Submitted 1 year ago by TheOhNoNotAgain@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
The American way of expressing distances by drive time - what does that include?
I never realized how different people take this. For me it’s a definite no. A 10 hour drive is how long it takes without breaks, because it makes no sense to have it included, since everyone’s breaks would vary in length.
Exactly this.
“How long does it take to get to x?”
“Four hours if you don’t stop” or … “it’s a four hour drive”.
Context.
“was on the road for 10 hours” includes stops.
“It’s a straight 10 hour drive to Boston” does not include stops.
People are not usually counting that, but it’s not as if it’s a standard. Sometimes they mean how long the overall trip takes, other times, simply the distance divided by the average speed limit.
Not if you’re my dad.
gotta make time! (in case there’s confusion, this doesn’t mean make time for breaks, but to get there as quickly as possible)
The time is usually an estimate, or the best case scenario in my head. If I have to stop and add more time, I do. But 10 hours is probably what google maps told me it is. I drove straight 9 hours or so once, I think I stopped twice to use the bathroom/get a snack. Got there at 2am. It was rough, wouldn’t do it again.
I drove from Albuquerque NM to Tacoma WA in two days by myself. That one was pretty rough.
I generally go off of what the GPS says because time is a blur for me unless I take specific note.
Do you get Highway Hypnosis on such long drives?
If I’m telling someone else how long a drive will be, I tell them the drive time without stops. If I’m telling someone how long a drive is/was for me personally, I’ll include time for stops and note how many times I stopped along the way, for context
Correct, when directly replacing estimated time instead of distance, no stops is customary.
I have no idea how many stops you need or how long they’ll be. That’s on you.
Generally you stop every 2-4 hours to stretch your legs, go to the bathroom, get fuel, etc.
As an Australian, not an American, we drive long distances too. We express in km/h and km, not mph and miles. Due to high risks of sleeping on long straight empty roads, rest breaks are taken seriously here. I’d consider a 10 hour drive as door to door including minimal breaks. It would be foolhardy to drive without breaks. However, if I was describing the distance without breaks, I’d say that. If I was taking longer breaks, I’d say it too, for clarity.
My in laws live near the border of the next state. It’s a 6 hour drive without stopping. I’d describe it as a 7 hour drive, door to door. We have done it in 9 hours with stops in playgrounds for the kids. If I was describing that I’d still describe it as a 7 hour drive that we took extra breaks, so it took 9.
Similar to your first paragraph - as an American, a ten hour drive is the minimum it could take.
For example, I say it’s a 14 hour drive to my brother’s house. That means I grab breakfast on my way out of town, stop for gas and fast food lunch (perhaps to go), stop for gas and fast food dinner, then get there
It’s going to take all day either way with or without stops. You’ll have to eat either before, during or after the drive.
To me, anything more than 4 hours is a 1 day drive.
If someone said 10 hour drive, I’d assume that’s the time on the road without stops. The context being not about distance anymore, but about for long you’re going to sit in a car.
Also flights. A two hour flight is from start to landing, even if the entire thing also includes two hours before checking in and half an hour to collect the luggage and finding a taxi out of there etc. The 2 hour is only for making the decision of when to eat and what to bring on board. Same thing with long drives.
“To me, anything more than 4 hours is a 1 day drive.”
Wow, where do you live that 4hrs is such a big deal? To be fair, I used to work with a guy that had to pack a lunch and plan his trip days in advance just to “go into town” which was maybe a 45min (75km) trip each way on a 4 lane divided freeway.
I just don’t like driving that much. If it’s more than 4 hours, I’d rather split it two and sleep in between, so I can also do other stuff on both days.
Depends on the person. If me and my mother are talking about going to and from the same location, I may say it is an 18 hour drive because I only stop for fuel and quick pee breaks. My mother would say its a 24-25 hour drive because she drives slower and takes longer/more frequent breaks
The 7 hour drive I had last week included one stop for gas, but that's it. We usually refer to the amount of time the gps says it will take.
Personally, that includes gas station stops, but not much beyond that.
I always speak in drive time and i will note total time when applicable.
For example: drove my ex to DK. I drove like 9.5 hours overnight. Lol We probably stopped for an hour and a half or so total like ~11 hours.
It depends on the distance, or how it was expressed. Less than 12 hours, or exact times, probably means just the actual driving time before any stops. Really long spans of time, or when someone says something fuzzy like "a half-day drive," you can probably assume are accounting for a break or two.
To answer your specific question, if someone said "a 10 hour drive" to me, I would assume they meant 10 actual road hours, before breaks. I would expect them to actually arrive in an 11 to 12 hour time frame.
12 parsecs
Driving at a leisurely 47 attoparsecs per nanocentury
I can do it in under 12
I usually refer to GPS time.
Sure, but there are far fewer breaks than there should be, generally.
I’d say it does as driving for 10 hours straight without any stops doesn’t really sound healthy.
In general conversation, no. We wouldn’t say that Hoiston is X miles from Dallas, we’d just say about 4 hours. Same with distance between Fort Worth and Dallas, we use time to convey distance.
It makes things easier for planning purposes to use drive time. We even say “drivetime” because that’s how long it takes to drive to the destination, whether that’s down the street to the store or a city across the state. It’s just like when you put in a destination on a GPS, it shows how long it’ll take to drive there, nothing more.
orangeNgreen@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I usually say something like “10 hours, plus stops,” to avoid confusion.
KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world 1 year ago
This is the way.