How Not to Drive Like a Tourist
The Orlando area is a very popular tourist destination. However, it is surprisingly lacking in decent public transportation. If your summer travels will take you to the Orlando area, you will probably want to bring your Certified Mercedes along. Driving in Orlando takes some adjustment, as lost tourists share the highways with speeding commuters along the I-4 corridor. Provided here are some tongue-in-cheek tips on how not to drive like a tourist in Orlando.
1. Do not open a map across the steering wheel – Yes, people actually do this. At 70 miles per hour. Seriously, if you don’t know where you’re going, pull over to read the map or ask for directions.
2. Do not stop or slow to a crawl during rainstorms – If you are in Florida, it will rain, especially during the summer. Floridians are used to it and keep right on going. If visibility is literally zero, they may slow down by a few miles per hour. Tourists have a tendency to stop or nearly stop, right in the middle of a traffic lane. This is highly dangerous. If you must stop, pull well off onto the shoulder of the road.
3. Do not treat a car accident on the side of the road as another tourist attraction – For some reason, Florida tourists tend to slow and almost stop for anything that is happening well off the side of the road, even if it is just someone getting a ticket. Floridians tend to shrug and keep going.
4. Do not drive on I-4 during rush hour. No matter what. – Interstate 4 is the highway that runs from Daytona Beach diagonally to Tampa Bay. The road is woefully inadequate for the amount of traffic it carries. Locals tend to commute long distances and drive in a way that would be unsafe for a tourist to keep up with. From 6 am to 9 am and 4 pm to 7 pm, let the locals have I-4. There are many routes that are safer and more scenic anyway.
5. Whatever you do, don’t stop in the middle of I-4 to watch a shuttle launch – The space shuttle launches on a semi-regular basis from nearby Kennedy Space Center. Launches can be seen from all over Central Florida and are spectacular to see, especially at night. However, some tourists somehow forget where they are when mesmerized by a shuttle launch. Stopping and getting out of your car in the middle of a 70 mph lane on I-4 is a bad idea. Always. Yes, people really do this, more frequently than you could imagine. Shuttle launches are announced far in advance, making it simple to arrange a safe viewing location.
If you will load up the Certified Mercedes and head to Orlando this summer, you will find friendly locals, a laid-back attitude and world-class entertainment. But please, follow the simple tips above to avoid driving like a tourist!
Filed Under: Certified Mercedes-Benz
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