road trip USA

king of the road?

The Cars - Who's Gonna Make You Moan Tonight

After a month on the road, I feel I owe my readership (yes, both of you) a resume of my findings from life in a car on the roads of the USA.

Firstly, I realise I was a little harsh in my comment that my car has the handling characteristics of our sofa. I think our rather racy leather sofa would hold the road much better. I'm sure that the Hyundais on sale in the UK can't possibly handle as badly as this great lump does, so I can only assume that either a) the Sonata is not available in England, or b) they build these models down to suit the US penchant for sloppy handling and vague steering, or c) their suspensions are tuned down to US standards. (I always assumed that those 50s film stars who were driving a car and talking, and gently wafting the wheel from left to right to left, were miming badly. But no: they were trying to keep their American built cars on the road...) Until this point in my life, I have never yearned for a BMW: but a swap seems very desirable at this point. The car also suffers from the absence of an external air temperature gauge. This might seem a picky sort of criticism, but on several occasions recently it has been warm inside the car from the greenhouse effect of bright sunshine, but I needed to know (for safety reasons) whether the temperature outside has fallen below zero - which on 2 occasions it has, according to LCD displays outside banks. (Thank goodness for banks...)

2ndly, I am mighty relieved to have had the foresight to pack a CD with 150 of my favourite MP3s squeezed onto it. Previously I mentioned the frustration of the car radio: to scan through the stations, I have to reach a fair distance to my right, and with the problem of driving pretty rapidly into and out of range of radio stations, I am spending long periods steering with my left hand, and constantly retuning the radio with my right hand. This has resulted in RSI injuries in both forearms, and as an adoptive American, I feel a lawsuit coming on: possibly against Hyundai, or maybe Budget Car Rental - or perhaps even Mrs T for not warning me of this particular risk when she authorised my absence and sanctioned my travel plan.

Speaking of frivolous lawsuits, I promised an update on the Baseball Case involving injury to a schoolboy hit by a baseball. The case is being brought against - the manufacturers of the bat, because it enabled the batsman to hit the ball too hard! No kidding. Although the USA is still (narrowly) ahead of Britain in creating frivolous lawsuits, this brings to mind one area where the English are definitely ahead of America: inventing sports for the world - Football, Cricket, Rugby, Tennis, Hockey, Golf. Yes, I know, technically golf was a Scottish invention, but I feel able to claim vicarious credit for that on the basis that I have to put up with Gordon Brown as "leader" of England, despite being un-English, unelected as PM, and MP of a non-English constituency. At least the Americans have the very sensible rule that to be in charge of their country, you must have been born there. And yes, the Yanks did give us basketball, and American Football (which despite being a sort of bastard son of Rugby, is a decent spectacle). However, they did also try to give us baseball, to which the rest of the world very sensibly said Thanks, but No Thanks. One has to smile when the baseball Authorities claim to be holding the "World Championships".

Any other issues? Every day, I stop, pause, and think: remember to drive on the wrong side of the road. So far I have succeeded in avoiding the impulse to drive on the proper side. Even after a month, I still instinctively reach over my right shoulder for the seatbelt, which shows that old habits die hard (unlike the Americans, who are still just dying - because they refuse to belt up - the latest reported victim being a paramedic on his way to work...)

I can see for miles and miles and miles...

This legendary line from - who? - sums up one of THE great advantages of driving in the US. It is possible to drive vast distances in a very relaxed state because once one is away from the urban centres, the roads are SO empty.

Combine this with widespread use of cruise control, and you can predict exactly what will be required as you cruise up behind someone, or vice versa, and once past each other the driving behaviour tends to be unaltered - so the car that passed you tends not to cut in and then sit back on you, which can be frustrating.

The Cruise Control and the very empty roads mean that your feet can take up very relaxed positions - reducing strain in the ankles and calf muscles, making big mileages very much easier than in England.

I measured this straight on R50 in Nevada when I saw it from the top of the hill - it's 17 miles long.

Overtaking is generally not difficult: and trucks tend not to hold you up, except in areas where they are hill climbing: otherwise, as often as not, they tend to be setting the pace rather than restraining it.

School's Out

Take it to the limit...

Speed limits are, in general, very sensibly managed: tighter control in sensitive areas, including reduced limits when school children are present, and in the presence of road works ("Speeding penalties doubled in work zone". "Hit a worker, pay a $10,000 fine, and lose your licence. Give 'em a brake." "Speeding fines doubled in School zone"). Despite the apparent absence of speed cameras, folk seem to obey these directives much more consistently.

By contrast, there are generally quite liberal limits away from the town centres. Speed limits appear, to me, to be better observed in urban areas than in Britain: perhaps because there is less congestion, people object less to the tight limits - because once past them, they know they will be able to get on with it again. I've spent most of the past 2 days driving through Nevada in 70mph limits on a simple 2 lane carriageway. One less than attractive consequence of the US approach to speed limits is that there is such a plethora of different limits: I have now seen everything from 15mph to 75mph in 5mph increments: and yesterday I actually passed from a 40mph zone to a 45mph zone: what's the point of that? However, in general, I like the US approach, and have argued for this when campaigning in the UK.

Roundabouts are rare: crossroads with a 4-way-stop system are quite common, and seem to work well on the "uncertainty creates caution" principle. Everyone seems to take their turn very sensibly. (In saying all this, I do acknowledge that I haven't driven in New York or the busiest parts of Los Angeles!)

American cars are less wacky than I remember them. The influence of Europe and especially the Far East is improving the general standard (although not fast enough, judging by my Sonata) but at the same time is homogenising the style, which makes for a less visually striking road mix.

There are still some honourable exceptions, most of which are older models. Cadillac still manage to produce some glitzy specimens, and I am surprised at how few Mercs I have seen, bearing in mind their tie-up with Chrysler. BMW, Volvo and Lexus are much more common. I don't notice so many obvious luxury cars on the road as in Europe, but of course there are far more pick-up trucks and SUVs, including some absolutely enormous versions that look like removal vans with darkened glass inserts, sitting on aircraft tyres.

Three Wheels on My Wagon

Little red Corvette.

Despite the "gas crisis" (more of which tomorrow) the road is still dominated by medium-large cars. To put this in perspective the Audi A4 looks distinctly small, whereas in England it is medium sized. The only small cars I have seen are 2 Minis, and they looked micro sized.

There are fewer motorcyclists "going somewhere" (if you know what I mean) but lots of them on leisure trips.

Motels: these are generally excellent value compared with overnighting on the road in Britain. The most challenging aspect for me, as a light sleeper, is the noise from the roads, as generally, they are right on the main road. The American habit of just rolling up at 6pm (or later) and asking for a room means that you have to be visible from the highway to survive in what is a very cut-throat business.

Oh, and one more personal reflection: you may have noticed that Roger Federer has a more heavily developed right forearm than left. I am somewhat similar to the Curate's Egg: well done on my left hand side.

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