The state of New Hampshire Department of Motor Vehicles have seen fit to grant me a driving license. They made me work for it - I had to do a theory and a practical test. The theory test without the aid of revision. We went to get our driving licenses over a week ago and were expecting to get whatever the equivalent of a provisional license is.
We took our sheaf of required paper work, all in order. The lady behind the counter (who was nothing like either Patty or Selma) said "Right go to booth four and take your theory test" Er, what now? Apparently yes. So more by luck than judgement I reached the required pass point. We returned this morning to do the practical part. I now know why there are so many shit drivers on America's roads. I didn't even have to do the parallel parking or three point turn elements like I was lead to believe that I would. For the record, Giselle passed hers too.
So I too can now go and make the slip roads of America chaos too.
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Monday, 27 September 2010
Monday, 13 September 2010
Spree I spraddle on the back seat
We are now a step closer to living the American dream and now own a car. And what a palaver it was. Finding the car was easy - just go around a whole load of car dealers until you find one that you want. We ended up with a red four door 2006 Toyota RAV4 with just over 38,000 miles on the clock (for all you trivia fans) for a very reasonable price. Getting it was a bit more problematic.
Since we have been here we have had a variety of hire cars (they only let you have them for a month at a time so the first one had to go back, the second one overheated on the freeway so we ended up with a third on which the oil light warning kept going on and off). They all came from the Alamo car hire office at Boston's Logan airport so had to be taken back there. So on Friday morning last week we drove down to Boston and took it back. The plan was to get the bus back to Nashua and have the car dealer come and pick us up.
We were tootling down the freeway in to Boston when I had a terrible thought - I didn't have my passport with me. Now this may not sound like a bad thing but if you don't have a US driving license the its the only form of ID that this is acceptable. But why would you need ID anyway? I hear you ask. Well, if you want to buy a ticket on a bus or a train then you have prove who you are. Don't ask me why this is case but it is and its immutable (as someone many of us know found on a family holiday to California a couple of years ago...).
Now I didn't fancy a wait in Boston whilst Giselle (who sensibly had hers) went back, picked the car up, sorted out the insurance and drove back to get me. So when the bus arrived (for which we were the only passengers from the airport) we had a word with the driver, who understood my plight and said that he would vouch for me with the ticket agent at the South Station (where the bus also goes and where they sell the tickets from - a strange way of doing things but par for the course for America). Which is what he did.
So an hour later we were picked up from the bus terminal just off Route 3 by the dealer, handed an not inconsiderable cheque over and the car was ours - sort of. Firstly there was the matter of insurance. To get our insurance we had to go to the brokers office. But didn't you have to drive there without any insurance? Yes but do you know what? Insurance isn't a mandatory requirement in the state of New Hampshire. Yes thats right, you can drive around without any insurance at all and its not a problem (obviously it is when you have a n accident but I suppose thats the chance that you take.). You would have thought that in such a litigious country it would be the complete opposite but no, you are perfectly at will to have no insurance whatsoever when you drive. Don't know what the rules are in other states but I suppose its all part of the Live Free or Die ethos. All sorted then, no not quite.
In the UK when we buy a car (or a bike or well anything thats needs one) it comes with its registration plate attached to it. Not here though (apparently for insurance purposes all vehicles are identified by their VIN numbers). When we got it from the dealer it had a temporary (cardboard) license plate attached to the rear which was valid for 20 days. This morning we had to go to City Hall to get our real license plates. Which could have been interesting as we apparently are supposed to have a New Hampshire driving license to do this but remarkably a UK license works just as well (although we now apparently have to go to Concord, the State capital and get New Hampshire licenses).
The interesting thing about this is that the whole process (temporary and permanent plates) costs in the region of $500. And the permanent plates have to renewed every year for another approximately $150. So there may be no road tax here in the way that we understand but this doesn't mean that motorists aren't exempt from paying their dues.
Rather boringly we went for the standard number plate with the next number and not a vanity plate as we couldn't thing of anything suitable to put on it. Answers on a post card please........
Since we have been here we have had a variety of hire cars (they only let you have them for a month at a time so the first one had to go back, the second one overheated on the freeway so we ended up with a third on which the oil light warning kept going on and off). They all came from the Alamo car hire office at Boston's Logan airport so had to be taken back there. So on Friday morning last week we drove down to Boston and took it back. The plan was to get the bus back to Nashua and have the car dealer come and pick us up.
We were tootling down the freeway in to Boston when I had a terrible thought - I didn't have my passport with me. Now this may not sound like a bad thing but if you don't have a US driving license the its the only form of ID that this is acceptable. But why would you need ID anyway? I hear you ask. Well, if you want to buy a ticket on a bus or a train then you have prove who you are. Don't ask me why this is case but it is and its immutable (as someone many of us know found on a family holiday to California a couple of years ago...).
Now I didn't fancy a wait in Boston whilst Giselle (who sensibly had hers) went back, picked the car up, sorted out the insurance and drove back to get me. So when the bus arrived (for which we were the only passengers from the airport) we had a word with the driver, who understood my plight and said that he would vouch for me with the ticket agent at the South Station (where the bus also goes and where they sell the tickets from - a strange way of doing things but par for the course for America). Which is what he did.
So an hour later we were picked up from the bus terminal just off Route 3 by the dealer, handed an not inconsiderable cheque over and the car was ours - sort of. Firstly there was the matter of insurance. To get our insurance we had to go to the brokers office. But didn't you have to drive there without any insurance? Yes but do you know what? Insurance isn't a mandatory requirement in the state of New Hampshire. Yes thats right, you can drive around without any insurance at all and its not a problem (obviously it is when you have a n accident but I suppose thats the chance that you take.). You would have thought that in such a litigious country it would be the complete opposite but no, you are perfectly at will to have no insurance whatsoever when you drive. Don't know what the rules are in other states but I suppose its all part of the Live Free or Die ethos. All sorted then, no not quite.
In the UK when we buy a car (or a bike or well anything thats needs one) it comes with its registration plate attached to it. Not here though (apparently for insurance purposes all vehicles are identified by their VIN numbers). When we got it from the dealer it had a temporary (cardboard) license plate attached to the rear which was valid for 20 days. This morning we had to go to City Hall to get our real license plates. Which could have been interesting as we apparently are supposed to have a New Hampshire driving license to do this but remarkably a UK license works just as well (although we now apparently have to go to Concord, the State capital and get New Hampshire licenses).
The interesting thing about this is that the whole process (temporary and permanent plates) costs in the region of $500. And the permanent plates have to renewed every year for another approximately $150. So there may be no road tax here in the way that we understand but this doesn't mean that motorists aren't exempt from paying their dues.
Rather boringly we went for the standard number plate with the next number and not a vanity plate as we couldn't thing of anything suitable to put on it. Answers on a post card please........
Friday, 27 August 2010
The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
And I'm not surprised. Driving, Americans - you would think in a land where the automobile is king they would know how to drive them. Er, no.
I don't think that I have ever seen such inept driving, ever. Even driving in India is better - at least they know how to get on and off at interchanges. Americans seem to have no idea of how to enter a freeway/highway/interstate/turnpike (delete as applicable). I would have thought that idea of, lets call it a motorway, is to keep traffic flowing freely and the idea when getting on is for the traffic already on the road to speed up or slow down (or even change lane) to let the car entering on. That way everyone is able to keep rolling and the traffic keeps flowing.
Not here. Billy Bob in his F150 just keeps on truckin' which means that Jolene has no way of joining the freeway. This is fine in the normal course of things, you just slow down and wait for them to go by and then join. But rush hours? Its metaphorical carnage out there. I have never seen lines of cars queueing on the slip road (I will not call it the on ramp, I will not call it the on ramp....) to get onto a motorway before. And not one or two but dozens of them. I have had the misfortune to be in the car when we have had to join the I95 from Route 3 (our way into central Boston from home) in the rush hour
View Larger Map
This is a bit of road that it should take 2 or 3 minutes to drive down. In the rush hour, it can 15 or 20 minutes. All due to the way people won't let those coming on, on. So lets get out of car and take the train. A fine idea but......
When we were staying in the hotel, we thought "there is a railway station five minutes drive away with a car park, lets get the train into Boston and then get around Boston on the T". So we did. First problem, the trains only run every two hours. Yes, once every two hours. Admittedly this was a Saturday and they are more plentiful on a weekday rush hour but still. So you miss your train, buggered for two hours.
So after making sure we got there in plenty of time for the train, I go to the ticket office.
"Two returns into Boston and with tickets so we can travel on the subway all day please"
"Certainly Sir, that will be $38 please"
We had already paid $4 for the parking. How do you persuade people to use public transport for those sort of prices when they can drive into Boston on a Saturday and spend 9 bucks for all day parking?
Nice train ride though.
I don't think that I have ever seen such inept driving, ever. Even driving in India is better - at least they know how to get on and off at interchanges. Americans seem to have no idea of how to enter a freeway/highway/interstate/turnpike (delete as applicable). I would have thought that idea of, lets call it a motorway, is to keep traffic flowing freely and the idea when getting on is for the traffic already on the road to speed up or slow down (or even change lane) to let the car entering on. That way everyone is able to keep rolling and the traffic keeps flowing.
Not here. Billy Bob in his F150 just keeps on truckin' which means that Jolene has no way of joining the freeway. This is fine in the normal course of things, you just slow down and wait for them to go by and then join. But rush hours? Its metaphorical carnage out there. I have never seen lines of cars queueing on the slip road (I will not call it the on ramp, I will not call it the on ramp....) to get onto a motorway before. And not one or two but dozens of them. I have had the misfortune to be in the car when we have had to join the I95 from Route 3 (our way into central Boston from home) in the rush hour
View Larger Map
This is a bit of road that it should take 2 or 3 minutes to drive down. In the rush hour, it can 15 or 20 minutes. All due to the way people won't let those coming on, on. So lets get out of car and take the train. A fine idea but......
When we were staying in the hotel, we thought "there is a railway station five minutes drive away with a car park, lets get the train into Boston and then get around Boston on the T". So we did. First problem, the trains only run every two hours. Yes, once every two hours. Admittedly this was a Saturday and they are more plentiful on a weekday rush hour but still. So you miss your train, buggered for two hours.
So after making sure we got there in plenty of time for the train, I go to the ticket office.
"Two returns into Boston and with tickets so we can travel on the subway all day please"
"Certainly Sir, that will be $38 please"
We had already paid $4 for the parking. How do you persuade people to use public transport for those sort of prices when they can drive into Boston on a Saturday and spend 9 bucks for all day parking?
Nice train ride though.
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