hi there smart drivers Rick with smart
drive test talking to you today about
how to navigate freeways interstates and
limited access highways I had a comment
from tough few productions and he wanted
a bit more information about how to
navigate along a freeway he just
recently gotten his license and wanted a
bit of information about that little
doubt that some of you are having some
challenge was that when I first became a
trainer I took a truck driver down
through New York State we were heading
into Pennsylvania and I crawled in the
bunk to get some sleep and I said to him
there's a big junction in Binghamton
where it intersects with State Road 17
which runs east-west through New York
State and it intersects with Interstate
81 and as many of you know some of the
interstates the state roads will
continue along the interstate then you
get back off the interstate and continue
along the state road well at that
junction he had gotten down there and
missed staying on Interstate 81 south
and ended up going west on 17 which was
completely the wrong direction that we
wanted to go and I said to him you're
going to need to get the truck turned
around and head back to the junction
because we got to go down on 81 south
not on 17 west so I'll give you a bit of
information today and you're going to
find out that especially in the United
States on the interstate systems they're
incredibly well organized for travelers
traveling at high speed so you can
navigate the interstates and freeways
and all this information applies to
Canada and Australia and other parts of
the world that have freeways so stick
around we'll be right back without
information
[Applause]
[Music]
there's my driver's welcome back Rick
with smart drive test talking to you
today about how to navigate freeways
limited access highways and interstates
most of this is going to be about
interstates in the United States because
Tuffy productions is in the states and
wanted to know how to navigate
interstates in that country most of the
limited access highways and freeways all
have the same characteristics traffic
traveling in the same direction at high
speeds most of the signs on freeways and
interstates will be overhead because
they're easier to read as you're moving
down the freeway at high rates of speed
often in excess of 100 kilometres an
hour or 60 miles per hour
because signs along the roadway are more
difficult to read than overhead signs so
most of the signs are overhead traffic
traveling in the same direction they
have lots of overpasses to facilitate
movement of traffic and there aren't any
intersections if the multi Lane Road
that you're on has intersections it's
not a freeway limited access there's
only certain places that you can get on
and off the interstate or freeway and I
learned that once in Ohio with the truck
trying to get back on the interstate and
realize that there's very specific
places that you have to go and outter to
get onto the freeway or highway as well
there's deceleration and acceleration
lanes that run up beside the lanes of
traffic that allow you to attain speed
or to slow down off-ramp and on-ramp is
the part of the road that transitions
from the freeway out onto the state or
provincial road or other secondary road
that you're going to get on to so these
are the characteristics of freeways and
interesting enough when motor cars began
to apply for road space in the early
20th century punch magazine in 1906
characterized which means that they made
a comic of motorcars on roads all by
themselves and of course at that time
people kind of thought that was absurd
but in this day and age this is what we
have we have highways and freeways that
only have cars on them and it's only for
cars you won't see cyclists and
pedestrians and slow moving vehicles as
well that's another characteristics the
United States interstate system is
systematic odd-numbered interstates run
north-south and even-numbered
interstates run east-west
the numbers increase as you move west
the East so in the West down the west
coast of the United States you have
interstate 5 and in the East you have
interstate 95 which runs north to south
along the east coast of the United
States the eastern seaboard as it's
commonly referred to and in the south
they run east to west it starts with the
interstate 8 is down there as well but
interstate 10 is the one in the south
that runs all the way from west to east
or east to west whichever direction
you're going and in the north we have
interstate 90 and interstate 94 so they
start in the south and the increase in
number as you go north and one of the
reasons for this the other thing that
coincides with the numbering system of
the u.s. interstate system is the mile
markers the mile markers start in the
south and increase in numbers as you go
north Cincinnati Ohio for example the
mile marker started zero in Cincinnati
and go to Toledo at and in Toledo in the
north they go to mile marker 214 post
United States interstates are numbered
with two-digit numbers and those are the
main arteries that run north-south
east-west if it's a three-digit number
on the interstate it indicates that it
is a Ring Road around an urban center
it's a spur road or it's a circumference
shell Road which means that it's a half
loop so it starts at one side of the
interstate and connects back up with the
interstate if it is an even three-digit
number so it starts with an even number
at the beginning so for 95 for 75 for
example it indicates that a deed it is
either a ring road or a circumferential
road if it is an odd number at the
beginning of the three-digit number then
it is a spur road as 170 in st. Louis
Missouri that indicates that it's a spur
road and it's going to start and it's
going to terminate either in another
Road or it's going to go into an urban
center for example so those are
three-digit numbers and they indicate
different types of interstates and from
that you can know that you may end up
into high-density traffic or congestion
those types of things because you're
moving in and around urban centers where
there tends to be a lot more traffic so
that's the way the u.s. interstate
system works now all interstates and
freeways all have exit numbers and the
exit numbers are all
so the mile marker numbers as you can
see here in the image and the mile
markers are probably the most important
tool that you have for navigating along
interstates and freeways and in this day
and age of GPS Google Maps and all of
the other navigational tools that we
have it is important that you get the
mile marker number for the exit where
you're going to get off the freeway I
know that all of these exits have names
and whatnot but the names can be
confusing navigating along a freeway is
actually a two part piece the first part
is route planning and the second part is
navigation navigation is the execution
of the route plan and in this day and
age of Google Maps and GPS and those
types of things it's important that you
take a few minutes before you actually
set out on your trip and actually study
Google Maps and write down the
information don't just print it out
because if you just print it out none of
that's going to go into your head and
remember you're trying to get all this
information when you're traveling down
the interstate at 55 or 70 miles an hour
so have a little bit of it in your head
don't just rely on your GPS to tell you
because you know not all the time is GPS
correct the most important tool that you
have in navigating along freeways and
interstates and limited access highways
are mile markers and it's important that
you get the mile markers for the exit
that you're going to get off the
interstate with mile markers and exit
numbers are one in the same thing mile
markers on the interstate system in the
US start in the south of the state and
then increase in numbers as you go north
they also start at the west side of the
state and an increase number as you move
east so that's how the mile marketing
numbers work and again I said the exit
numbers are one in the same as the mile
marker so get your mile markers written
down know which exit number you're
getting off off the freeway with and as
well the mile markers are also a
defensive driving tool because they will
help you drive defensively because if
you're at exit number 365 or mile marker
exit 365 and you're getting off at 375
you know that you've got ten miles or
ten kilometres to go down the road
before you have to exit off the freeway
now the other piece about navigating
along freeways is that lots of times
there's junctions
with one interstate to another
interstate or a freeway with another
freeway for example the 403 in Ontario
intersects with the 401 and there's a
junction there and you'll be able to get
the exit number of where those two
freeways intersect and there's a
junction as well as you're traveling
down the interstate sometimes where you
exit to get off on to the other road
that you want to get on to is not always
going to be on the right sometimes it's
going to be on the left my left your
right so as you're going down the
interstate or the freeway make sure that
you're under the air off of the overhead
sign that tells you which lane you need
to move in to get into that lane as soon
as possible that way you're not going to
end up off the freeway off somewhere
where you don't want to go you're
actually going to end up going where you
want to go so get into the lane early as
possible
that way you're not going to end up lost
we're going to do here is I'm going to
go to the computer I'm going to go to
Google Maps and I'm going to show you
how to route plan a route from point A
to point B that way it's going to give
you some information about how to do
that and then the execution of the route
plan is actually fairly straightforward
so let's head over to the computer
either smart driver at the computer here
we're planning a trip from st. Louis
University in st. Louis Missouri back to
our home in Indianapolis Indiana and the
address of our home is 1 1 3 1 Shelby
Street and the reason I use that for
Indianapolis is I typed residential
address into Google and that's the
address that google gave me so if you
live at one 131 Shelby Street Google
knows where you live big brother is
watching so we've typed this into Google
and we can see here there are some
yellow circles with obviously the man
feeding whale sign here which would be
aka the construction sign if we zoom in
here a little bit we can mouse over that
and it will say construction zone
roadwork on i-70 East
[Music]
and we zoom in a little bit more we can
see it's at the at approximately exit 62
so you know that on your route as your
moves to East from st. Louis to
Indianapolis and you can see here that
there are two or three construction
zones there that will give you
information as well you can send the
directions to your phone you can see
here on the left and you can see that
the distance is 244 miles from st. Louis
to Indianapolis and it's the time of
three hours and 41 minutes and if you
click on details here it will give you
the specific details of how to get there
and it will give you the specific
details for each leg of the trip from
the University out on to the interstate
is three minutes and from st. Louis to
Indianapolis on the interstate is three
hours 34 minutes and we can see that
once we get off the interstate in
Indianapolis at six minutes to one one
thirty one Shelby Street now we just
have a quick glance here at the route
and we can see that Effingham is about
half way and we don't feel like doing
three hours and 41 minutes of driving in
one shot I mean we could but you might
as well take a break and so we just zoom
in on Effingham and I and I like
Effingham because it sounds like you're
cursing pork and if we just look at the
interstate here we can see that there's
a huge Junction here we just follow up
on the map just zoom out here a little
bit and it intersects with interstate 57
running north-south because it's an
odd-numbered interstate and i-70 runs
east-west because it's an even-numbered
interstate we can see we have the Pilot
Travel Center at exit 162 and if we get
off at the exit 160 we can go into the
Flying J both of those are truck stops
you know maybe you don't want to go to
the truck stop or one whatnot
you could also the Walmart is there you
can also see if you zoom in a little bit
more Buffalo Wild Wings the Cracker
Barrel Old Country store the Firefly
grill all of that is different places
that you could potentially stop if you
did stop in Effingham
and this time that Google gives you 3
hours and 41 minutes is obviously under
ideal circumstances if you hit traffic
or what not so you want to kind of time
your route when you leave because if you
leave you know 4 o'clock in the
afternoon you're either going to be in
traffic at st. Louis Missouri
say for example you left at noon and
ending to ended up in Indianapolis 4
hours later four o'clock say 4:30 5
o'clock again you're going to be in
traffic in Indianapolis so you want to
sort of think about what time you're
going to leave so you don't end up in
traffic now again when you get into
Indianapolis you can see here and if you
click down here on the route here and go
down to what it is it says take exit 79
a so you're going to go across the state
line and once you go across the state
line
you've got 79 miles from the state line
into Indiana and you're looking for exit
79 a so 79 miles that's going to take
you an hour and a half almost 90 minutes
to drive that far but that's the exit
that you're looking for and you can see
here that around Indianapolis is the
Ring Road for 65 and you know it's a
Ring Road because it's an even-numbered
three-digit and you just stay on
Interstate 70 take 70 a and you get off
that exit and then you can follow the
directions here at the bottom if you
click on that on to the secondary roads
that you will take to get home to one
131 Shelby Street so that's an overview
of Google Maps and how you can use the
information to move from point A to
point B and again as I said take note of
the mile markers because the mile
markers and the exit numbers are one in
the same and that will help you navigate
from point A to point B on the
interstates just one lows last note here
you can see that there are several
junctions here interstate 70 intersects
with interstate 55 and with interstate
57 and again just take note of the mile
marker numbers at those junctions and
when you get there just make sure that
you stay under the arrows that keep you
on Interstate 70 eastbound and
when you get in those lanes just give it
underneath the sign with the arrow in it
and you'll be fine ill you'll just stay
on Interstate 70 and continue east quick
review of navigating along freeways
interstates or limited access highways
route planning take a bit of time to
work with your GPS or to work with
Google Maps and write out some of the
information especially the exit numbers
that way it's going to help you to get
off at the very specific exit that you
need to get off or where the junction is
for the interstate to transition into
another interstate or get off onto the
state road or provincial road or
wherever that it is that you're going so
mile markers are your first and foremost
tool as well route planning which is the
preparation before you actually get out
and start leaving take a bit of time to
do your route planning as well if you do
your route planning you don't just get
off the interstate or freeway somewhere
to take a break you can actually get off
and take in some of the local
attractions and eat your lunch or your
meal or whatever so take a bit of time
and do your route planning mile markers
mile markers are also the exit numbers
and they help you with defensive driving
and it is important that you do a bit of
defensive driving at freeways and not
make aggressive movements especially in
terms of lane changes because it could
potentially get you into some trouble
and as well make sure that you get into
the lane that you need to be into as
soon as the sign boards overtop of the
freeway indicate that you need to get
into that Lane because if you don't get
into that Lane right away and get under
the arrow that tells you the information
that you need in order to make the
transition wherever it is that you're
going you're going to end up off the
freeway or interstate into someplace
that you really don't want to go and
it's always kind of a hassle to get back
to where you want to go and you're going
to lose time and those types of things
yes in this day and age GPS is are going
to reroute you but it's still a pain and
if you do a bit of work prior to
actually getting onto the freeway with
your Google Maps or your GPS or whatnot
it's going to help you out and make your
ride less with less incidents less
challenges or adventures and excitement
those types of things if you don't mind
a bit of excitement you know by all
means you can negate the route planning
but I do suggest that you do
route planning certain characteristics
in the United States odd-numbered
interstates run north-south
even-numbered interstates run east-west
and three-digit numbers are going to be
ring road spur roads are circumferential
roads there I said it perfectly that
time so that's the interstate system in
the United States mile markers route
planning do all of that question for my
smart drivers do you have any tips for
new drivers learning how to navigate
along freeways interstates or limited
access highways leave a comment down in
the comment section there all that helps
out the new drivers learning how to
drive after getting your license I'm
Rick with smart drive test thanks very
much for watching if you like what you
see here share subscribe leave a comment
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and over at my website head over there
as well more great information stick
around to the end of the video funny
bits and links to the other videos and
my website thanks again for watching
good luck on your road test and remember
pick the best answer not necessarily the
right answer have a great day bye now it
goes like this
I can't say it okay circumference
circumference all circumferential