Bizarre Driving Laws You've Probably Never Heard Of

For the most part, the rules of the road are the same everywhere in the United States. Drive on the right, keep your brights off when you're behind someone, come to complete stops at stop signs, and so on. This uniformity ensures that, no matter where you drive around the country, you know exactly what you're doing. However, while the most important rules of driving in the U.S. are uniform, each state does have a few rules of its own.

Life, after all, is a little different depending on where you live — values can change from place to place, which may mean that what is deemed common sense in one place needs to be spelled out elsewhere. This has led to some downright bizarre driving laws around the country, some of which are relics of bygone eras, while others were put in place in order to prevent a hyper-specific brand of foolishness from occurring more than once.

Considering how much of the state of Nevada is made up of barren desert, it feels thematically apropos for there to be some camels wandering around, right? Indeed, back in 1856, the United States Military briefly experimented with using camels as pack animals in Nevada's deserts in lieu of horses or donkeys. Unfortunately, these experiments ended up not going anywhere, so all of the test camels were either let loose or sold. This was a bit of a problem, as camels frightened local horses, which led to accidents on highways.

For this reason, it is illegal in the entirety of Nevada to take a camel on a public highway. Obviously, there aren't any horses on the highway anymore either, but the law is still firmly in place. It is, however, perfectly legal to drive a camel through Nevada city streets, though it's not really clear why you'd want to do that.

Anyone who has lived in the more densely populated areas of New York City knows that things can get a little weird in the transportation department, public or otherwise. From weirdos on the subway to the densest gridlock known to man, it's a regular comedy of errors on a daily basis. Even outside of the city, though, things can apparently get strange enough on a consistent basis that there needed to be some rules put in place.

Case in point, in the village of Sag Harbor, New York, located on Long Island, it is illegal to remove your clothes in your car according to penal code Sec.192-4. Violators are subject to fines. While there's no official explanation for this law, Sag Harbor is a beach town, so the likely reason is that they were having trouble with tourists changing in publicly visible spots before hitting the beach. 

Occasionally, when you're on a road trip with family or friends, you need to make a roadside pit stop. Maybe you need to check the map, rearrange your seating, or retrieve something from the trunk. As long as you're out of the way of traffic, this isn't a problem. However, if you're on the road in the state of Oregon, you'd better take care of whatever needs to get done quickly, or you'll get in trouble.

According to Article 811.490 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, it is considered a Class D Traffic Violation to leave a door on your car open toward traffic or pedestrian sidewalks for longer than absolutely necessary to load or unload passengers. The law doesn't specifically state how long it's okay to leave the door open, so you'll just have to get everyone out and back in as quickly as possible to be safe. It's like musical chairs but with traffic tickets!

It's generally normal, if not entirely pleasant, for a little bit of trash to end up in your car. You stop off at your favorite fast food joint for a bite, then leave the bag and its discarded contents on the floor of your passenger-side seat for a little while. It's a bit of a gross habit, but enough people do it that nobody raises a public stink over it, pun unintended. That is, of course, unless you live in the town of Hilton Head, South Carolina.

According to Sec. 9-1-114 of the local penal code, it is illegal for a person to place, leave, dump, or otherwise allow to accumulate trash in a motor vehicle and its surrounding vicinity. Apparently, this law was established to prevent rats from taking up residence in any accumulated trash, which actually makes a lot of sense — although it's not super clear how something like this is actually enforced.

Road rage has been a prevalent problem for about as long as personal automobiles have been a thing. You put someone in a bad mood behind the wheel of a 3,000-pound metal box, and things are going to get out of hand very quickly. In the best-case scenario, a stint of road rage will only result in some screamed profanity out an open window. However, in the city of Rockville, Maryland, even that's a step too far.

According to Sec. 13-53 of the city's penal code, it is illegal for an individual to use profane or obscene language within earshot of another individual while on a street, sidewalk, or highway. Doing so could result in a misdemeanor charge. In other words, it's okay to keep your cursing to yourself with your windows rolled up, but if anyone actually hears you dropping F-bombs, then you're officially out of line.