It's not just about driving on the wrong side of the road!

• 4 Way Stops. Very common in the suburbs. In SoCal , these are the most common intersections after traffic lights. When you arrive at the lines, come to a complete stop. Then the driver/pedestrian who arrived first, goes first. If there is a lot of traffic, the same still happens, though if the car along side you, proceeding in the same direction goes, you may go with them if safe. If a traffic light is out, then the red lights flash and it reverts to being a four way stop. They are difficult when there are 3 lanes in all directions. Hint - just because you got there first doesn't mean you should insist on going if a larger car starts moving :-)
  
• Speed Limits.
• 25mile/hr in residential areas
• 35mile/hr in built-up areas
• 65mile/hr - 70mile/hr on freeway. You may be forced to go faster by larger vehicles, try to avoid it but you should not become an obstruction as you may be charged (cited).
• Elsewhere as signposted. This is usually on the right hand side of the road, immediately after an intersection. Note that the speed limit is sometimes additonally displayed on the road surface. It did take us some time to get used to the changing speed limits when there is so much else to take notice of.
  
• Freeways
• Entrances. Rob finds these are the most difficult part of freeway driving. One usually needs to speed up to about 60miles/hr in a short period to allow you to merge in with the traffic already on the freeway. There is usually plenty of room to do this, but you need to be going at sufficient speed to merge.
  
• Driving. The slowest lane is the right hand lane, the fastest the left hand lane. Trucks and slower vehicles travel in the right lane. If the traffic is flowing freely, every lane further to the left will be going 5mile/hr faster than the previous, sometimes 15mile/hr over the speed limit. You will be abused by other drivers if you do not keep up - it is often safest just to drive in the second right lane or centre lane, at or around the posted speed limit.
  
• Exits. 99% of exits are to the right. Once you are moving, exists fly past at a great rate - the next three exits are usually signposted.
  
• Car Pool Lanes. Great if you like driving fast in a narrow lane right next to concrete barriers. Must have 2 or more people in the car to use it. Must only enter and exit when the lane divider is segmented (usually near big exits). There are different sign posts for the car pool lanes, and for major freeway intersections the car pool lane may have its own individual flyover - fun fun fun! Be warned, however, that if you are moving to another freeway make sure you can from the car pool lane - i.e. read the signs!
• U turns are only done by exiting and then reentering the freeway.
• Stop and Go. Never, never tailgate. The Dept Motor Vehicles recommends 3 seconds gap between cars and this is especially important on the freeway. Stop and Go is when the freeway comes to a complete stop, and this happens with zero notice. Watch multiple cars ahead for brake lights, and slow down when you see them. Frustrating as Stop and Go may be, it is a fact of life on the freeway and rarely does changing lanes every 100metres provide any benefit. Stop and Go most often occurs when people rubber -neck (i.e. stop and gawk) at accidents (or stalled vehicles) or near busy freeway intersections (e.g. 405 near Culver City/Santa Monica, I5 near Carlsbad on weekends). A number of times Rob has really had to press the brakes to slow from 70miles/hr to 15miles/hr all of sudden - it can really test the brakes.
  
• Surface. The surface on some of the freeways is concrete and can be very uneven - Rob thought we had a flat tyre a number of times and it's just been the very rough surface. When the surface transitions to asphalt the difference is enormous - it is just so quiet!
• Lane Markings. Especially when the surface is concrete, seams in the road surface will wander in and out of lanes. The lanes also wander at times and it requires concentration to ensure the car stays between the lane markers.
• Traffic Lights
• U Turns. You can do a U Turn at traffic lights unless otherwise indicated. This is the opposite to Australia (you didn't know that? You'd better read up on the Australian Road Rules :-)
• Turn Right on Red. This is good. You can turn right on a red light unless otherwise indicated. Be warned that you must check carefully first, irrespective of the impatient driver behind you... Just watch out for pedestrians and drivers turning left into the same lane you're aiming for.
• Hint - we were warned about this and nearly made the mistake ourselves. The lights are often on the far side of the road. Make sure you stop at the lines rather than the lights, otherwise you may already be in the intersection.
  
• Rounds Abouts. There are very few in SoCal. So, be aware that as an Australian you'll have had about a million times more experience than Californian drivers at using them. But, they go anti-clockwise here (clockwise in Australia), and be prepared for people doing bizzare things.
• Other Tips
• Centre Turn Left Lane. There is a lane in the centre of a lot of roads which is for moving into before you turn left, or when exiting a side street for allowing one to only have to tackle one direction at the time. The unusual thing is the latter, and requires one to turn left into the lane and then to merge with the traffic once it is clear. Oh, and just watch for people also travelling towards you in this lane - it is a bidirectional lane! This probably makes more sense once you've seen it.
• Drifting. As Australian drivers, we are used to driving on the left. When you sit on the left and drive on the right, as in the USA there is the tendancy to drift because you are not used to being in the same position relative to the lane. This was worst when Rob started to relax.
• Mirrors. The rear view mirror really feels like it is in the wrong position. It takes a lot of effort to check the rear view mirror when it is on the right. On the freeway, checking the mirrors is very important for situational awareness.
  
• Buses. Buses stop at all railway crossings. If a school bus is stopped letting out children it will have red lights flashing. You must stop, irrespective of which side of the road the bus is on until the bus turns off its flashing lights and continues. We've not experienced this, but hear that the police are pretty strict about this.
• Indicators. Many vehicles designed in the USA do not have orange indicators. Instead the brake light will flash instead. This is weird, especially as we weren't looking for it. When we saw a brake light flash, we just though the driver had touched their brake. Foreign (Japanese/Eurpoean) cars are just like Australia - orange indicators.