Need conseils for Usa.

I'm going to Boston next week and will rent a car there. I've already rent car in the Usa but never found a rental agency with manual cars. Does it exist arround Boston ? (in the middle range, like VW Passat, Honda Accord, Pontiac G6, etc.).

Then for driving, what are the exact tolerances for speed limits : 5 to 10% like here (and sometimes more) or less than that ?
Radars are easy to see ? What are the fines for little overpassing of the speed limits (like untill +20mhp) ?
The other time, to respect the speed limits was quite boring and difficult so, if you can help me, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Not sure bout the rental car question, but for speed limits, most allow 5 to 10 miles over, Ive never had a problem with 5 over. Radar, I wouldnt suggest it too much because a lot of cops are now using laser, not able to be detected till its to late. for 15 over 40 (55), i got a $99 ticket, 28 over 65 (93), I got a $200 ticket

1.Rental cars with manuals are rare just because it'll sit on the lot, not too many americans are into driving stick shifts. Around Boston i'm not sure but unless you rent either a sports car or a cheap economy car you aren't going to find too many manuals.

2.Tolerances I wouldn't exceed 10mph over so in a 25mph you may get away with 30mph and 35mph is going to push it in alot of city areas.

3.Fines vary in each area and sometimes by each officer, I got one ticket for 20mph over and it was $200USD, however I got out of that one because the cop was really just out to get me and I proved it in court.

4.You can spot the cops alot of them drive Ford Crown Victorias, if you see them parked anywhere slow down quick, they are pretty good at hiding behind bushes and other areas and "sniping" you with radar.

Just be careful in the residential areas, slow down for the sake of saving yourself the hassle of a fine and getting into an accident. Most of the highways here are 65mph or higher, i'd save your speed for those areas. 35mph is a decent city speed limit to me so I try to obey it as much as possible. With the weather nice as it is theres too many kids running around to be speeding too much.

Sounds about right; 10mph on the highway will usually not get a ticket, more than that though is likely.

Most Americans want boring automatics for their rentals, so stick is hard to find.

Lets see. You will most likely NOT find a car in stick shift for rent in the US, especially an american made car. I dont think G6's even have that as an option.

Boston: Inner city, the traffic flow will determine the speed, but it wont be fast.

Storrow Drive: its 35 mph, but you can get away easily with doing 50-60mph, as long as theres traffic and other cars moving along. That means don't speed on Storrow Drive at night.

Mass Ave: again, traffic will determine the pace, but it generally wont be too fast.

Jamacia way: much like storrow, except BE CAREFUL! There are so many accidents here because people speed and the road is very narrow and very twisty.

I93 and I95: 85-90 MPH is ok as long as theres traffic.

I90: I wouldnt speed much past 80 on the pike.

That's about it i suppose. I guess generally follow the flow of traffic and you'll be ok.

Driving in Boston fucking sucks.

Driving in Boston fucking sucks.

+1,000,000 ... I thought NYC sucked, but Boston is all sorts of messed up. Atleast NYC makes sense, Boston is just an un-organized mess. I suggest public transportation (although, even that is messed up... basically, i really don't like Boston...)

good luck in your endeavor. Kudo's if you find a manual.

Thank you for the answers.
For the mess in Boston, I live near Paris and lived in Turin for quasi 1 year, so I think I won't be shocked.
Fines seem to be quite similar as here, maybe a little bit higher. But the overpassing of the speed limit is to avoid in a general way if i've undertood well...
For a red light, is the fine high too ?

For the manual shift, i've to forget.... ! I rent a G6 last year in Montréal, not too bad, I think I'll remain on this kind of car. Let's see....

Running a redlight here is a 4 point violation, which is equivalent to careless driving offense ie. expensive fine and highly frowned upon by authorities. I'm not sure if this is state dependent though.

No clue here. Never ran a red light and never plan to. When I was younger I remember an accident where a foreign dude who was color blind ran a red light and hit us, luckily we were ok, but I think my ex-step dad did something to his neck. This was also right in front of a fire station too. He hit us pretty hard, and both cars were totaled. This was his second accident from running a red light, or at least thats what the insurance company said. To risky for injury/death to even think about running a red light.

Flow of traffice my friend. just go with that on the highway...unless everyone is going 15 over or more, then to be ont he safe side go a little slower. If the limit is under 40, i wouldn't go more than 5 over if that. Some place are really crackin' down.

I hate it though here on I-4 at night or the occasional day cars will go 15-25 over, like all of them so we're flying down I-4 at 85mph and heck ive past cops and they just sat there. Eceryone was doing it. Freaked me out but I figure, flow of traffic.

Pouh ! Mhhhhh, they are not kidding ! I should find some diplomatic plates :D

Doberman : if you ran a red light, you look before of course, and you can do it for not main red lights. For example in Italy (less in France), a red light not too important is considered like a stop... and there are not more accidents than in the Us or other European countries. ;)

I guess I do know a few people who do that, but I don't like to. Last thing I need though is another ticket, and with my luck, I would wind up getting one. 5 is enough. But I do remember one that I did because the light would stay red for 5 minutes, literally, and if there was no traffic I would go, otherwise, I would try to remember to go around, but that light has been removed, and was on a street basically out of town.

I understand ;)

I'll admit to running a red light once in a while headed to work, but I drive to work at 3:30am on back country roads so sitting at a light for 3-4 minutes when I can see the entire road is empty seems pointless to me. I do stop however look around and than go.

Speaking of lights I was at work parked behind one of the shops I was delivering to and as i'm doing my paperwork I hear brakes lock up, as I looked up a car skidded right through the intersection at a flashing yellow and slammed into a van. The van had made a right on red directly in front of the car. I've seen people speed right through flashing red lights too, I think half the people in this country don't know what a flashing red or yellow light means.

+1,000,000 ... I thought NYC sucked, but Boston is all sorts of messed up. Atleast NYC makes sense, Boston is just an un-organized mess. I suggest public transportation (although, even that is messed up... basically, i really don't like Boston...)

good luck in your endeavor. Kudo's if you find a manual.

Bah, its not bad once you know where to go. It's a pretty small city, so the traffic eases up pretty quick outside of the downtown too (not like anyone even NEEDS to drive downtown. The T is so much more fun!). I like the electric busses they got in, no more thn 3 years old now, Smooth, quiet, lots of space. A lot better than the 60 year old relics i used to take into town.

Doberman : if you ran a red light, you look before of course, and you can do it for not main red lights. For example in Italy (less in France), a red light not too important is considered like a stop... and there are not more accidents than in the Us or other European countries. ;)


Solid red light means you have to stop till it changes. Blinking red is stop + check that it is clear. Most police here have no tolerance for red light running.

If you want to rent a manual, look into finding a Shelby GT-H Mustang (from Hertz rent a car). Won't be cheap, but they are fun! :)

I dunno about Beantown, but here in North Dallas alot of the busy intersections the city has implemented cameras that work alot like speed cameras. So if you get timed running the red light, flash, click click, your ticket is in the mail sir.

Yeah, we got those cameras here in south dakota too. I've never had to worry bout em though.

I think I'll take the Peugeot on the boat with the French plates and come in the US then.... and then, for the cameras... :D

More seriously, the best is to respect quite well the road legislation, no choice alas ! But for one week, I'll survive !

Departure tomorrow.

Thanks to all. Merci ;)

It also depends on the cops around. I know a few people who got off easy, and others who didnt. And I ran my first red light today...wouldnt have been able to stop, roads were wet and i was going 45 or so. lol. Good luck with the trip.

How long are you staying? Me and my girls went to NYC for a few days last year and instead of renting a "normal" car like an accord, we decided to live it up, picked up some extra shifts at work, and went to a luxury/exotic rental firm. Thanks to my dad's signature, we tooled around NYC in a 2006 BMW M5. There were 5 of us, and the difference in cost was about an extra $50/day.

Moral of story - The M5 was a manual transmission. :D

ok, i live in boston (next to fenway park..you know youre jealous).. dont run ANY red lights.... if its not important they wont put a light there, theyll just put a stop sign.. and when in Boston, drive like everyone else... that way you dont cause accidents..watch out for pot holes....we all drive like assholes, dont get angry, its just the way it is... Good luck and WELCOME TO BEAN TOWN! (Bostons nickname)

And only say good things about the redsox or bad things about the yankees, unless you want to be a murder victim.

And only say good things about the redsox or bad things about the yankees, unless you want to be a murder victim.
yeah i dont dare go anywhere near boston with my NY plates even though i couldnt give 2 fucks about baseball

^ :evillol:

Ok so, I just came back from Boston this morning. I was in the US for one week.

I went to Boston, Providence, Cap Code, Newport, mainly.
Nice region, very nice views, alas the weather was not so cool : although, nice weather, but cold because of the wind !
Nice houses in Newport (bigger than the Kennedy's house in Hyannis), people very simpatic too.

For the cars and drinving :
In Boston, people don't drive so madly, but one thing which is awful is that it's unpossible to park anywhere. Finally, Paris is not so bad from this point of view ! :D
I drove like other people in towns, on the other roads, even if people did often overpass the speed limits, I was not able to remain so slow. On the roads, I was at about 60-65, on the highways, 75 to 95mph. For the red lights, I forgot a very interesting (and smart) thing in the US, it's than you can turn right on many red lights.
On the highways though, people there don't know to keep there right, when you arrive on the left to overpass someone, you have to flash them, or even overpass them by the right when they don't move....

I've rent... three cars : one Taurus that I kept one day because it had really a too poor handling. In the curves, I was always thinking that the car would leave the road ! Then a G6 (not too bad) but the car made a strange noise after only 20 miles..... i changed it for a Malibu 2.2... All automatics, but it was running. And then, after changing 3 times of car in one week, I became more flexible on my exigences !

I was surprised (as always when I go in North America) to notice that there are no cars like Peugeot, Renault, Citroën, Alfa Romeo, Lancia or Fiat for example.... Beh, I know, they left 15 years ago, and not considering well their clients. :(

To conclude, New England is a very nice region with awesome coasts. The food was not excellent alas, but it's possible to find some good things (overall good meats). And finally, at the airport, leaving my digital prints and my photo, I'm now a vip in the usa..... !

Sounds like fun, too bad you didn't get to see many of the domestic cars like Mustangs and Camaros that unfortunately run this country, I'm sure you guys don't have those over there. And yea, the whole thing about people being stubborn about moving out of the fast lane is country wide problem. My favorite part is when they stay in your way for a few miles and then as soon you pass you look in your rearview to see them finalyl changing lanes.

There are some Mustang here, but very few. It's not imported by Ford but by private importators, so the price arrives at about 50 000 euros (65 000 USD), fully loaded, but at this price, you can have a 330ci or a Cayman for example. Though, it's a nice car.
For the Camaro, I drove onefew years ago in Florida, bu I've to say that I didn't like it (sorry) : poor handling, not well built, very heavy, etc.
But I saw another car out there which is the new Ford Thunderbird, awesome car !

glad you enjoyed it. did you get a chance to se fenway park? if you did then you probably saw my appartment..

I don't remember to be going near this park. I've to say that I remain just an hour in Boston, it's impossible to park there alas. I ate in Cambridge and then left for the coast and other towns (Providence, Newport, etc.). ;)