The view – Stateside

We had a splendid holiday in USA this month. This was a reward for our son James being offered a place at St John’s, Oxford to read Physics.
It was interesting to compare and contrast driving styles between parts of the States we visited and UK. The ‘slow’ lanes of dual carriageways in America seem quite deserted, as in UK this is used for traffic joining and leaving the main road, drivers seem to avoid using it. However unlike Britain, this is used by drivers impatient to overtake.
Trucks are generally allowed to drive much faster in the USA and are usually permitted to use all lanes of dual carriageways. Artics often pull trailers which is not permitted in UK.
The use of headlights during the day seemed commonplace on fast roads. The heat haze made oncoming vehicles difficult to see in the distance if they did not use headlights. On our roads we would be flashed to encourage the driver to turn them off.
I also noticed signs forbidding drivers to avoid the use of engine brakes at night when driving through villages, presumably to avoid making too much noise.
The speed limits are generally slower in America (in spite of the wide straight roads) but this did not seem to affect the speed that drivers drove. I did not see any speed traps so presumably the Authorities are fairly relaxed about minor speed limit violations. May this continue. The imposition of slow limits and imposing a speed tax (fines) on violators would be political suicide in USA -they love their cars too much.