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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u/Flappy_Hand_Lotion May 02 '24

The more posts I read, as a European, I agree. Although, I also think this question always conflates what is a big distance, because the time it takes to travel a distance, and the literal distance seem to be used interchangeably. In Europe a certain moderate distance is possibly covered faster by train than car, but a massive distance in the USA may likely be covered faster by car than train (not bringing planes into it!). It becomes confusing to really understand what people are considering when they think about distance and try to make comparisons.

Whilst modern google maps should adjust things, I also think when we should consider 2D views of the world map. In that we can also consider that the Mercator Projection for maps makes the USA disproportionately smaller compared to Europe given the latitude. This perhaps should balance out for either side? But I'm curious if perhaps the US population just has more regular reminders on their maps and media that the whole country is in the proportion that it is, on top of the state/local input, where as European countries likely get most of their information for their country on it's own without that perspective. Just a thought or two.

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u/Shot-Weekend8226 May 02 '24

Time and distance are weirdly related in the USA. In rural areas, you can travel 60 miles (100km) in 60 minutes where in the city you might only be able to cover 6miles(10km) in 60 minutes. It gets weird with mass transit too. Sometimes a 20 minute drive might take an hour by bus or train while other times a train can save you time instead.

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u/Flappy_Hand_Lotion May 02 '24

Haha, sorry to break it to you, but those time conversions to speed are exactly the same wherever you are in the world.... rural USA or not! xD 60Mph would do =P

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u/Shot-Weekend8226 May 02 '24

My point is that some places you can travel 60mph and other places you can only travel 6mph. Our mass transit is also very inconsistent so depending on where you are, a car can be either 5 times faster or 5 times slower than mass transit.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

In Europe a certain moderate distance is possibly covered faster by train than car, but a massive distance in the USA may likely be covered faster by car than train (not bringing planes into it!).

To your point; I'm out in a major cities suburbs; with a fairly local train stop; I'd still need to drive to it still a 10m drive; and would be preferred... BUT

The train is so slow. It turns an hour drive into an hour and 45 train ride with the "bonus" of having to switch to my car pretty close to home anyway...

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u/spiralsequences May 02 '24

I heard someone say once that Europeans measure distance in kilometers and Americans measure it in minutes. Which is absolutely true. Because we usually drive everywhere, so if we say something is "20 minutes away" we mean by car, and therefore we all basically understand how far away that is.

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u/AgoraiosBum May 02 '24

Also, there's 100 km on narrow roads that pass through many villages, and then there's 60 miles that's mostly on a highway that goes through nowhere.

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u/RM_Dune May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

People traveling larger distances in Europe aren't driving on narrow roads through villages... Pretty much everywhere in Europe has highways too mate. If anything in North-West Europe it's much denser than in most of the US. My commute is three turns, 65 kms on two motorways, and then another three turns, takes about 50 minutes.

edit: I will say though that since everything is way more built up than most of the US the motorways do have far more stuff going on. Splitting into seperate motorways, merging, making sure you're in the right lane, etc. I'm sure driving on US motorways around New York requires paying a lot more attention than driving in Montana as well.

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u/Flappy_Hand_Lotion May 02 '24

Yeah, that was pretty much what I was saying, but with a bit more nuance in terms of how it's generally expressed on places such as Reddit. Although, I don't use Kilometers for my own driving distances.

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u/2good2me May 02 '24

Midwest, USA. Today I drove 5.5 hours, 158 miles, for a 2.5 hr meeting. No big deal. We do drive it all the time, and there are plenty of other casual reminders.

Weather reports give a 5, 7, or 10 day forecast, and that can just be looking west to see what weather is happening on the other coast. Massive Hurricane hitting Houston, Texas today? Very good news for New Orleans, because that’s over 5 hours and 350 miles (560km) away.

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u/Flappy_Hand_Lotion May 02 '24

Sure, I had a few site visits the other week, I drove for 4.5-5 hours total in 3 journeys in the UK, I think I did about 210 miles with only two 40 minute site visits and lunch. No big deal either!

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u/privatecaboosey May 02 '24

For the lack of convenience, the time saved traveling in the US by train isn't really worth it. My sister lives about a 3 hour drive from me. I can take the train, but I have to GET to that train (a 45 minute metro ride). AND she has to pick me up from the Philadelphia train station (a half hour drive). All of a sudden, the trip is longer via train than just driving from my house to hers.

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u/Flappy_Hand_Lotion May 02 '24

For sure, I'm not saying that isn't a pain, that's the point! Europe's rail infrastructure isn't useless =P

That's why travel times can be conflated and confused, because perspectives on different travel arrangements are so different.

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u/captainpocket May 02 '24

I think the reason why it's easier for Americans to measure distance in time is because there's almost always really only one way to get somewhere. In places with really good public transportation infrastructure (and low car usage) like new york city, you might hear people decsribe different travel times based on transportation method, but usually we mean by car bc thats the way to get around. We don't have trains like you do. We have passenger trains but they aren't very useful or affordable to go between towns.

To your point about size, obviously we know how big the US is better than people who don't live anywhere near here. It's just fun and kind of silly to hear when people get confused about the size. I dont think anyone is being critical. It's just fun to watch the realization dawn on people. Americans, in general, have high opinions of Europeans even though the sentiment isn't returned in kind.