Over on the Estate - planning to die thread - you’ll find numerous ‘gotcha’s’ that differ from state to state. Granted, those are usually things you can take time to investigate and for which you can plan.
Traffic rules that can differ unobviously across US states or Canada provinces:
Default speed limits.
Left turn must be into the left lane or may be into any lane of the destination road.
The meaning of a flashing green traffic light (in different provinces of Canada).
Age ranges for child restraint requirements.
Seat belt use requirements (but generally not an issue for those who always use the seat belts).
Requirements regarding changing driver’s license and car registration no upon moving to a new state.
U-Turns. It always throws me off in FL that you can do u-turns.
When and where you can purchase alcohol. There are no longer any limits in MI AFAIK but the laws in other places are super complicated.
In Louisiana most of the alchohol laws are local which can be very confusing. In NO, pretty much anything goes. Not so much other places.
“U-Turns. It always throws me off in FL that you can do u-turns.”
I didn’t know that wasn’t a thing. In my neck of the woods, you can do u-turns as long as there isn’t a “No U-turn” sign stating otherwise.
Gun laws sure vary a lot - permits, concealed carry, etc.
There are still blue laws in many states, a weird exception to the separation of religion and politics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_laws_in_the_United_States
In my current state, you can buy liquor at gas stations and don’t need a permit to buy a gun.
If you want to buy liquor, know your state laws or know where the border is. While skiing in Colorado, I was often asked if I knew where the liquor was in grocery stores. The answer was in the liquor store (often next to the grocery store). things have changed, but liquor is not available in most grocery stores. You can now buy it on Sundays.
In Minnesota, remember Wisconsin is often not far away.
Home Schooling! MA is an approval state and curriculum must be “approved” by the local school district. The local principal would not approve my curriculum because I was teaching my elementary school aged kids Latin (using Minimus a UK age appropriate text with weekly tutoring from a MA certified Latin teacher) but they didn’t teach Latin in “HIS” school so he denied my homeschool plan! Because MA is an approval state our only recourse was to take it to court or move.
In Texas homeschool is considered the same as private school and is not regulated by the state. In the end it turned out to be much cheaper and easier to move to Texas than fight the local school in MA.
We spent 8 month in Florida waiting for the house in Texas to be completed and helping my mother clean out her house. There we joined an “umbrella” school to homeschool, $50 per kid, had to send them shot records and keep an attendance log!
We found out the hard way about turning on red. I always thought it was a state law and having been to other parts of NY I always turned on red.
Well we were dropping D1 off for her summer internship housing in Brooklyn and turned on red. Cops pulled us over, and scared the crap out of me because they approached both sides of the car. We’ve never had that happen.
Am I correct in assuming that the “left on red” laws apply only if one will be following the flow of traffic ?
A very serious difference in laws concerns the concealed carry of a weapon.
How about laws on when young children can be left home alone, or in a car alone, or walk in their neighborhood alone, etc. So many cases of a parent being charged for allowing their child some independence. If I had kids in the 8-12 range and was moving, I’d be sure to check on those laws. I think only 1 or 2 states have “free range kids” laws - but most have something on the age one child can look after a younger child and so forth.
Near Chicago, ride shares and buses can use the shoulder of the road at certain times/places. Scared the hell out of me the first time that happened.
GA has new cell phone laws that are very restrictive that went into effect this summer.
In Georgia, any offense against a victim who is a minor causes the offender to be a “sex offender”. E.g. an 18 year old high school student who steals something from a 17 year old high school student and is convicted of misdemeanor theft is now a “sex offender”.
https://gbi.georgia.gov/sex-offender-registry-frequently-asked-questions#goone
@ucbalumnus Any idea of the incentive behind that GA definition? That seems nuts.
It amuses me that " U-turns are also illegal in business districts of New York City and where NO U-TURN signs are provided." There’s no definition of what a “business district” is.
There is a definition of “business district” in New York Vehicle & Traffic 105:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VAT/105
In NJ you are not allowed to fill up your car with gas yourself. We are the last state with this restriction and proud of it.
This is nonsense. The actual Georgia statute is quite clear that only certain “criminal offenses” against a minor would count for purposes of the sex offender registry, and that those offenses need to be felonies. See the general definition and listing of offenses at Sec 42-1-12(a)(9)(A) and (B) and note the exclusion of misdemeanors under (C) here: https://gbi.georgia.gov/42-1-12-state-sexual-offender-registry. (The only arguably non-sexual offenses would be kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor.) The confusion in the quote above arises from the simple recitation of Sec 42-1-12(a)(20) without noting the definition of the legal term “criminal offense against a victim who is a minor.”
Don’t worry folks, stealing something from a 17 year old isn’t going to land you on Georgia’s sex offender registry, unless maybe it’s a kiss 