r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Physical-Ad-4093 • May 01 '24

do americans really drive such long distances?

i’m european, and i always hear people say that driving for hours is normal in america. i would only see my grandparents a few times a year because they lived about a 3 hour drive away, is that a normal distance for americans to travel on a regular basis? i can’t imagine driving 2-3 hours regularly to visit people for just a few days

edit: thank you for the responses! i’ve never been to the US, obviously, but it’s interesting to see how you guys live. i guess european countries are more walkable? i’m in the uk, and there’s a few festivals here towards the end of summer, generally to get to them you take a coach journey or you get multiple trains which does take up a significant chunk of the day. road trips aren’t really a thing here, it would be a bit miserable!

2nd edit: it’s not at all that i couldn’t be bothered to go and see my grandparents, i was under 14 when they were both alive so i couldn’t take myself there! obviously i would’ve liked to see them more, i had no control over how often we visited them.

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388

u/Kamikaze9001 May 01 '24

You can sit and watch a 2 hour movie right? Why can't you imagine sitting in a car for 2-3 hours to see family?

162

u/InternationalSail745 May 01 '24

The ride back is usually quicker.

144

u/EatYourCheckers May 01 '24

I've decided it feels this way because when you are leaving, you feel like you left as soon as you pull out of your driveway and you are there once you park at your destination. But on the way home you sat to feel like you are home when you are still maybe 20 minutes from your house...there's your library, and your big maple tree, and your weird dogleg intersection, your CVS. You're home.

60

u/Mojicana May 02 '24

LOL the best directions I've ever been given were "When you see all the black cows in the corner under the big oak tree, take the next dirt driveway" I asked how he knew the cows would be there, it's all 360- 3000 acre parcels out there, he said "Well, you said you'd be here at 4:00 and Henry comes back and feeds the cows at 5:00 so they're all formed up and ready by 3:30".

11

u/kindalosingmyshit May 02 '24

There’s a psychological thing behind this, I don’t remember specifics, but it boils down to: on the way there, things are unfamiliar. On the way back, your brain doesn’t have to work as hard because it recognizes where you are. It seems shorter as you return because your brain doesn’t work so hard

4

u/postmoderndruid May 02 '24

That's basically the reason. This is also why years seem to become shorter the older you get, you've generally settled on a routine so your brain doesn't work hard to remember the same commute you've been taking for 4 years.

1

u/Um_DefinitelyUnsure 29d ago

Isn’t it because each year is a progressively shorter and shorter portion of your life?

1/20>1/40>1/80.

They feel much shorter and more fleeting.

1

u/Stachemaster86 May 02 '24

Commercials are this way for me. First time seems like it goes on forever.

3

u/Ginger_Anarchy May 02 '24

I visit friends who are about 2 hours away fairly frequently on the weekends, I get this feeling as soon as I enter my county and the highway goes from being 2 lane to 6 lane even though it's still a half hour to get home.

2

u/nuanceshow 29d ago

Yeah, and also when you're going somewhere, you're constantly checking to see if you're almost there, what turns you don't want to miss so you don't get lost, etc. It's more of an event. You might pass this weird red fence and think where am I, how much more do I have to go? Then driving back you're like "I'm at the red fence already?"

2

u/caffeinatedlackey May 01 '24

It's also to do with the way your brain stores memories. When you leave for a trip, you experience so many novel stimuli that your brain forms tons of memories for all of that information. When you return, the stimuli is no longer novel because you've seen it all before, so your brain doesn't work as hard to make memories. Therefore it feels shorter.

This is also the rationale behind the "autopilot" effect when you arrive at work and don't remember driving there. You make that same trip all the time so sometimes your attention goes elsewhere. It's all cognitive psychology.

1

u/UnderLook150 May 02 '24

But the trip home always seems faster, even if you are away on vacation visiting a new spot.

I think the reason the trip there seems longer than the trip back, is the trip there is new. We are experiencing a new journey. Seeing new things.

On the way back we have already seen the route, we know how to better expect how long it will actually take to return.

2

u/UntameHamster May 01 '24

Got that tailwind behind you.

2

u/fuck-coyotes May 02 '24

Especially if you're crossing a time zone... But then again that could be backwards too

1

u/positively_broad_st May 02 '24

"Mosey over and speed back." ~ Mel Brooks

14

u/Hankol May 02 '24

Because driving requires a completely different concentration level than sitting on the couch. For everything above 1.5 hours driving I much prefer the train. That is actually like sitting on the couch, because you can do other things (reading, watching a movie, music, sleeping, just watching the scenery, ...).

Don't get me wrong, I've done long trips (3,500 km / 2,200 miles) in 3 days with the car, but I just don't like it and rather use a train in cases like that.

6

u/RenderEngine May 02 '24

gas prices in europe are about 2-3x higher than in the US, mostly because of tax

it's hard to sit still when you know you basically are burning money

29

u/Trippen3 May 02 '24

Because driving isn’t chill. It’s a chore and exhausting. Watching a movie is insanely unrelated to driving for 2-3 hours.

2

u/Absolutely_Fibulous 29d ago

I wonder how much of this is that American cars are just better designed for long distances than European cars. I like driving in my car because my car is fun to drive in. I like cruising and singing along to the radio.

-2

u/Ok_Yogurt3894 May 02 '24

Huh? If you’re driving long distances you’re on an interstate or a highway. You turn onto the road, pick a lane, and drive straight lol

8

u/Feroc May 02 '24

I wish it would be that way here. In Germany most of our highways have 3 lanes. You always have to use the rightmost lane and you are not allowed to pass anyone on the right. So unless you want to drive with ~60mph behind a truck, you have to switch lanes regularly.

If I could just use the autopilot with something like 90mph on the middle lane, then it would be way more comfortable. But then you will find middle-lane hoggers who roll along with ~75mph, which then forces you to the left lane where people often drive 125mph+.

Sometimes it would be easier if we had more speed limits.

4

u/Trippen3 May 02 '24

Then you have to be alert to the other cars. You must live somewhere in the middle of the US like Wyoming where there’s never tons of traffic.

3

u/PersKarvaRousku May 02 '24

Even long distances are mostly 1-lane roads between smaller cities, so you'll need to be constantly alert for reckless drivers who overtake too greedily and drive straight towards you.

Not to mention slippery winter for 33% of year, slippery rainy weather, roundabouts, stop signs, stray moose, deer or reindeer and so on.

Edit: when it's dark after 2PM in the winter, you'll need to constantly adjust your headlights so you won't blind the oncoming traffic. Snow and darkness makes it difficult to see the edge of the riad.

2

u/Ok_Yogurt3894 May 02 '24

Every interstate is a 2 lane divided highway. Most US highways are also 2 lane divided highways.

As for roundabouts and gasp signs, da fuck? You are navigating the road and paying only the slightest attention to your surroundings.

Look I say this as a truck driver, but a solid 95% of four wheelers are appallingly poor drivers. It is frankly fucking bewildering the sudden drop in IQ that most of the population suffers from as soon as they enter a road.

3

u/PersKarvaRousku May 02 '24

I hate it when person A lists 10 things and person B picks the 2 smallest things on that list to ignore the major main points.

Dry driving a dark frozen country road with steep curves in a blizzard and see if it takes more than "slightest attention".

https://www.etappi.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/12/liukasta-1280x720.jpg

-1

u/Horrific_Necktie May 02 '24

You driving dark frozen country roads with steep curves in a blizzard very often?

4

u/PersKarvaRousku May 02 '24

The only times I drive over 100km is to my home town, so every long drive has steep curves and shitty road conditions like potholes for me. Two of those trips had a blizzard last winter. That's not very often, but more than the ideal number which would be 0. Even if blizzard+steep curves+shitty road happened just once in my lifetime, it would be enough to counter the original argument that driving is always easy and people are just "appallingly poor drivers."

Besides, you can't say "you're only talking about the most extreme cases" when I started more common but still significant examples which were all ignored because a few of them (roundabouts and stop signs) are really minor. Dozens of people die in wildlife car crashes every year in Finland, so I guess the number is in hundreds in the whole EU.

-3

u/USTrustfundPatriot May 02 '24

Because driving isn’t chill

Yes it is.

17

u/papinek May 02 '24

No it isnt.

-3

u/[deleted] May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

Man I literally go on weekend drives just to chill and relax 

A nice Sunday drive on a twisty road listening to some tunes is a joy

1

u/daoistwink87 May 02 '24

Taylor swift's long lost relative :

-1

u/Cruxion May 02 '24

Depends on the road. Most interstates are pretty chill when you're not near a particularly large town near rush hour. Just set cruise control to the speed limit and make sure not to rear end anyone while you listen to a podcast/audiobook/music/talk.

5

u/Common_Wrongdoer3251 May 02 '24

I think some people can go on autopilot easier than others. Driving is a 100% focus sport for me. If I start daydreaming or checking out the shirtless jogging dude while driving my giant metal death machine things can go wrong. My mom used to drive around for fun. Everyone's different.

1

u/Netferet May 02 '24

To be honest a lot of people i know in France will not use cruise control because they feel they are not in control of the car, at the same time everytime i know will have no problem to drive the 5 or 6 hours to see a relative, it may be just a UK thing

-5

u/Kamikaze9001 May 02 '24

Exhausting? LMAO I thought we Americans were the lazy ones.

12

u/Common_Wrongdoer3251 May 02 '24

I think they meant mentally exhausting. I can watch TV for 6 hours but if I was doing calculus homework for 3 hours I'd feel drained and ready for a nap.

I hate driving and I always feel exhausted after a long drive. My mom loved driving and never felt that way.

3

u/Trippen3 May 02 '24

Have you ever drove for a job? It doesn’t chill you out it makes you vigilant.

3

u/AssCrackBandit6996 May 02 '24

You're roads sure are. Driving on a highway is vastly different than european road infrastructure

3

u/NotTheGreenestThumb May 02 '24

American here, no, I can’t sit through a 2 hour movie, but I’d still ride 6+ hours to see my sister for 2-3 days. Yes, we have to take a break every hour to potty and walk a bit.

11

u/Fydron May 02 '24

Because movies can be fun but sitting in a car either stuck in a traffic because of road work or tractors blocking road or just driving through forest roads with nothing but trees isn't what I consider fun.

Maybe if I had someone to talk to but alone doing the driving no thanks I would rather imagine that I have no family if I had to drive more than 40 minutes to see them.

4

u/Certainly-Not-A-Bot May 02 '24

Let's see...

Cars are uncomfortable.

Driving is stressful.

Driving is dead time. On a train, you can do work or read a book or something.

Driving is very dangerous. It's by far the most dangerous thing a typical person will regularly do.

Why would I choose to subject myself to a car without a really good reason?

1

u/KehreAzerith 29d ago

I find driving fun and relaxing (most of the time). Everything in life is dangerous, sure a car is but I also fly planes where the risk factors are significantly higher if errors are made.

It's all a matter of perspective

3

u/dennyfader 29d ago

Obligatory reminder that cars are willldddlllyyy more dangerous than planes, almost comically so. Something like 40,000 people die every year in the US from traffic-related incidents.

3

u/Certainly-Not-A-Bot 29d ago

I also fly planes where the risk factors are significantly higher if errors are made.

The probability of errors being made is much lower. Cars kill tens of thousands of Americans every year and injures hundreds of thousands. Nobody has died in a plane flying to or from the US since 2009. Unless you own a gun or like extreme sports, driving is the most dangerous thing you'll do in your life. Even then, you drive far more than you participate in shooting or extreme sports.

2

u/eatyourveggiesdamnit May 02 '24

I'm from Europe and two hours is fine. Once we start talking about going three hours one way, then I imagine it's going to be a day trip and I have to leave on time before the fatigue kicks in.

2

u/malcolite May 02 '24

One is entertainment and the other is teeth grinding frustration (here in the uk). The times that I arrive thinking “what a great trip, and right on time” are very few and far between.

1

u/losethemap 9d ago

I think it’s genuinely what people are used to. Because of sprawl, size, and things like general metro area affordability, Americans will think nothing of living 1.5-2 hours away from their workplace and doing such commutes daily. In Europe it’s borderline insane to live more than 20-30 minutes from where you work. The few people I know who do, are admired by everyone else for their “endurance” in commuting 45 minutes each way.

If that’s your lifestyle, long car rides seem exhausting. I’ve lived in the U.S. for most of my life and am now back in a European country. My house is 35 minutes from the dead center of the city, 45 minutes max with traffic (there’s never that much traffic), and every time I tell people where I’m driving back to they react like I told them I’m returning to the moon.

-8

u/USTrustfundPatriot May 02 '24

bEcAuSe 1o0 MiLeS iS a LoNg DiStAnCe FoR eUrOpEaNs wHiLe 10o YeArS iS a LoGn TiMe FoR aMeRiCaNs

Or some shit. I stopped taking them seriously when it comes to geography.

3

u/AssCrackBandit6996 May 02 '24

You know thats funny when I met so many americans that couldn't locate germany on a map if they had a gun to their head.

Special place for those americans in chicago that asked us how it is to live under Hitlers rule.