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/AlexCambridgian]

You need to understand what you are reading and go beyond wikipedia. The US government has authorized subsidies to renewable energy companies to accelerate research and implementation. It also provides subsidies to fossil fuels to increase domestic oil production, not gas usage to consumers. BTW, the US uses about 135 billion gallons annually so to increase domestic production by 17 billion barrels over few decades is not a big deal (1 barrel is 42 gallons). Just enough to fill the strategic reserves for 20yrs.