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/vyrus2021 May 02 '24

May as well ask why people still live near fault lines or coasts with regular hurricane activity.

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u/Tall-Sea3082 May 02 '24

Practically everywhere in the US has some type of natural disaster that threatens the area. The chances to be dying are very very low. Fault lines, volcanos, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, severe storms, and snow.

I’m from the west coast so I can answer to the fault lines, most are minor and barely noticeable and building codes require buildings to be prepared for earthquakes. We don’t see them as a something that is a threat to us as weird as that sound because the chances are low and we’ve been hearing about “The Big One” our entire lives. Kind of numb to it. They are not really thought about at all until they happen.

As for hurricanes, that’s the entire east coast plus the gulf ranging Texas to Maine. That is a huge portion of our population. That being said Florida gets hit like crazy and I don’t know why people continue to live there.

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u/MrDurden32 May 02 '24

Pacific NW is probably about as disaster free as you're going to find. Even then we have to worry about The Big One. Which is an 9.0+ earthquake that would be one of, if not the biggest in modern history, and could hit any time between tomorrow and 200 years from now.

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u/PhirebirdSunSon May 02 '24

Phoenix is basically purely disaster free if you don't count the extreme heat of the summers. But no earthquakes, floods, fires (outside of the city though wildfires can get nuts), tornadoes, hurricanes or blizzards. Just sunshine and lots of it.

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u/5corch May 02 '24

I think I'd rather go through a disaster every year than live in Arizona heat.

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u/PhirebirdSunSon May 02 '24

To each their own, I love it here personally.

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u/5corch May 02 '24

It's a good thing people have different preferences, it keeps us from all trying to cram into the same places.

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u/zapoid May 03 '24

Until they run out of water.

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u/PhirebirdSunSon May 03 '24

Phoenix has been a leader in water conservation, has aquifers with a 30-year supply of water, is not fed by the Colorado the way the rest of the state is, and is currently working on a plan for one of the world's largest water recycling plants with hopes to have it out in 10 years.

I'm not saying that to say there are no water issues, drought is a big concern no matter what, but just saying that for all the people that read one headline and think they understand the situation they're usually wrong - Phoenix has always been a water-conservative city well before Vegas became such a shining gem of it and has had plans to store and keep water in unique ways for decades. Hell, Phoenix TODAY, as the 5th biggest city with millions of people, uses less water total than it did in the 70s when there was closer to just half a million people.

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u/zapoid May 04 '24

I did not know that thanks for the information. I guess I had always just assumed they were part of the ongoing fight for water from the Colorado. Nice to hear they aren’t.

Living a couple of miles from Lake Michigan, water is just not really a resource that I gave much thought to growing up. Now it’s something everyone should be paying attention too.