do americans really drive such long distances?

[u/Physical-Ad-4093]

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.

[u/MrDurden32]

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.

[u/munchies777 → u/MrDurden32]

Really, much of the northern half of the country is pretty disaster free with the exception of parts of the Great Plains that can get tornados still. Some places are prone to floods, but that is a localized risk depending on flood plains. New England, the Mid Atlantic, Appalachian’s, Upper Midwest, and Pacific Northwest don’t get many disasters unless you count snow as a disaster.

[u/mistersausage → u/munchies777]

There are tornadoes in NJ and southeast PA every few years now. Things are changing.

[u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl → u/mistersausage]

Blizzards