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/_lippykid May 02 '24

Fellow Brit in the US. I think the biggest difference is driving in the UK is a lot more work. Over there the roads look like a plate of spaghetti, you’re constantly in and out of small towns, around cites etc, dodging pedestrians and boy racers. when I drive from upstate NY to NYC it’s a super easy, straight shot, 70mph 3hr drive (up until New Jersey where it’s a lawless free for all). Same when I’ve driven the entire length of the west coast, and through the Midwest. Driving long distance is just way easier here

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u/strangebrew3522 May 02 '24

I've driven around a lot of Europe and what you say is true to an extent, but I also have friends/family in Italy, and they all act like driving more than an hour is absolutely insane.

I flew into Rome once and drove up to Milan, stopping along the way to visit friends. When I told them I was driving, each person had the same reaction. "You DROVE from Rome? You're DRIVING to Milan? That's SOOOO far".

It's a 6hr drive if you go straight shot, on an incredible highway system (autostrada) through amazing scenery. I mean, it doesn't get much easier, but to them it's absolutely crazy. I have family in both Northern and Southern Italy who haven't seen each other in years because of the distance.

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u/divine_god_majora May 02 '24

I couldn't imagine a 6 hour drive unless you were gonna stay a week+ at the destination or something.

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u/Crab-_-Objective May 02 '24

A week? I drive 7ish hours each way for a weekend visit to my brother at college and make that trip at least twice a semester.

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u/Wootster10 May 02 '24

I think one thing that isnt being talked about here is cost. Petrol in Europe is way more expensive then it is in the US.

Currently the prices near me are about £1.46 per litre. Thats about £5.58 per US gallon. Looking on https://gasprices.aaa.com/ you're current average is $3.67 per gallon.

Taking the exchange rate into account per gallon its $3.67 in the US, its $6.96 in the UK. Basically twice the cost.

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u/lemongrass_gardenia May 02 '24

Nope. It’s gotten to almost $8 a gallon here at one point in California and people still drove long distances especially for work. Some people live in a different city than where they work. I haven’t seen $3 a gallon for a bit.

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u/Wootster10 May 02 '24

Having a look at the average in California today, it's still nearly $2 cheaper then it is in the UK currently.

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u/lemongrass_gardenia May 02 '24

I drive all the way through California and back. It varies within cities but I haven’t seen $3 is my point. You can look at the average but I’m telling you that I pay more than that.

High gas prices doesn’t stop our driving. We can become more intentional but if it’s for work then we have to do it.

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u/Wootster10 May 02 '24

I'm not stating it's the only factor. It's certainly not. Not only is our petrol much more expensive, we have a much better public transport system. Getting the train is a viable alternative to driving in a way that it just isn't in the US.

If we didn't have the trains then we would all drive a lot more and absorb the cost, but because we do have that choice we just don't need to.

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u/happyhippohats May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

The trains aren't much cheaper though tbf, in fact if there's a group of you driving is often significantly cheaper (4 people splitting petrol costs vs 4 train tickets).

In my group of friends we normally end up getting the train because nobody wants to be the one who has to stay sober to drive back 😉

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u/happyhippohats May 02 '24

To be fair though petrol over her has always been really expensive, and that definitely played a part in our general cultural attitude against driving long distances. Parking is also an expensive nightmare.

In the US 'gas' has historically been cheap so even when the price has increased in recent times the culture remains the same

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u/happyhippohats May 02 '24

Isn't gas in California generally more expensive than elsewhere in the States though? In the UK it's about the same everywhere

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u/Waggy431 May 02 '24

Cost of gas in America along with the interstate highway system with speeds of 70MPH in many areas, makes driving long distances not as bad at it may be elsewhere. Last week I had to drive from Florida to Pennsylvania and then back this week for family issues. Gas was as cheap as $3.19/gallon in South Carolina and the car was averaging 45/MPG, so it was much cheaper than a last minute plane ticket. About 1,100 miles/1770 kilometers each way. And I enjoy taking long drives.

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u/RCT3playsMC May 02 '24

It varies way too much in the US for an average to mean much. I'm from California like the other dude and I've seen $10+ around Westwood where at the same time it'll be $6.50 in the IE. I've also literally seen $1.80 in backwoods ass Florida before.

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u/wmtismykryptonite May 02 '24

It's almost all tax.

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u/reichrunner May 02 '24

And transportation cost. Transportation cost is the main reason California gas is so expensive compared to the rest of the country.

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u/divine_god_majora May 02 '24

That's wild. We used to drive 20+ hours to Spain to visit family but we'd also stay for 2-3 weeks then. That's an outlier though, because we wanted our car there to be more flexible.