Life in America (Part – 3)

Kishore C.S. (July 2000)

Coming from India where car is a luxury for most of the population, seeing so many cars in US is surprise. Car is a basic necessity in US life. It is very difficult to get along in US without car.

 All about Cars in US 

-          Variety of cars: No two cars look the same. Used to seeing all similar cars like Maruti, Ambassor in India, the variety of cars simply amazes me. Sizes of cars also vary a lot.

-          Automatic Gear: Most of the cars work with Automatic Gear and this makes driving a lot easier

-          Freeways: With so many cars on the road each city needs freeways to enable people to travel faster. Freeways do not contain signals compared to normal roads in cities and one can travel faster on freeways.

-          Travel time: Traveling 20 miles to work is very common and generally takes anywhere between 15 to 45 minutes. One cannot imagine traveling such distances in India everyday and that too in such a short time.

-          Convenience of Cars: Cars have lot of features which are marvelous. Seat belts, CD/Radio, Lighter and there are so many other features which I cannot list which one should see to believe them.

-          Speed: Cars travel upto 85 miles per hour on freeways. One needs to adhere to speed limits. Crossing speed limits may give warrant a penalty (Ticket) from cops. Use of Radars to detect speed violations is widely prevalent

-          Safety: With high speed of cars, any mistake from drivers can result in severe accidents. Safety is of utmost importance for everyone. Everyone should wear seat belt for safety reasons.

-          Long Drives: With very good roads and easy to drive cars long drives are very common. Traveling 1000 miles by road is done without much effort in a day. Travel by car is the most preferred mode of transport.

-          Directions: It is very important to know directions of travel before hand. If you miss one signal or take a wrong turn, you will spend anywhere between 10-15 times to get back to right route. Use of maps available online with very clear driving directions is what makes life easier for Americans. It is very easy to get driving directions with high accuracy. Check out a sample by clicking on the following link. The map gives a route and exact directions from office to our apartment. It is difficult to imagine such a powerful system.

-          Buying Cars: With variety of car manufacturers available, prices of cars depend on individual preferences. Used Cars are also in market always. It is possible to get a used car for 1000 $ and purchase new cars from 20000 $ and above.

-     Rent-a-car: It is very easy to rent car and use it. Once you have licence any city you go you can rent a car in the airport and zip-zap-zoom in the car.

-     Lane Discipline: Strict driving laws force one to strict to lane discipline. If this basic discipline is violated it causes lot of accidents.

-     Some more laws: Children cannot travel in front seat and you should have child seat in the back seat when you are driving your kids.

With all the convenience you also have the headaches that come along with it

- Traffic Problems: One should be prepared for long waits at signals and bumper to bumper traffic during peak hours

- Lack of parking space: It is very difficult to get parking place in many areas. You always need to budget time to look around for parking space when you go to Airports, movie theatres, Shopping etc.

I might have missed out some more points but these are the observations one can make in general about Cars in US.