Talk:Tips for road trips

At the end of the page it says: "Of course, most people know where they're headed before they leave on a road trip. If you're confused about where to go, why not start here?" with a link from 'start here', I think to a random page. I clicked on the link and it put me straight through to a web page on Dachau concentration camp. Perhaps this needs re-doing? —The preceding comment was added by (WT-en) 138.104.36.1 (talk • contribs)

I went ahead and nixed the section just cause it's too general-- I mean we're not going to list all the places you cand drive too ;-). In the future, feel free to plunge ahead and make the edit! (WT-en) Majnoona 15:37, 10 Feb 2006 (EST)

driving with airconditioner in hot weather

When driving in hot weather (eg at +30..35C) in a rented car, we always either suffer from extremely cold air from air conditioner (which usually result in a running nose) or have a very hot air inside the car.

How do you deal with that problem? Maybe there's a special hack that we aren't aware of? --(WT-en) DenisYurkin 11:23, 14 August 2010 (EDT)

Moved from United States

I moved the following from United States. Maybe some can merge this into this article?

"In addition to police patrol cars, drivers should also move for ambulances and "fire trucks" (large specialized vehicles used by firefighters) whenever you hear a siren or see flashing lights. However, do not attempt to pull over if it could cause an accident (you should pull over or move out of the way at the soonest opportunity you can do so with relative safety)."

--Andrewssi2 (talk) 01:32, 22 June 2015 (UTC)

This sounds like general advice about how to deal with "blue flash" vehicles. Is there a problem with foreigners often doing something weird? If so, we should write something about different practices in different countries, otherwise just leave it to the driving courses. --LPfi (talk) 09:28, 22 June 2015 (UTC)

If anything, what I notice here in New York is a lot of drivers don't promptly move forward and to the right to let emergency vehicles though, but I have no reason whatsoever to think they're mostly foreigners; just idiots. Ikan Kekek (talk) 09:39, 22 June 2015 (UTC)

Distance between your car and the one in front of you

While advocating for more space in between your car and the one in front of you is unlikely to do much harm (well maybe the people following the rule being overtaken by people less hung up on it), the recommendations - at least in Germany - do indeed say "halber Tacho in Metern" (half the speed in km/h in meters and yes that is valid up to and including speeds of 100 km/h). If you don't believe me see here (pdf from the federal German police) and here (Wikipedia in German) for reference. Other sources saying similar things are this forum and this page. Unfortunately they are all in German. Maybe it all is just a pervasive German myth, but if even the German police spreads it, it should imho at least be mentioned on driving in Germany Hobbitschuster (talk) 13:05, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Before doing the change I checked the Finnish recommendations (in Finnish, probably not very useful here), which recommend one metre per km/h on countryside roads, half that in towns, more in winter etc.

I suppose the Finnish recommendations are partly due to longer distances and less traffic. With more traffic the capacity of roads is more important, and doubling the distance lessens the capacity (to half in theory, but better flow with greater distances partly compensates). Long distances to the destination makes people's ability to stay alert more important: after driving for a few hours your reactions will probably be quite a lot slower.

We should hear people from some more countries. The rule of thumb of one car length for every 10 mi/h seems to indicate shorter distances between cars also in the USA. As expected Sweden gives recommendations (section Hålla rätt avstånd, I suppose the Swedish is intelligible enough) in line with the Finnish ones.

For the article, we should mention differing standards, not keeping very long distances when driving in a line and letting other cars pass if keeping too short distances (for your taste) is common but there is room between groups of cars.

--LPfi (talk) 15:18, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

I've noticed this difference too, having read about halber Tacho in German-language car magazines, I was sort of confused when it was taught in the driving school that you should keep the same distance as your speed. ϒpsilon (talk) 15:45, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

It may very well be that the two factors you mentioned figure into the different recommendations apparently given in Finland and Sweden. As a general rule (which allows for some generalization) German roads are crowded and drives are relatively short (hardly anybody would consider doing a drive like Hamburg-Munich on a regular basis for the weekend both ways. Americans seem to consider that normal and the vast distances in the Nordic countries might indicate similar). I think we would need some input from further countries as Germany is sort of an aberration when it comes to highway driving (having no official speed limit) and the Nordic countries are also unlikely to be the global gold standard. It surprises me to hear this though, as I thought physics to be rather the same harsh mistress wherever you go. But maybe the Nordic countries just play it safe with the snow and whatnot. After all, Sweden has recently declared "vision zero" (0 people dying in traffic accidents) their official traffic policy goal... In Germany a few sacrifices to Saint Car appear to be "necessary for progress"... But I digress... Hobbitschuster (talk) 18:44, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Actually, when I think of it, traffic is in many ways more predictable "in Europe" it and that's why one can do with less distance between the cars. Much of the main road network is motorways; limited access and everything moves in the same direction. Also, slower drivers know to keep right, which IMO isn't always the case on motorways and multi-lane highways in Finland. Much of the Scandinavian road network, on the other hand is comparable to Bundesstrassen, with more curves, head-on traffic and level crossings. Add sh*tty weather, darkness and the odd moose. ϒpsilon (talk) 19:23, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

FYI: Great articles about road trips

Swept in from the pub

https://getpocket.com/collections/life-is-a-highway-14-great-articles-about-road-trips —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 14:35, 11 August 2023 (UTC)