Have any driving tips for people visiting your hometown?

Philadelphia:  

East-West streets are named after trees.  North-South streets are numbered.  At least in the center city area - it all goes to hell once you get into the outer regions (North Philly, West Philly, Greater Northeast).

The posted speed limit on I-95 through PA is 55 MPH, however if you do the speed limit you will get run over.  Police (on the rare instance you DO see a speed trap) don't even acknowledge you unless you're going over 70. 

The speed limit on the PA TP is 70. Woe be you if you go slower. 

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Truth.  

I will add that if you live in the city itself, double check traffic before proceeding on a green light, watch for cars using the left turn lane as a passing lane, and watch for people closing down highways to do donuts... 

Colin Wood said:

My top driving tip for visiting Central Florida?

 

Don't.

I've nothing more to add. 

Since it's snowing today I'll add this:

Slow the berkeley down and buy snow tires too

Vegas - stay off the Strip (Las Vegas Blvd).

The name of the big town in the center of Baltimore County is Towson. That's "TAU-sun", not TOE-sun".

The actual speed limit is the posted limit +9, but please don't go ever that slow on I-95.

Cars IN the traffic circle have the right of way. Not cars approaching the traffic circle, or cars leaving the traffic circle, or cars parked near the traffic circle. Don't EVER stop for them. When in doubt, enter the traffic circle. When you're in the traffic circle, YOU have the right of way. Use it.

This isn't PA. Don't stop at the end of an on ramp.

Lane splitting isn't legal here, and I hope you have a Code Brown moment when you try it.

Nick Comstock said:

My hometown of Hamilton,  Ohio

 

1. Don't make eye contact

2. Be vigilant for random druggies stumbling out into traffic at any time of day.

3. If you hear a car backfiring it's actually gunshots,  duck and get the hell out of there. 

4. Stop by Goldstar chili on your way out of town, ignore that garbage ass skyline chili unless you like the garbage people it attracts and having the runs. 

Also originally from Hamilton... changed a lot since I grew up there.  My advice is don't bother, there's nothing really left there.  Actually, the River's Edge  venue is good for free concerts.  I will disagree on the Skyline though.

My hometown would be San Antonio.  Do visit the riverwalk and any of the missions (this includes the Alamo).  Leave town.... head to the hill country.  Find the roads nicknamed the "Three Sisters."  Drive the Three Sisters; you're welcome.

It's just rain. You've seen it before. Get on with it.

You don't have to come to a complete stop to make a right hand turn.

Metro KC: 

The metro is split by the state line. To the East, it's almost all the single big town of Kansas City, MO. To the west, it's lots of smaller, nicer towns on the KS side.

Common phrase there: "but we were in KC so the cops let us go" Kansas side? Not so much. Use your standard + >=5 on the KS side, in KC you've got a little more leeway. The rest of the Missouri towns around the perimeter of KC, MO are also notorious for plucking speeders. I assume it's like that with any big towns tho  

I - to this day - am amazed at the tickets I didn't get when pulled over in KC when I was a teen.

For the love of god DO NOT STOP AT THE FLASHING ORANGE LIGHT!!! 
 

I live in a small tourist town with one traffic light. One side flashes red and the other side orange. 70% of tourists seems to go brain dead when they get to this light and stop as if they've never encountered a flashing orange before. 

80sFast said:

as if they've never encountered a flashing orange before. 

I've never seen one either, so I'd at least have to slow down and ponder it...the only traffic signals I've seen had red, yellow and green.

It's not the corners where the squeegee kids are that you have to worry about, it's the corners where they AREN'T

Couch St is absolutely not pronounced like the furniture. It's pronounced like the much more hilarious part of women's anatomy. 

Just forget how to drive completely, and if you're if you need to make a decision, pick the most wrong choice. Everybody else seems to do that, you'll blend right in with the locals.

St Petersburg,Fl

Place, Ave. or Terrace goes East/West

Street, Way or Lane goes North/South

If the road has a name, the first letter tells you what number street or Ave it is after. "Burlington Ave" is after 2nd Ave but before 3rd Ave. The pattern continues through the alphabet twice is some places.

Even number addresses on South or West side of the road

Odd on the North or East side of the road.

Avoid cars that  you can only see a hat at the wheel from behind. Almost 1 in 5 drivers in Florida are over 65.

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

There's one stop light and 1300 people.

Wow, sounds like we're from the same place. 

In the Myrtle Beach area, drive with one foot hovering over the brake pedal, especially during the summer.  You're almost guaranteed a senior or a tourist will turn left from the right lane or right from the left lane.  Also, the "OH CRAP" brake lockup was invented here.  Don't worry, there will be another mini golf / restaurant / place to blow your dough on the next block.  Honest.

Austin

Most major highways have a numerical designation and a local name. 1 is mopac, 360 is capital of texas highway, 1st street is Cesar Chavez, 2222 is Koenig on and on and on. Austinites will use the name, not the number, so if you're a wierdo that asks for directions, clarify what highway they're talking about.

While all of the new construction has pretty generous dimensions, the original downtown residential streets are incredibly narrow. Don't drive your F-350 or Excursion downtown if you can help it.

Missing your exit off I-35 suucckkss. You'll likely be driving for 5 miles before you can exit again to turn around (this is true for most of Texas)

DC

1) Dont Drive

2) Stand Right

3) Walk Left

Not my hometown, but I've lived in OKC for 5 years in January. The city is horrifically spread out, depending on the metrics you use, OKC/Jacksonville/Houston are all the largest cities by land area in the country. 

Running red lights is sport here. You can be a few hundred feet from a light, or more, it turn yellow and instead of slowing down here people SLAM ON THE GAS so they are doing 10-20 above the limit as the light turns red before the even hit the intersection. 

So in other words, you really need to wait even longer at green lights to ensure it's clear, which compounds the problem because fewer people get through, so more want to run the light, ad nauseum. 

Of all the places I've driven all over the country, I've never seen so many people run red lights here. And you end up doing it yourself so you don't get rear ended, it's that bad. 

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Colin Wood said:

My top driving tip for visiting Central Florida?

 

Don't.

I've nothing more to add. 

Yeah, came here to post exactly that.

Margie

Greensburg, PA? 

If it's bright and sunny expect to go 20 under. If it's raining or snowing with no visibility, expect to do 30 over just to keep up.

Those aren't driverless cars, those are surviving members of Abe Lincoln's cabinet, act accordingly. 

If you found yourself in Smithton, the new home town, turn around, you clearly missed your exit off of I70 or got off at the wrong turn pike exit. Just go away. 

In reply to stuart in mn :

Oh, you're one of THOSE people ;-). 

Berkeley/Oakland:

Potholes everywhere. I-80 is always backed up from the bridge to Albany, with no good reason. Don't trust that everyone will stop at stop signs (or even red lights). Watch for cyclist and please pass them safely. Google maps will take you on "shortcuts" through neighborhoods that are just as slow, so just stay on the highway. Did I mention the potholes?