlottesville/Shenandoah to DC, but I'm starting to dwell on it!

Any tips would be amazing!

You couldn’t when I did my test 40 years ago.

I agree, and I did my test in the 1980s so it's not new!

Usually in USA especially my hire cars come with satnav by default. I didn't pay, the cars just have it built in.
Google maps is fine, too, get an esim & cables, batterypack.

I used to use the EE travel add on but refuse to pay that for my 3 week trip in summer, instead i'm taking my old Iphone and before i go buying a Three pay as you go sim with a data bundle that works in the US.

Agree with most posts on here and would agree that driving in the US is much easier than in the UK/Europe - except for one thing: Finding your way out of the airport car rental garage.

Typically, the car rental garages are on the outskirts of the airport or even in another location, and you have to take a shuttle to get to them. Their exits are often through a maze of roads which feel like you're driving through the local trading estate/industrial park and sometimes lack good sineage (looking at you SFO and LAX). Not the best when you've got off a long flight, have queued through immigration, baggage reclaim, and are now driving an unfamiliar car on the "wrong" side of the road.

So, my recommendations are:

1: Go into Google maps and research the drive from the car hire garage to the main road/freeway etc you need to be on - Google street view is very good for this.

2: Have a helpful person in the passenger seat who has also looked at point 1 above with you.

3: Take your time and get the air-conditioning and satnav/Google maps working before you leave the garage.

4: Tell the kids to be quiet and that they'll need to do without the radio for a while.

5: Don't be worried about doing multiple laps of the airport to gain familiarity - i did 3 laps of Austin airport the first time i flew there.

6: It doesn't matter if you end up heading in the opposite direction from where you want to be - you can just turn around at the next exit

Late 80s for me, and I was taught to slow down to the point you could stop, but that if the way is clear, you don't need to come to a total stop.

Of course, in those days, there was no theory test, and I was reliant on my instructor teaching me correctly. I passed my test, but couldn't tell you with any certainty that it cropped up on said test.

@HappiestSleeping- that's how I was taught too - also in the late 80s.

And it's definitely not how they do it in the US - I got pulled over for not stopping at a stop sign, in a small town in Arizona, when it was clear there were no other cars in a 200-300 yard vicinity (except for the police car 200 yards behind me which I hadn't clocked 😅)

I was also pulled in the US, which is how I know you must stop 🤦‍♂️

Glad it wasn't just me taught like that over here. I know things have changed. They teach clutch use much differently now too.

That's absurd. 29/50 largest pharma companies in the world are not based in America. See GSK, NovoNordisk, Pfizer etc. LOADS of health tech is not based in USA. Food production? Look to Europe. Manufacturing is mostly in China. Having recently visited Canada, I can tell you that consumer mentality is changing. All Californian wine and produce has been removed from shelves because it is literally rotting/ being rejected. The Canadians won't buy American products, and are instead buying Mexican or elsewhere. Because people are outraged by American policy. Of course some products are American. But to shrug with indifference and tell someone to go have a nap is how people like Trump get into power. The only people napping here are those of you who refuse to acknowledge how dangerous that administration is.

Trump got into power because not enough people derailed totally innocuous and irrelevant threads on fairly niche areas of the Internet in other countries? Ok then.

It’s not state specific—it’s the law in the entire country—you can treat it as a stop sign. Ie, full stop.

Yes—police are known to do this for an easy ticket. The ground below you must stop moving completely.

You don’t have to stop completely for a Yield (give way) sign, but STOP signs are more commonplace.

@monkeyboy2013good grief do you have nothing better to do than patronise people on a holiday thread, if you want to talk politics grow some balls and do it somewhere where people care and will take it up with you, this is a thread about an OP who has booked a holiday on her own with teenagers, do you really believe for one second she’s going to turn around to her teens and say “oh you know what guys, monkey boy on MN raised some really pertinent points that has made me completely reevaluate our holiday, I’ve cancelled it, I’ve lost the 4 figure deposit but don’t worry we can still go to Skeggy- yay!”

You can download the maps when on WiFi and then use offline. Or just pay for data on the days you need it.

Fascinating expert 'analysis' from Monkeybore, impeccably tailored to the subject of driving in the USA 🥱

I failed my first driving test for running a stop sign. It was the first four way stop on the test route after the 22 stone policeman and I left the rural DMV, he with his clipboard and pencil stub and me with my heart in my mouth.

I have come to a full stop at all stop signs ever since.

Miles to destination wouldn't work as people on any given highway would have any number of destinations. The highways cross the entire country, east-west and north-south. It would make no sense to indicate miles to Miami from Des Moines or miles to Little Rock from Chicago. You will see miles to those places when you're within hailing distance though.

The signs do tell you how far to the exits smd intersections that are coming up. Signs over the right side of the highway indicate a right exit (this is the most common). Signs on the left indicate a left exit - very rare, because the left lane is the fast lane and it can be unsafe to exit onto a ramp where you have to slow down significantly from the left lane speed.

Mile markers along the highways are useful to note if you have an emergency and have to pull over and summon assistance. If this happens, do your utmost to pull over to the right as close as possible to the edge of the shoulder, not the left, and put on your blinkers.

You can get a T Mobile SIM, I think at Walmart. But you could also just download the map for your area using WiFi.
Don't worry about driving on the other side - just try and go on a quiet road to start with.

Lane management is pretty poor in the US, not sure if it’s not mandated or just cultural but it can become quite a free for all, but just stay right, but keep vigilant with what lanes you need, you can find you suddenly need to be 5 lanes over or your lane is about to veer off, if that makes you nervous take a few mins for familiarise yourself with your route before taking off.

Ha. That brought back memories. When I first moved the the US I did that - stayed to the right so I wouldn't miss my exit. Then I went to LA for work and work lent me a truck to go somewhere and I stayed to the right - didn't realise that exits could be on the left on the LA freeway until I saw the sign for my exit. I changed 5 lanes in one go.

If you do download the Waze app, which is great, note that one of the voices you can have on it is Paddington's, and it is brilliant. He is a stickler for consideration for other drivers.

You will be absolutely fine, but do check if there are any state specific rules. I drove through a state where there was a rule that you have to move over to the left if a cop is on the hard shoulder with his blue lights on. I didn't realise and was very lucky I didn't get pulled over.

The only stressful bit on my trip I found was navigating around Pittsburgh but looks like you are not going in that direction.

Not scaremongering if from our government website and this poster is right.

Drive in the US is very different so sat nav is least of your worries.

Highways can stretch 10 lanes on each side and undertaking is allowed so it’s daunting. Stop lights not roundabouts. Full stop at a stop sign (no rolling) or you will get a ticket. Cops everywhere and they will pull you over so ALWAYS have you driving license with you ( a legal requirement) and insurance documents. Their hand will also be on a gun so polite and slow is the way to go. Express lanes and collectors lanes are good to understand. Some states (don’t know about Pennsylvania) you can turn right on a red light if you dead stop first. Roads are grid and some based on direction so that’s easier. You have to pull over when blue lights go by. Drive on the right too…..

Yup I know many have been caught out and police are everywhere not like here. A stop sign means stopping - it’s the law. There was a hint there. And don’t speed. If you are on a foreign license you will have to pay an on the spot fine as they don’t recognise your license for points or payment.

Good point about the bus. Very costly on the spot fine (with a foreign license)