Hot answers tagged driving
42
Rent the car!
Los Angeles is built for cars. It has some of the worst public transportation imaginable, ever since General Motors conspired to eliminate the city's trolley system. Yes, there are busses and taxis, but you will find that busses take forever (and get stuck in the same traffic), and taxis are hard to find and expensive.
Only 11% of Los Angeles ...
20
I've been living in the LA area (in Long Beach, exactly) for 7 months, being there for studying abroad. I made the choice of not buying a car and solely relying on public transit.
Well... as said earlier, LA is clearly made for cars. Most busses don't take the freeways and move rather slowly. It depends on which route and which agency. Also, even if Metro ...
20
Required under certain conditions:
Outside populated areas: Italy, Hungary and Romania
Indicated roads only: Portugal
Motorcycles only: Belgium, France, Spain
Recommended:
Germany, Spain, France
Required at all times:
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, ...
19
We recently caught the ferry from the UK to Europe and needed to have these stickers (for the other way around).
We bought them before hand from UK car shop Halfords where they just call them "headlamp converters".
We also found find that everything needed for driving in other countries was sold on the ferry. They sold the headlamp converters, the country ...
19
You can drive in any US state with a drivers license from any other US state.
However, if your residence is no longer in CT, then you must get an OR driver's license. You can read the address FAQ on the OR DOT site, but basically it says if you change your residence, you need to change your address with the DMV.
As long as you are in OR temporarily ...
19
The statement 'there is no speed limit on the Autobahn' is not really correct. I couldn't find any official statistics, but I've seen a number of only 50% of German Autobahns without any limit.
Many parts have a permanent limits of 120 or 130 km/h (74 mph or 81 mph). Some parts are limited to 80 (50 mph) due to construction work.
Also, some limits are only ...
17
I lived in DC/Northern VA area for the past four years. I can tell you riding Metro in the city is the way to go. Traffic in DC is very bad and on top of that the roads can be very very confusing for visitors. The worst part is probably the parking. During prime tourist hours, it's almost impossible to find one.
I don't know which part of Maryland you'll be ...
17
Bringing a car with you is just not worth it; you would have to pay ~USD 1800 (Well that's East coast->Rome, in the other direction rates might be different, but depends on the size of the car, dates etc.), and this does not include import taxes and all the hassle you will have at customs. For the same amount of money you could as well buy a used car in the ...
17
Note that there ARE actually some speed limits:
A hard limit is imposed on some vehicles:
60 km/h (37 mph)
Buses carrying standing passengers
Motorcycles pulling trailers
80 km/h (50 mph)
Vehicles with maximum allowed weight exceeding 3.5 t (except passenger cars)
Passenger cars and trucks with trailers
Buses
100 km/h (62 mph)
Passenger cars ...
16
The other two answers pretty well covered things, but here are a few more notes:
In some states, it is legal to make a left turn through a red light if both intersecting streets are one way. (In other words, one can treat the red light as a stop sign.)
In some (maybe all?) states, one can be ticketed for driving too slow, even if there is no posted ...
16
Yes you are obliged to respect the law. No judge will accept the fact of you being a foreigner.
Your own country is even exploiting this requirement by inventing unreadable traffic signs, like "ZTL", which no foreigner will understand, but was invented against non locals. The penalty was enforced by local enforcement from my country of residence. I tried to ...
14
It does vary a lot, depending on both the issuing and visited countries.
For visiting Australia for an example, you either need your license to be in English, or have an IDP that translates it. There's a much narrower list of countries for whom getting an Australian license doesn't require a test, see here for more details on those things.
As an ...
13
I may be biased because I grew up there, but I'm a big fan of the beaches around Christchurch, Bournemouth and Poole. There is 7 miles of continuous sand from Sandbanks (Poole), past Bournemouth and on to Hengistbury Head (Christchurch). From Sandbanks, head across the mouth of Poole Harbour on the chain ferry, then you've another 5 miles of sandy beach ...
13
Do I have to pay traffic fines issued by foreign governments?
Yes, that's the law.
Next year I'm planning a long stay in the US (around 6 months) and I want to bring my car with me.
This is a whole other question, so I'll take it instead as a factor in your main question rather than go into the pros and cons of shipping a private vehicle.
If your ...
13
Are you after the physical answer, or the legal one?
Presuming he still physically has his license, and it has an expiry date beyond when he will be renting the car, then he will most likely be able to physically rent a car. If he is pulled over by the police, then he will most likely be able to lie and claim that his license is valid, and he will probably ...
13
The mordida (nibble) is unfortunately deeply ingrained in Mexico, although mostly a feature of local police and not the federal police or the military, and there are various anti-corruption initiatives at work in the larger cities.
Generally, the interaction involves being pulled over for a traffic offense like speeding or not wearing a seat belt. The ...
12
Most Asian countries do not accept a foreign driving license as a valid document for driving vehicles, and legally most of them require International Driving Permits. In practice however, a lot of tourists do not bother to get an IDP and instead leave their passport wherever they are hiring a car/motorcycle from.
If you get stopped by the traffic police ...
12
First off, I can't comprehend how anyone in their right mind would even consider doing something like this -- shooting yourself in the foot is not illegal, and you are free to do so if you so choose, but actively endangering other people's lives strikes me as.. how do I put it more politely -- idiotic.
I can assure you that such kind of behaviour will not ...
12
Yes it is valid in the UK, according to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in the UK:
If you’ve got a full and valid licence you can drive any small vehicle (eg car or motorcycle) listed on your licence for 12 months from when you last entered Great Britain (GB).
12
Route 6 East, stands up as the longest I can find. Route 6 used to be the longest road in the US, until 1964 when it was truncated. However, distances ON the route don't change (cities don't move) and as such, this is still visible, in Bisop, California:
(source)
3205 miles is approximately 5157.95 kilometres.
Then there's this in Brazil:
(source)
...
11
To me, these are the two most important things drivers visiting the US should know:
Different states have different laws. Knowing what the law is in California doesn't help if you get pulled over in one of the other 49 states.
Get your information from a trusted source. There's a lot of misinformation out there; the only way to know what the law really ...
11
Driving the road is 830 miles and not that hard except for the narrow roads, blind curves, etc. There are villages all around the coast of Iceland. Nytimes has a good article.
Now driving in the unpopulated highlands (the desert part in the middle) means driving in areas where there are no gas stations, no farms, no towing and you may have to drive across ...
11
I have damaged a rental car - not from driving on the wrong side of the road but crunching it against a curb while turning around in a tight spot. We had declined their extra insurance because my credit card provides that as a benefit. The credit card company said to just send them the proof that I had rented the car as well as the receipts for damages. The ...
10
If you have only the toddler (and not, say, a 6 year old and 12 year old as well) I don't think it matters much where you stop. A full on amusement park is wasted on someone who can get hours of joy from a cardboard box or a stick (or, luxury, a cardboard box AND a stick.) You're wise to plan a route that takes you into towns large enough to have parks with ...
10
First, as long as you stay in the US, you are subject to US laws. The US can (and will) fine or arrest you if you violate US law. I believe that in the US even minor offenses can theoretically go up to a jail sentence (e.g. $100 fine or 3 days in jail). If you commit a traffic offense and try to leave the country without paying the fine, the US government ...
10
Moving out of a country does not make you untouchable. Many local governments now employ debt collection agencies to track down and collect long overdue fines.
Debt collectors pay no attention to jurisdiction. All they care about is getting their commission upon collecting the debt. Chances are very good that several months or even years after you have ...
10
I can show you my experience in guided and self-drive safaris. That's my experience and it could be different depending on the parks, the weather and other conditions. My experience is limited to Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, which are on the East side of Africa, and Senegal, which is at the north; and there are not too many game parks. I have in mind a travel ...
10
Our friends at Wikipedia have a page about Speed Limits, on there is a section about 'Roads without speed limits'. Besides the German Autobahns, the only other roads that are currently without speed limits are rural roads on the Isle of Man, but I doubt you can go really fast on them.
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