Terrified to drive

[Guest]

We're slow drivers in Florida and a lot of our roads have a huge middle filled with concrete or trees. I would recommend staying of the I4 Highway during peak rush hour times. I'm a local in Orlando and even that Highway terrifies me sometimes. People just drive crazy on it. If you do get on it, stay in the right lane as all of your exits will be that way and make sure the lane isn't ending.

Does your car have a GPS? That would be handy because it would tell you way beforehand if you need to merge. If not use a smartphone GPS. We don't have the best signage sometimes and are undergoing construction in certain areas.

[Sweetie Babes]

I absolutely love driving in the US. It takes a while to get used to positioning myself in the lane, though, as I'm used to sitting on the right side of the car. So, there's a fair bit of gentle swerving that happens on the drive from the airport! But automatics in general are a doddle to drive. All you need to remember is D (drive), P (parking/neutral), R (reverse). You can't start the car unless it's in P.

Not all roads are marked, and most tourist maps don't even show all the roads, so it is remarkably easy to get lost when driving at night. Disney are also a nightmare because they don't signpost anything properly. They don't signpost you properly out of the resorts, and even coming back in it can be hit and miss. We saw 'OKW next left' so headed into the left lane. The road actually bent to the left and then we came to a 4-way junction with no signposting at all. DD said go left, so I did. We found ourselves on the main road heading back out to the 192! It's a joke! Oh, and we use a Mapmans map, as well!

Still, once you've done it a few times you know exactly what you're doing - it's much easier driving at night once you've located where everything is during daylight.

The only other important thing to remember is that you're NOT going to find slip roads on the left hand side of the road, the way they are here. I can't tell you the number of times we've missed the turning from Sand Lake Road onto the I-4 simply because we were looking for it on the left! Duh!

Always park head first (ie drive into spaces). It's made easy a lot of the time as most big car parks have the spaces in chevrons. So, you'll know whether you can drive up or down based on which direction all the cars are parked. But US spaces are much wider than they are over here - they need to be for all the big vehicles.

The one thing you've got to watch out for, which no-one has mentioned yet, is - don't jump the lights. If the lights change shortly before you hit a juction, don't try to make it across. It's one of those instant fine jobbies if you get caught. If you're literally only a few feet from the juction, though, you will have to continue across - unless you are extraordinarily good at emergency stops! lol

Finally, U-turns are perfectly acceptable on those roads which have a median (their name for the verge in the centre dividing the streams of traffic). It's far easier to go past a mall on the other side of the road from you, get into the next left filter lane and then do a U-turn than it is to turn left too early. We found that our the hard way! There are a few junctions where you can't do a U-turn, but they will be signposted as such.

[BucksBugsy]

Originally Posted by Vizeman

Not quite true. There are odd ones dotted about.

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There are a few - found this on the interweb

orlandosentinel/news/...710-story.html

[DISNEYALI]

i went solo in nov./dec and drove for the first time, been before but exdh did the driving. i used car on the drive so no drive from the airport. when i was ready the next morning i had a bit of time sitting in the car to familarise myself with everything including the sat nav as had never used one before then as i was staying on the encantada resort spent about 20 mins driving around the roads to get used to the feel of everything, then i drove out of the resort and drove up to the walmart on the us27 (?) and once i had got back my first thought was "what the hell was i worried about"!

the sat nav was a godsend,although it did try a couple of times to send me off somewhere completely different... i missed or took a wrong turning a couple of times and it readjusted and got me back to where i should have been, will admit i would of probably had a panic attack without it being on my own.

turning off or across a carriage way is easy, if you are behind someone just follow them or there are lane marking in the road to guide you, also as mentioned before, get in the right lane well beforehand, each morning i route checked where i was going on the sat nav and once on the right road positioned myself on the left or right as was needed to turn off with ease.

the freedom of having a car was brilliant, just popping out to eat,do a bit of shopping and leaving and returning without restrictions. do it you will not look back...

[Sweetie Babes]

Oh, talking about the right lane reminds me. Be careful! A lot of right turn don't just mean 'get in this lane to turn right'. Some of them become 'right turn ONLY' lanes, and actually disappear at the junction. We've done some hasty swerves into the next lane several times, I can tell you!

[PPM]

Originally Posted by sha9

Well this is true of a manual too! In an automatic you just don't have a clutch so no need to use your left foot. Everything else is the same with regards to pedals except that if you have the car in drive it will move slowly so you use the break pedal to control that. The only gears you need are park, drive and reverse.

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The harder you press the accelerator the faster you go as the gears change themselves! Trying that with a manual will just bounce off the rev limiter in First gear . And slowing down the harder you push the brake the more you encourage engine braking with the automatic changing down by itself. That is what I was trying to simply convey, no gears to worry about...but I missed the mark I see

[Diznee]

One thing I find helps is to familiarise yourself with the first routes you will take at home on Google Street view. So for me I will look at the drive from the airport to where I'm staying and learn it, and get the wife to do the same. That way I'm only getting used to the car as the route is committed to memory. I find once I've done the first drive I'm fine.

As everyone else has said the people there are so much more laid back on the roads than here, nobody seems to be in a rush to get anywhere. I've sat at red lights for ages when I've been able to turn right, and people just seem to wait patiently behind you. You can imagine in this country you'd have a chorus of beeps and people hanging out the windows shouting behind you.

[PPM]

Originally Posted by Off2Florida2016

Is stop/start technology common in hire cars over there?

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Didn't think you got stop start technology on automatics.?

[BucksBugsy]

Originally Posted by PPM

Didn't think you got stop start technology on automatics.?

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Not that I have one but I thought the Jags had auto stop/start (which a lot of drivers who switch it off within a day of getting their new car

[Caroian]

You've been given loads of great advice already, but thought I'd my twopence worth!

Automatics are really straightforward, as others have said (I cannot understand why the majority of Brits make life more difficult by driving a manual. People always talk about having more control etc, but most of us don't drive in a way that we need it. I can drive a manual, but Since my first car, I've only ever driven auto!). Be aware that you usually need to depress the brake to start the car. Many cars also have an automatic electronic parking brake. We have one of these at home and it confused me at first. But basically you can forget about the handbrake. It is automatically applied and removed for you. If the car growls and won't move, you just click it off manually.

Because the steering wheel has moved sides, you will remember about driving on the opposite side. But whenever you are a junction, especially a quiet one, pause and concentrate on where you need to be for a moment. Also, your husband may not drive, but he can help remind you of where you need to be.

Also, it should be your husband's responsibility to do the navigation and spot the road signs.

There is much less lane changing than in the UK too. The main times you need to change lanes are for exits - be aware they can be on either side however. The speed limits are lower too.

Parking is also a doodle as the spaces are almost always much wider than in the UK and far more often at an angle rather than the 90 degrees we favour over here. You shouldn't "pull through" these spaces though as you will be facing the wrong way to exit, but are also supposed to park "nose in" as cars only have licence plates on the rear (although I don't know how strictly the "nose in" rule is enforced!

Honestly, if you can handle urban driving in a manual car here, driving in the US will be a doddle after the first trip.