Well, the most important thing you need to know when driving around St. John's (not USA, but still) is MOVE YOUR EYES. Look around, everywhere because there are millions of idiots on the road that will do things dumber and more dangerous than you can imagine.
Some things you should do to really stand out in StJ:
-Actually use your turn signals. Try to use the right ones for each direction too, don't turn on the left one and then merge into the right lane. People around here are great at that.
-Check your blind spot. Don't ride in someone else's blind spot because they will NEVER check it before they decide out of nowhere to switch lanes without even bothering to look around them.
-Don't park on the end of parking lots. People around here also lack the ability to make a proper turn and cut half way across the parking stalls while navigating around mall lots in attempt to get a spot closest to the mall. Walking is really hard to do, I know.
-Don't tailgate. For gods sake don't tailgate. I don't know what happened to the concept of keeping a safe following distance. Just hope you never have to suddenly stop on
the PPP. Speed limit of 70... go with the flow during rush hour and you're doing 100+
It also holds 7/10 of the most dangerous ints in the city...
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2008/02/08/intersection-danger.html
A further note on tailgating... if you're approaching a traffic light and it's red, guess what, you have to stop. Tell that to the 19 year old girl that manage to slam into the back of my car on the end of the PPP in extremely low traffic. I was stopped at the red light thinking it was taking wayyy too long to turn green (no traffic behind me), and well, she wasn't going to wait. Comes down the hill (dry pavement) playing with her new blackberry and ends up into my bumper. Then she proceeds to scream at me for the next 20 minutes like it was my fault, telling me I didn't have to file an insurance claim. Yeah, cause the damage you did to my car is just going to fix itself. She argued for a while and then claimed responsibility and insurance took care of the rest... I always watch my mirror after that, as if that makes a difference.
Sorry for the rant, but yeah, basically keep an eye on what's happening around you because drivers really are unpredictable and anything can happen in a split second.