Driving on Oahu

[Cacia]

Ok, I'm from Boston, so my definition of fine may be a little warped

uh...yea.

the rotarys you guys drive will prepare you for anything!

 

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

Floriduh allows people who would be declared legally dead in any other state of renew their driver's licenses by mail - no eye exam, no proof of actual vision, no proof of measureable intelligence.
And they all vote religiously.

catherine, what's the deal with the turn signal? what "ideas" are you talking about?

 

[Cacia]

okay...if you are coming down the street and have the right away, and plan to turn, lets say left. And there is a car sitting at the cross street waiting to turn on to the mainstreet on which you are traveling...they will pull right out IN FRONT of you! Once they see that you are planning to slow down..they jump at the chance to pull out. The right of way rules here just do not exist as we know them on the mainland. They don't have the right away..but they will pull out if you signal. My advice, never signal as a courtesy...only if it is going to help you.

Basically...they treat all manuevers like the four way stop. I stopped, now it is my turn to go. Makes me nuts. So..I don't signal and I don't slow down in advance. If you are moving fast enough..they think better of it and don't pull out...defensive driving, my SoCal technique. To be fair, "they" hate LA drivers.

Never let them anticipate what you are going to do, as long as they are confused they just sit still and don't move, which is ideal. Works in Costco too, with the shopping cart. I tried being polite, but it only makes them confused. Just..Go..and let them work around you. Hesitation not a good plan here. I find it very sililiar to driving around large populations of retired people. Elderly drivers usually don't move as long as they don't get "ideas". I want to get past them before their ideas get transmitted into the neuromuscular connections to their gas foot.



...you'll see. and JB plans to ride his motorcycle every day. Probably more dangerous than Iraq.

 

[ScubaAndDreams]

All I can say is--don't leave anything in your car no matter where you are.

This morning my wife discovered that someone stole her entire purse out of her car.

Location of her car, our drive way. We moved here 4 weeks ago...lets just say it didn't take long to be "welcomed" to the island. Oh and yes it was stolen for sure as the ******** filled up not one, but three of their cars with gasoline courtesy of her credit card.

 

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

wow. that's terrible.

 

[Wildcard]

All I can say is--don't leave anything in your car no matter where you are.

This morning my wife discovered that someone stole her entire purse out of her car.

Location of her car, our drive way. We moved here 4 weeks ago...lets just say it didn't take long to be "welcomed" to the island. Oh and yes it was stolen for sure as the ******** filled up not one, but three of their cars with gasoline courtesy of her credit card.

Aoha and welcome. Never leave ANYTHING in your car, even while your in it. Not only will you never see it again, the cops won't find time to check it out. For diving I take my license, C card credit card and some cash and it all goes swimming wiht me. Also I don't wear my dive knife on boat dives but always when in a parking lot with locals.
BTW, Almost everytime you see the "slow down dis aint da mainland" sticker, it's on a car cutting through traffic at 90 plus mph.

 

[sea nmf]

Are there mostly Asian drivers there?

I saw the smiley but let me just say this: the majority of the local people here are of asian ethnic background. However, they are AMERICAN drivers, having lived here for generations. You just cannot categorize them in the same way as immigrant drivers just learning to drive.

That being said, this is a fun island to explore by car. Dont' let these posts scare you.

As with most places now, not just Hawaii, you cannot leave valuables in the car. But, if you are exploring, you take all your stuff with you anyway, right? No cameras or expensive sunglasses are left in the car.

 

[Cacia]

I never got the impression that "the people that think that" thought that because they just moved to America.. I thought it was like saying "white people can't dance"....we can't. (shrug) Or the Asians will kick your butt in science class. Recently, a board member of the admissions committee here told me that if every spot was filled based on purely academics, almost all the spots would be filled with Chinese girls. (at one of the most competitive prep schools in the country). I beleive him, he is white and has no reason to make it up, he sees the test scores and the grades. But...we are not supposed to say these things I guess. I say good for them, they work their tails off. Fact of life, as long as we are talking about how it is here...these things get said here and your ethnicity is *just* an adjective, so don't let it surprise you. We have this friend who is a narcotics agent and a diver and EVERYBODY (all his friends) call him "black Tony". If he called me on the phone he would say "Catherine? Hi..it's Black Tony". It is really like that here.

I have never had anything stolen in six years and I go places and leave stuff all over..I think I have been lucky. people come up to me at costco and say "don't leave your purse in the cart!".

Sorry about your wife's purse, dreamer.

I find it amazing that my kid's haven't had anything stolen in six years..city buses, etc. I-pods, phones..money..(shrug) Who knows.

Do they break the windows when they do this?

 

[sea nmf]

I never got the impression that "the people that think that" thought that because they just moved to America.. I thought it was like saying "white people can't dance"....we can't. (shrug) Or the Asians will kick your butt in science class. Recently, a board member of the admissions committee told me that if every spot was filled based on purely academics, almost all the spots would be filled with Chinese girls. (at one of the most competitive schools in the country). I beleive him, he is white and has no reason to make it up, he sees the test scores and the grades. But...we are not supposed to say these things I guess. I say good for them, they work their tails off.

I have never had anything stolen in six years and I go places and leave stuff all over..I think I have been lucky. people come up to me at costco and say "don't leave your purse in there!".

Sorry about your wife's purse, dreamer.

I find it amazing that my kid's haven't had anything stolen in six years..city buses, etc. I-pods, phones..money..(shrug) Who knows.

What? I'm not sure what you are responding to? If it was my post, I was responding to the comment about asian drivers. I know it's a belief "out there" that asians can't drive. And, I agree with you, it's like saying white people can't dance or any other sterotype. However, as in any skill, if you haven't been exposed to it, it really takes some major skill sets to calmly drive in our fast-paced society.

So "some" immigrants that are just learning to drive, no matter what their ethnic background, will normally have more trouble than people who have been in cars all their lives. But most drivers here, even though they are of asian descent, are really American drivers, having been exposed to driving all their lives.

That's what my point is in response to the poster that brought it up.

 

[Cacia]

oh...I thought you said something different.

I guess now would be a good time to say I think they are smarter than "us"?

just aren't stellar at driving particularly. Personally, I think it has something to do with eye/ brain coordination or something. I observed it in LA too. That is what the spoofy thing was in Crash and why it was so funny.

Facinating fact...I just learned, Insurance companies cannot charge teenagers more for their car insurance in Hawaii--it is considered age discrimination. That is very good news for me.

Well, anybody ever driven in Japan? How do they do over there anyway? What about China?
I would say they were pretty "good" in Indonesia..dangerous, but skillful, like stunt drivers.