Get to Know the Back Roads

As of lately, holy smokes, massive freeway construction that sometimes gets you stuck during the worst times. You need to get somewhere in a timely normal manner and you see signs and cones up ahead that are funneling three lanes into one! What do you do? There's just one word: EXIT!

But wait! Do you know where you're going??? If you exit the freeway can you effectively weave your way through the city and across town to your destination? Well, start to get familiar with alternate routes in Vegas. Sometimes you may have time to ride the break and to stick it out on the freeways at turtle pace but sometimes you just can't take the risk.

It's not only knowing one alternative route, sometimes you run into other uber-smart locals who have also decided on the alt route. Now what do you do? Plan C! Know a second alternative route. This becomes extra handy in the long run.

Traffic in itself, even without construction, has gotten pretty crazy over the last few years. In a city that also never sleeps, certain parts of the day are when many shifts let out and it causes some clogging of the highways. Yes, I can say that the freeway on ramp meters have helped but when it comes to lane sways and mergers, it hasn't cured that.

Sometimes getting lost is the best way to discover. Go on an adventure and experiment. Get off the freeway and see if you can find your way to your destination. Experience in this is key because it may one day save you a lot of grief.

Crazy Roads and Cell Phones Equal Disaster

As of January 1, 2012, the hands free talking law has taken full effect. Full effect, of course, meaning that you will now get fined. For the past two months it was just a verbal warning, but Las Vegas is serious now and the fines are kicking in.

Nevermind not being able to talk on the phone while driving, the roads in Las Vegas are a mess anyways. There is road construction EVERYWHERE and it's like driving a Mario Kart route most of the times. A lane that you remembered being open yesterday is no longer open today. A road that was straight yesterday has all of a sudden been blocked off and re-coned to detour you another way. It's hard enough to drive without any distractions, let alone a phone or text conversation.

So back to the hands free talking rule - by the way - stop lights count as "driving" as well. Don't think that you can be at a red light and text. That is still not allowed. Don't think that you can get away with it at night, that's even worse. The light illuminating from your cell phone screen makes it even more apparent that you are on the phone. Trust me. That happened to my friend during the "warning phase".

So there you have it, be safe, pay attention and do what we all used to do before our phones were everything and a bag of chips to us - simply jam to some awesome music.