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John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
Vehicles drive on the right throughout the USA and Canada, except for the US Virgin Islands where they drive on the left.
Visitors from other countries would be most unwise to assume that claiming to be unfamiliar with American and Canadian driving regulations would be sufficient for them to avoid incurring any penalty for failing to observe them.
In very large cities such as Los Angeles the freeways can have as many as eight lanes in each direction, sometimes with on and off ramps on both sides, sometimes only a quarter of a mile apart. A good navigator and advance route planning is vital! Be particularly careful of becoming trapped in an exit only lane.
Other than in the big cities, roads are fairly free of traffic and driving is generally a pleasure. You can usually maintain a steady speed all day with few problems and no fatigue.
Outside towns even relatively minor roads normally have wide hard shoulders. Roads in towns are usually very wide.
In summer, it's a good idea to wear sunglasses when driving so as to cut down the reflected glare from the road surface.
It's also a good idea to obtain a folding cardboard sunshade for the windscreen, in order to make the car more comfortable and to make it possible to hold the steering wheel after a stop in the sun. Good inexpensive sources for these shades include K-Mart and Wal-Mart.
Even a small American or Canadian town can extend over a very large area, making walking impractical.
Other than in the centre of a large town car parking is extremely convenient, with each shop or restaurant having its own free open air car park.
Spaces in car parks tend to vary from large to huge and there are often two parallel white lines between adjacent parking spaces, a couple of feet apart, allowing plenty of space for car doors to swing open. There are often special very long parking spaces for RV's (recreational vehicles, i.e. motorhomes). Special parking spaces for disabled people are usually provided and are marked with the wheelchair symbol; these spaces are always respected and the fines for using them without the necessary permit are very high.
Motels and fast food restaurants are usually situated a considerable distance from the centre of a town, often stretching for several miles along the main highways or the access roads from an Interstate.
Interstate and Freeway entrances in towns can often be remarkably inconspicuous and tricky to find. It can often be easy to turn into an adjacent service road or gas station entrance instead. On ramps (entrance slip roads) can occasionally be extremely short in heavily built-up areas.
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Most recently modified 16-Aug-02