cars

NEARLY 300million cars are registered in the USA – but there’s one island where you won’t find any at all.

A place called Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan has been car-free since the late 1800s with locals and tourists getting around by horse-drawn carriage or bikes if you prefer.

Mackinac Island is one of those rare places with a ban on all cars.

The ban was implemented in 1898 after early cars apparently spooked horses, threatening public safety and the local carriage industry.

Since then, the only way to navigate the island is by horse or bike.

Living on the island all year-round are just 600 residents along with around 600 horses.

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While the number of horses remains the same, during the peak season of July and August, daily visitor numbers can be as many as 15,000.

It’s no surprise summer is the most popular time to visit as the island has average highs of 25C and is mostly dry.

Whereas in the winter months, it can experience lows well into the minus degrees and snow.

Mackinac Island is just north of mainland Michigan – to get there, take a ferry from Mackinaw City (Lower Peninsula).

Or take a ferry from St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula which takes 16 minutes and cost around $36 (£26.51) each way.

While the island does have an airport, it’s for charter and private aircraft only.

Thanks to there being no cars on the island, there are plenty of bike rentals with most charging around $94 (£69.31) for a full day of use.

Or around $16 (£11.80) per hour.

Horse-drawn carriage tours are also very popular with sightseeing tours starting at around $44 (£32.43) per adult where tourists head all over the island with a local guide.

During the summer, you can call certain companies for a ‘taxi’, which is a horse-drawn carriage.

One major attraction on Mackinac Island is Arch Rock in Mackinac Island State Park which is a natural 50-foot wide limestone arch.

To get up to Arch Rock, visitors have to take 207 steps from Lakeshore Drive – so be prepared for a long walk.

Film fans might recognise the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island from Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

The enormous hotel sits on the south of the island and you can actually book to stay there yourself.

There are plenty of rooms from simple balcony suites, Grand Queen rooms or even cottages with four bedrooms – these have private hot tubs, and take in views across the Straits of Mackinac.

The hotel has a grand Esther Williams Swimming Pool which has a water-jet play area, water slide and a large heated whirlpool.

There’s also a private adults-only area featuring a separate infinity-edge pool with beautiful views.

For golfers, there’s an enormous golf course, bike rentals, pickleball, bocce ball and shuffleboard.

To stay at Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island can be as much as $1,000 (£737.07) per night during peak season.

Here’s another car-free island much closer to home…

Travel Reporter Cyann Fielding visited a car-free island in Scotland…

“Eilean Shona is a tidal island that’s completely car-free and was the inspiration behind J.M Barrie’s creation of Neverland in Peter Pan.

“As my boat approached the shores of the island, it was obvious why. Towering green trees and serene still waters were both welcoming and peaceful.

“Once I reached the island, the soft soil, earthy smells, chimes of birds and light breaking through the trees made it feel magical.

“Whilst there isn’t much to do on the island, it is the perfect retreat away from the modern world and the stresses of day to day life.

“Thanks to there being no shops, no restaurants and patchy phone signal, it really helps you disconnect from your mobile (and consequently social media).“

A driving instructor has shared three important rules for staying safe on the roads as Storm Chandra brings amber weather warnings, 290 flood alerts and winds of up to 80mph

A driving instructor has issued three crucial safety tips motorists must follow this week as Storm Chandra batters the UK. The Met Office has put an amber weather warning in place, with 290 flood alerts active as of Tuesday morning (January 27) and gusts reaching up to 80mph forecasted in certain areas.

A number of major roads and bridges have already closed in both directions due to the treacherous conditions. “In these kind of conditions there’s a lot of spray and surface spray, so it’s a good idea to put your headlights on,” advised instructor Mark Zondo, who shares driving tips as Theory Test Hero on social media.

He added: “With dipped headlights, this way it is going to be easier for other drivers to see you.”

Mark also highlighted that failing to switch on your lights – even during daylight hours – makes it significantly harder for lorry drivers to spot you, especially when they’re switching lanes.

Regarding spacing between vehicles, meanwhile, he recommended keeping a “nice” distance from the motor ahead. “You can’t really see much for one, there’s a lot of spray and also the road is very slippery because of the wet and so you don’t want to be too close in case you have to brake suddenly,” he explained.

Demonstrating his final piece of advice, Mark eased his foot off the accelerator gradually instead of hitting the brake sharply to decelerate his vehicle safely amid the torrential rain.

The initial weather alerts took effect at midnight on Tuesday and are set to remain active for 17 hours.

Forecasters are predicting rainfall totals of 20-30mm across the impacted regions, with some spots potentially seeing between 40-50mm.

The Met Office has also cautioned that there will be a “sharp increase” in snow accumulation at higher altitudes, with the likelihood of two to five centimetres settling in areas above roughly 300m, five to 10cm above 400m, and 10-20cm above 500m.

In response to Storm Chandra, National Highways has issued its own guidance. “Road users are advised to plan ahead, avoid unnecessary travel where possible, and allow extra time for journeys,” they stated.

“Drivers should be aware that surrounding local roads may also be affected by flooding and should not attempt to drive through floodwater.”

Speaking more widely about the flooding concerns, National Highways revealed that expert crews will be checking carriageway drainage infrastructure, including gullies, culverts and ditches, looking for obstructions from leaves, silt and debris swept along by heavy downpours.

“If drainage systems are overwhelmed or obstructed, water cannot recede naturally, prolonging closure times,” the transport body warned.

Seven of the 11 teams were running on Monday – Red Bull, Mercedes, Racing Bulls, Haas, Alpine and the new Audi and Cadillac teams.

McLaren said last week that they would not take their car on to the track until after day one as a result of trying to maximise design time. Ferrari, after an initial test at their factory last week, had also announced they would not run on Monday.

Aston Martin have said their new car will not be ready until Thursday, and Williams are missing the test entirely after delays to their design and production programme.

No times were issued, and all teams ran into at least some technical issues as they learned about their new cars.

Rival teams were impressed by the amount of mileage the two Red Bull teams managed considering it was the first full day of running with their new in-house engine, which has been developed in conjunction with new partner Ford.

Before the test started, McLaren and Red Bull revealed images of their 2026 cars for the first time.

McLaren, who won the drivers’ and constructors’ championship double last year for the first time since 1998, showed the car in the one-off testing livery it will run in this week.

Red Bull showed studio shots of their car, carefully chosen to disguise key design features.

Russell added: “We are pleased with our day, but I’ve also been impressed by several other teams.

“The Red Bull power unit has completed a lot of laps which, given that it’s their first engine they’ve built, means they’ve clearly done a good job.

“Haas also managed a similar amount of running to ourselves, so the Ferrari power unit has also put together plenty of mileage. It’s not quite how it was in 2014! The sport has evolved so much since then and the level, in every single aspect, is so high now.”

Audi have taken over the Sauber team for the German car company’s first entry into F1. They suffered a reliability issue that prevented Bortoleto driving in the afternoon.

Team principal Jonathan Wheatley said: “We had a technical issue, spotted it and decided to switch the car off. Plenty of testing this year and wanted to really understand the problems, see what the weather conditions are and decide whether we run tomorrow.”

Rain is forecast for Tuesday’s second day of the test, during which teams are permitted to run on a maximum of three of the available days.

Bortoleto said: “The cars are very different. I feel these are going to be slower but it’s very cool to have the power unit being 50% electric – you go out of the corner and you have so much speed being deployed and you can see how strong the engine is.

“You need to adapt but it’s still a racing car.”

Racing Bulls’ Lawson said: “[The car is] very different to drive and I haven’t got my head around it fully yet. We will keep learning. It feels like there is a lot more we can do as drivers to make a difference, potentially, but right now it’s very early days, very hard to know where we are for now just trying to optimise the car.

“[The power unit] feels good. But it’s very hard to tell – the main thing is reliability at the moment.

“We have done a good amount of laps today and the only issues we had today were safety precautions, not actual issues. But hard to know where we’re at compared to everyone else.”