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John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
With an automatic car it is not necessary to set the parking brake (hand brake) when parking on a level surface, since putting the car in "Park" engages a pinion which will stop it moving. However, when parking on a slope always use the parking brake. When parking on a very steep road, turn the front wheels in to the kerb as an additional safeguard.
In summer it is a good idea to use a folding cardboard sunscreen which can be propped up inside the windscreen when the car is parked. This helps prevent the car and especially the steering wheel from becoming uncomfortably hot. These screens can be purchased inexpensively from Wal-Mart and other similar stores.
Never leave unaccompanied young children or animals in parked vehicles, especially in hot weather.
According to a report in USA Today in Mar-03, it is illegal in Washington State to leave a vehicle unattended with its engine running. I do not know if other states have similar laws. Apart from the obvious dangers, 10% of the cars stolen in the city of Tacoma, Washington State had been left with their engines running.
In small towns in the USA and Canada you often see cars in parking lots outside shops left unlocked, with windows down and keys in the ignition. However, visitors unfamiliar with local conditions should definitely always close the windows, lock the car and take the keys with them.
Since rental cars are often only supplied with one key, you may wish to obtain a duplicate key to guard against the risk of accidentally locking the key inside the car. Before doing this, check in the glove box and the boot in case a spare key or remote locking "clicker" is provided. The least expensive source for duplicate keys is a discount department store such as Wal-Mart, but they may not have key blanks for the latest models of foreign cars, in which case a specialist locksmith will usually be able to help you for only a slightly greater cost.
Car Parking On The Road
Throughout the United States:
All of the above are of course subject to vehicle breakdowns and other emergencies, or being stopped by a police car.
Parking is illegal on roads which are designated as "snow routes". Signs will warn you of this and indicate the range of dates when parking is not permitted, where relevant.
According to booklets published by the Budget and Hertz car rental companies it is illegal to park on the side of any road or highway in the USA other than in a designated parking area. Information on this point is not easy to obtain but I suspect that it probably varies between states, within states, between urban and rural areas and between residential and non-residential areas.
Whenever parking on the road, always check for signs indicating that parking is not permitted or limited to a certain duration.
The road sign "Parallel Parking Only" means that you must park with the side of your vehicle parallel to the side of the road, not at an angle to it. This usually applies on narrow streets where there is insufficient room for vehicles to park at an angle to the kerb.
In most small towns on-road car parking is free. In larger towns parking meters are used but charges tend to be very low compared with Britain. Parking meter charges on back streets or a few blocks away from the town centre may be significantly lower than in the centre itself.
I have never seen parking disks used in the USA or Canada. These disks are used in many mainland European countries as a method of controlling the length of time that a vehicle is parked.
Seth Verdot of Jefferson City, Missouri kindly sent me this information:
In some places there are limits on how long you can leave a car parked at the curb, even if you continue to feed coins into the meter. In these places a meter enforcer may come by on a scooter and make a mark on your tyres with a piece of chalk on a stick. If he finds the car is still there with its chalk marks after your time is up, you'll get a ticket, even though the meter has been paid. These areas will have their restricted hours posted on signs, in addition to the meters themselves.
It is extremely rare to have any difficulty finding a place to park in the car parks outside restaurants, shops, motels, etc. In the extremely unlikely event of all the spaces being full then you could use an adjacent establishment's car park. However, Michael Cardoso of Tumwater, Washington State, wrote to me to point out that some businesses have signs saying that their parking areas are reserved for their own customers, in which case there is a risk of incurring a penalty such as your car being towed away at your expense. The risk may be small but the penalty could be very significant.
A full car park outside a restaurant is a very good indicator of its quality and popularity. Similarly, an empty car park outside a restaurant at normal meal times should be taken as a warning sign.
The open air car parks outside discount department stores and shopping malls are often large enough to have road layouts of their own, complete with stop signs. Although many drivers cut across these car parks diagonally, visitors unfamiliar with the layout would be well advised to follow the lanes and roads and to obey road signs as if they were on a normal road, and of course to look out for other drivers who cut across.
Many open air car parks outside large discount department stores and shopping malls have two parallel lines between adjacent car parking bays, about a foot apart. These ensure that there is plenty of room between two adjacent cars for their doors to swing wide open. Many of these large car parks have one-way lanes and angled parking bays.
Roads in the car parks of discount department stores and shopping malls which run alongside their pedestrian entrances are usually designated as "Fire Lanes". Parking is not permitted in Fire Lanes as they must be kept free for emergency service vehicles such as fire trucks (fire engines) and ambulances. It is perfectly allowable to drive in a fire lane.
Almost all drivers in the USA and Canada park head-in, in other words they drive forwards into a parking bay and reverse out of it. Many motels have signs saying "Head-in Parking Only" which means that the bonnet of the vehicle should be closest to the building or fence, etc. This is presumably to reduce the risk of damage to buildings and also to avoid marks on building walls from exhaust pipes. In large open air car parks with one-way lanes and angled parking bays the layout makes head-in parking the only option.
Finding the entrance from a road into a gas station or into the car park of a restaurant, motel, supermarket, etc can be tricky, especially when turning left. Often there are numerous entrances to different establishments very close to each other, together with side roads. On a divided highway you may find it very difficult to locate the correct place to turn left into an entrance. U-turns are often illegal in built-up areas so if you miss an entrance it is usually best to turn round either by going round a block or by turning left into another establishment and using its car park to turn round in.
Sometimes the side of the road at an entrance has a high ridge. There is a danger of the bottom of the car hitting such a ridge if you drive over it too quickly.
Large car parks, especially at motels, often have speed bumps to prevent vehicles from driving too quickly.
Many restaurants and gas stations are located on intersections (road junctions) and have multiple entrances on the different roads. Sometimes it can be easier to turn left into a side road first and then use a side entrance into the restaurant etc.
Most fast food restaurants have the entrance to their car park from the main road, and the car park itself, located on the righthand side of the building (as you stand looking at the front of the building from the road). To exit, you usually drive round the back of the building and then alongside its lefthand side. The drive-through is usually on the lefthand side of the building, with the lane for the drive-through starting at the back of the building. If you are not using the drive-through then be careful not to get trapped in its lane when exiting.
Because of the multiple entrances and exits, when leaving a car park it can often be difficult to remember which road you were on and which direction you were travelling. Therefore it is wise to make a mental note of the road layout and/or an obvious landmark before leaving the car. Because of the huge size of some car parks it is also useful to make a conscious note of which lane you parked in.
When leaving a car park be sure not to pull onto a one-way road or a divided highway travelling in the wrong direction. Visitors from Britain or Australia also need to remember to drive on the right.
Often it can be easier to exit onto a side road and then turn onto a main road, especially if you need to turn left onto a busy road and an intersection has traffic lights to help you to do this.
Car parking in National Parks, National Monuments, State Parks and Provincial Parks is always free, except that in a small number of cases there is no charge made for visitors who drive through a park without stopping.
In the centres of big cities you may need to use a parking lot, either open air or multi-storey.
Handicapped Parking Spaces
Parking spaces reserved for handicapped people are clearly indicated by the wheelchair symbol, either on the road surface or on a sign, or both.
These parking spaces are usually wider than normal spaces and frequently have adjacent ramps for wheelchairs marked with crosshatching, in which parking is illegal.
There are very severe penalties for parking in spaces reserved for handicapped people without the required permit, or for parking in adjacent crosshatched areas. These spaces are always respected in the USA and Canada.
These regulations apply in both public and private parking areas.
Driving - Essential Information
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Most recently modified 23-Jan-04