The flow of traffic is smooth. Roads are broad, there are different lanes and the road-user is supposed to drive at a specific speed. When the person has to overtake he has to change the lane with prior signals.
On the way to San Francisco, there is a toll booth, but there is no payment on the spot. The closed circuit cameras register the number of your vehicle and the bill is sent to your registered address. There are designated places where pedestrians are allowed to cross the road. A hand signal in red appears in the inter-sections and if you want to cross the road you need to press a button. When the button is pressed music comes. The red hand signal turns white for few seconds, all traffic stops and you cross the road. There are no traffic police manning traffic. Traffic management is by the close-circuit cameras. Nobody breaks traffic rules because there are heavy fines and heavy punishments.
There is a board at Santa Clara (California) that says that jumping red light entails a minimum fine of $336 (apprx Rs 22,000) .A lot of concern is shown towards pedestrians’ safety. The roads are laid in concrete and there are no potholes anywhere. There are clear instructions to road-uses and in all the major roads there are signals that control the flow of traffic. And there are markings on the roads that instruct you where you need to turn.
The pavements are clean and you do not find any garbage or dirt anywhere on the roads and lanes. Pavements are laid in concrete and space beyond the pavement is landscaped with well-maintained plants and well-laid grass patches.
In the big cities, like San Francisco, there are huge pay public parking facilities. Parking is allowed in the designated spots on the roads and the parking on payment through some electronic device. All payments are generally by the swipe of electronic instruments, physical payment is rather rare.
There are no stray animals on the roads but dogs on leash are allowed. The dog-owner has to collect the droppings of his best friend and deposit it in a plastic bag at designated concrete collection bins. There are no rickshaws, scooters on the road and there are a few fancy motor bikes. In the USA, distance is measured in miles, feet and inches, the metric system is not used in all the measurements.
