German vs. American Drivers - A Trip Report and Call to Arms

[cambraceres]

To drive in Germany is far more expensive. By drive I mean be liscensed TO drive. The prohibitively expensive liscensing process keeps everyone aware of just how nice the privelege is.

Cam

[flo]

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You gotta be kiddin. Frankfurt, Darmstadt and so on? Trafficjam every morning? 45mins for 20km?
Dang it feels weird being leveled ... [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

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no traffic jams where i was man...we started work pretty early every morning though so maybe i just missed them.

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Before 7 in the morning everything runs smooth. 7-9 = no fun. Where did you work/what did you do?

[lippy]

What I hate worse than people going under the speed limit is people that don't know how to merge. Drive through Iowa. Every single driver merges onto I-35 at 35-45MPH.

But, moving roadblocks are terrible.

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Cars parallel to each other not allowing anyone to pass. It will make my brain hemorrhage some day. Being an impatient person who drives 10-20 over when unimpeded, I really want to move to Germany.

[Madd]

Another reason might be that you only get your driving license in germany after two exams and around 30 hours on the road with a teacher who constantly tells you which rules to follow (e. g. staying in the right lane of a highway).

[Billy Bibbit]

Anyone who disagrees with By-Tor obviously has not spent a significant amount of time driving in California. There are huge stretches of freeways where there's an exit every half mile, and the onramps are usually full of cars so you have to merge into the middle lane to let them in. Do you really think people should merge into the middle lane and back again once a minute or so? That's just retarded.

As for traffic on rural interstates, I grew up in northern Indiana and I thought it was fine. Haven't driven on the highways in other states enough to know whether it's any different.

[Tron]

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Anyone who disagrees with By-Tor obviously has not spent a significant amount of time driving in California. There are huge stretches of freeways where there's an exit every half mile, and the onramps are usually full of cars so you have to merge into the middle lane to let them in. Do you really think people should merge into the middle lane and back again once a minute or so? That's just retarded.

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WTF? If you were in the middle lane, you would be essentially passing people the entire time.

[HiBaCHi]

one thing i don't understand is why the people strolling along in the left lane don't just move over and then follow the so called "maniacs." i am usually cruising at 10-20 over but anytime i see someone coming faster i immediately let them past and now have a "shield" to go 20-30 over in the middle lane passing when i need to. another thing is i really dislike passing in the right lane but some ppl just don't leave you much of a choice.

[cianosheehan]

Fwiw, I read that German (and maybe other) auto companies have a big political influence over keeping the autobahn without speed limit.

The autobahn is a beacon of light for the car lover. The idea that somewhere, in the civilised Western world, there is a place that you can legally and publically drive your car to its full potential.

If the autobahn did have a speed limit, you would definitely see a big decrease in sales for high performance cars in Germany, and all across Europe. Maybe throughout the rest of the world too.

So, if one of the main reasons in it staying without speed limit is the auto companies bottom line, it does make you question whether it is really a good thing or not.

[Slow Play Ray]

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Before 7 in the morning everything runs smooth. 7-9 = no fun. Where did you work/what did you do?

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Explosion testing in a little town called Kappelrodeck.

[Slow Play Ray]

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one thing i don't understand is why the people strolling along in the left lane don't just move over and then follow the so called "maniacs." i am usually cruising at 10-20 over but anytime i see someone coming faster i immediately let them past and now have a "shield" to go 20-30 over in the middle lane passing when i need to.

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ah, the buffer...