Some random observations about driving in the US

Americans drive differently, you know.

The following random thoughts were ones that sprung to mind as I drove from Boston to Chicago. They’re not entirely based on this trip – a lot of these things I’ve noticed on other big US drives as well. Not all of them are criticisms either. They’re just different from what I’m accustomed to…

Americans like absurdly big cars

Not exactly breaking news. But perfectly adequate cars appear to be thought of as tiny. It’s a good job that petrol prices are pretty much the lowest in the first world – the cost of driving the giant beasts if petrol was properly taxed wouldn’t bear thinking about.

But parking them is easier

Big cars mean big parking spaces. Excellent news for anyone who happens to be rubbish at parking. Not that I’m rubbish at parking, you understand. No, no, no.

Non-toll roads can be maddening

It’s not always the case, but if you want to cover some ground, it’s almost always worth shelling out for the toll roads. The alternatives can be a frustrating barrage of intersections with traffic lights through villages and strip malls that line up interminably along the road. Hello Route 50 coming out of Philadelphia, incidentally.

Speed limits are largely adhered to

On a road with a 65mph limit, you’ll rarely encounter anyone doing too much more than that. It’ll be 70mph at a push, 75mph very rarely and 80mph exceptionally rarely. In around ten hours of driving with, ahem, let’s say a moderate European take on speed limits, I was overtaken just once. This might be due to a bigger fear of losing the licence – being carless in the States is a much bigger deal than in Europe. It may also be due to bigger distances – there’s a certain resigned acceptance of a long slog.

Left lane hogging is rife

American drivers seem to like sitting in the left lane (the fast one given that they drive on the other side of the road), unconcerned with any queues that may be piling up behind them. My theory is that this is due to widespread use of cruise control. Nobody speeds up to overtake – they just move lane at the speed they happen to be travelling at and stay there.

Hunch? The ones that do this are the ones going at 70mph on cruise control, thinking they’re being a bit risky and assuming no-one’s going to be interested in overtaking them.

As is undertaking

An addendum to that theory – people aren’t worried about hogging the left lane because there’s no law against undertaking. It seems to happen all the time.

Americans are shocking for letting other drivers in

Good luck getting out of that side road into a stream of traffic. Or off a slip road at a junction. The arts of moving aside to create a gap for merging traffic to get into and letting people in when they’re clearly struggling to find a good time to pull out seem underappreciated in the States. Again, I’m putting this down to longer distances and cruise control – both lead to a less intense form of driving. By necessity, some of the thought processes are diluted – there’s a tendency to zone out to the least alert level that’s still safe.

They love rear window stickers

The backs of cars seem to be free-for-all billboards for political sloganeering. The general rule of thumb is the bigger the percentage of the rear windscreen covered in stickers, the more appalling the causes the driver will be supporting.

Lights stay on

This by no means applies to all drivers, but it does to a much higher percentage than it would in the UK. It’s amazing how many times you’ll be driving in broad daylight and will see switched-on headlights coming towards you.

As do mobile phones

Particularly in urban areas, the prevalence of mobile phones being used at the wheel is staggering. Coming out of Boston, virtually every driver was tapping away at their “handheld device” or had earphones in, blocking out one of the key senses. Sod it, why not play a computer game while you’re at it, chaps?