Driving in Las Vegas

People who’ve lived in Las Vegas a long time are always moaning about the traffic. I can’t blame them. When a city goes from dusty Western town with a couple of intersecting highways to a multi-freeway metropolis in forty years, it’s easy to wax nostalgic for the good old days. I’ve lived here only five years, and even that is long enough to remember charming phenomena that have vanished in the supergrowth. There’s a street named “Pyle” on the south side of town, but recent arrivals don’t know that the next major street north of it used to be called “Gomer.” “Gomer” is now Silverado Ranch Boulevard. Ah, the good old days, when you could name dirt roads after old sitcom characters.
Is traffic in Las Vegas really bad? It depends on what you compare it to. If you’re remembering when the first “Ocean’s Eleven” was being filmed on the Strip, it’s terrible. If you’ve just arrived from Boston, you might think you’ve landed in paradise. Whenever I come back from a trip to Los Angeles, Las Vegas seems pretty tame. Even so, there are aspects of driving here that always strike me as being peculiar to Sin City. Here are my top ten:
1. It’s amazingly easy to get out of town, and the scenic highways around Las Vegas are breathtakingly beautiful and uncrowded. Lots of new car commercials are filmed in the natural areas around Las Vegas, and it’s easy to see why.
2. Pedestrians have no rights. The major thoroughfares are vast swaths of asphalt, and crossing them on foot is like swimming across a river full of turbo-charged crocodiles. If you’re walking, you can assume that all cars, most of which are oversized SUVs, are out to get you.
3. Parking, even on the Strip and in downtown, is generally plentiful and free. This can change when a large show (like the CES show currently here) puts extra pressure on parking lots in certain areas, and hotels sometimes charge people who aren’t renting rooms.
4. Valet parking is available at many places on and off the Strip (even malls and hospitals) for the price of a tip — usually a couple of bucks. (If the “Valet Full” sign is out, a twenty will often get you parked anyway. It’s a scam, but if you’re late for a show, it’s useful to remember how well money speaks in this town.)
5. “Rush hours” are completely unpredictable and can occur for reasons like a boxing match at Mandalay Bay or an air show at Nellis Air Force Base. The only heightened traffic flow that seems to follow patterns like other cities is the daily migration from Summerlin (in the northwest) to the center of town.
6. Rain is serious. Even a little rain can make cars slide around in scary ways, and a big storm invariably brings big accidents. Intersections flood, and even though freeways have better drainage, they still can’t always handle the quantities of water a sudden cloudburst can drop.
7. Car insurance is expensive. Rates are among the highest in the country, right up there with places like New York City.
8. Lots of drivers, especially those near the airport and the Strip, don’t know where they’re going, and they’re driving unfamiliar cars. Mix that with the reason people come here — to drink and play games of chance — and you’ve got a mandate to drive defensively. This also helps explain the high insurance rates and the outrageous number of fender-bender accidents.
9. Taxi drivers are great! They know the city, speak English, and the cabs are in good shape. They’ll cut you off as gleefully as they do in other cities, but generally speaking, they’re a cut above.
10. Driving on the Strip can be frustrating unless you get into a car- and people-watching frame of mind. If a cool vehicle exists, you will see it. From Lamborghinis to Humvee limos, tricked-out low riders to Rolls Royces, they’re all here. (For some reason, traffic on the northbound side of the road is always slower than on the southbound side. I can’t figure out why, but if you want to cruise the Strip more quickly, start at the north end.)
Like everything else in Las Vegas, driving can be an adventure, and there’s no denying that you’ll sometimes be stuck in a jam, most often caused by a construction project like the interminable one in Henderson that will eventually result in a new freeway. For this reason, I always carry books-on-CD in my car — someday I will have Las Vegas traffic to thank for finally finishing Moby Dick.

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Summer Driving Tips

Summer Driving Tips

The experts are guessing about what will be happening on our nation's roads this summer. Gas prices have stabilized, and appear to be on a slight decline as the season officially approaches. At the same time, airline ticket prices are on the rise. The confluence of these two events should point toward more summer driving -- but the uncertainty in the economy has many families sticking closer to home. One thing is for sure: Summer driving is fraught with challenges. We've put together a few Summer Driving Tips designed to make your time behind the wheel a little more efficient, safer and maybe more fun.

Pay Attention To Your Tires.

Pay attention to your tires. Under inflation can cost you fuel economy, and it's also a safety hazard. Check your tire pressure before you begin your driving day to get a cold pressure reading. Resist the impulse to bleed air from your tires on a hot drive -- pressure build up is normal.

Avoid Texting And Driving.

If you're going to cross state lines or drive in an unfamiliar area, check the laws on cellphones, texting and hands-free phones while driving before you leave. The phone company Motorola maintains an interactive map of hands-free laws in the United States on their website (http://www.motorola.com/handsfreelaw).

Learn The Seat Belt Laws.

Seat belt and child restraint laws differ from state to state, too. Check the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's site (http://www.iihs.org/laws/SafetyBeltUse.aspx) for the specifics in the fifty states.

Use A Radiator Coolant Additive.

If you're going to be towing or subjecting your car to particularly heavy loads, consider using a radiator coolant additive like Royal Purple's Purple Ice (http://www.royalpurple.com/product-categories/automotive/#!purple-ice-radiator-coolant-additive) or WaterWetter from Redline Synthetic Oil (http://www.redlineoil.com/Products.aspx?pcid=10). Making the antifreeze more efficient lowers the temperature, and can help avoid overheating.

Lighten Your Load.

Lighten your load before you hit the road. When you take a road trip, you're likely to add hundreds of pounds of gear, luggage and passengers to your car's normal load. This will affect fuel economy and handling. Plan ahead, and remove all of the unnecessary junk from your trunk before you head out. And take a good look at what you're bringing along to pare down the payload.

Avoid Using The Roof Rack.

A loaded roof rack may seem like a good idea for a summer trip, but save it for a last resort. Loading up your roof rack will make your vehicle less aerodynamic, which will have a serious effect on fuel economy. It will also raise the center of gravity of your loaded vehicle, which will make you more vulnerable to rollover. And never, ever put your dog on the roof rack, no matter what kind of carrier you're using.

Bring Water And First Aid Supplies.

Don't leave the water behind, especially if you're traveling in the heat. Bring emergency water and first aid supplies with you on your road trip, and hopefully you'll never need them.

Put A Stop To Idling.

Traffic jams are inevitable in the summer. Shutting off your ignition when your car is going to be at a standstill for more than 30 seconds will save gas, reduce emissions and help avoid overheating. The potential cost of wear on your engine will be more than offset by the savings in fuel costs.

Keep Kids, Pets And Chocolate Safe.

Don't leave kids, pets or chocolate bars in a sealed car on a hot day. According to the Weather Channel, after 60 minutes on a 90 degree day, the interior of a sealed car can easily reach 138 degrees -- hot enough to cause heat exhaustion, heat stroke or melting. The best rule is to never leave your kids, your pets or your chocolate in the car in summer, even with the windows open.

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Acura RDX earns recommendation in latest Consumer Reports crossover comparo

The revised 2013 Acura RDX has found at least one happy customer, and it's an important one: Consumer Reports. The editors at CR gave the RDX crossover their top rating of "Recommended" after Acura ditched the turbocharged four-cylinder that had served as the RDX's sole powerplant since its launch in 2006.

Praise was heaped upon the new powertrain, which features the Honda corporate 3.5-liter V6 in a 273-horsepower state of tune mated to a six-speed automatic. But CR was unimpressed with the new, less-sophisticated all-wheel-drive system in the RDX, which was slow to transfer power rearwards.

Editors liked the redesigned RDX's softer ride, but were much less enthusiastic about its handling, which was judged inferior to the BMW X3 and Audi Q5. The BMW scored highest in the magazine's testing and the Audi also received a Recommended rating. The X3 was not recommended due to an inability to predict the reliability of BMW's new 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

CR called the RDX's 22 mpg combined fuel economy "respectable" and predicts that its reliability will be "average or above," leading to the magazne's new endorsement.
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