American Driving Laws: Difference between revisions

* Americans drive on the right-hand side of the road. One-way streets are,can of course,be an exception.

* There are three lights on a traffic signal. Bottom (or right side if the signal is horizontal) is green<ref>Either a bright emerald green or occasionally a bluish green</ref>, which means you can proceed. Center is yellow or amber, and means "if you are approaching the intersection but have not crossed the line you need to stop<ref> Also important is the concept of Point of No Return: when you are close enough to the intersection that you understand you ''should'' stop, but have enough speed that you ''can't'', at which point it is permissible to run a red light if, and only if, you are not otherwise breaking the speed limit</ref>" but in cities it's usually taken as "if you ain't crossed the line, speed up!" Top or far left is Red, which means stop and remain stopped until the light turns green (except for turns, as explained below). If there is a green arrow you can turn on a red light in that direction without stopping. Or there can be a red arrow when you're at a green light, which means that even though you have a green light you can't turn that way until you get a green arrow.

* If you're at a red light, after you stop, you can turn right from the far right lane. If you're at a one-way street moving to your left, then you're permitted to turn left on a red light after stopping. However, this does not apply in [[New York City]] or any intersection where there is a "No Turn on Red" sign posted.

* Speed and distance are morealmost oftenalways<ref>It thanis notextremely (andrare byto thissee wesignage meanwith almost always)Kilometers.</ref> measured using [[American Customary Measurements]]; you may, for example, be told that you are [[Blues Brothers|108 miles from]] [[Chicago]], on a stretch of highway allowing travel at 55 miles per hour. Although it may vary by region, the rule goes that if there ''is'' no speed limit sign (and there rarely isn't) then the speed limit is the automatic default of 35 miles per hour (56 kilometers per hour) on local roads and 55 miles per hour (about 88 kilometers per hour) on highways.

* The United States is a ''big'' country, with a lot of nothing, and not a lot of reason for some of these communities to keep their streets compact. Street networks can be relatively well developed, but most Americans aren't surprised at commutes of 30 minutes. Oror more. Indeed, in some metropolitan areas, daily commutes of over an hour are common.