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

[Slow Play Ray]

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I'm not the one who blanket-labeled all american drivers as idiots. The OP did.

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Well I certainly don't like when threads turn into nit-fests, but you are correct sir; I made a generalization which is probably not fair. I know there are good drivers here; I consider myself and many people I know good drivers. However, it only takes a select few to screw up an entire highway, and it almost never fails here. So I recant my original statement, and instead I offer you this: there are far too many idiotic and inconsiderate drivers in America, and they are screwing everything up for the rest of us.

How's that?

[wadea]

My impression from watching a History Channel show about the Autobahn is that there are laws about passing protocol and dangerous driving in Germany that are heavily enforced on the Autobahn. From the Autobahn wiki entry:

Traffic laws and enforcement

The German autobahn network is patrolled by unmarked police cars and motorcycles equipped with video cameras. This practice allows the enforcement of laws (tailgating, for example) which are often viewed in other countries as difficult to prove in court. Notable laws include the following:

* Autobahns in Austria and Germany may only be used by powered vehicles that are designed to achieve a maximum speed exceeding 60 km/h (Switzerland: 80 km/h).
* The right lane must be used when it is free, (Rechtsfahrgebot) and the left lane is generally intended for passing maneuvers only. Drivers using the left lane when the other lanes are free may be fined by autobahn police.
* Overtaking on the right (Undertaking) is forbidden, except in traffic jams where it may be practiced with caution. The fact that the car overtaken is illegally occupying the left-hand lane is not an acceptable excuse. In these cases the police will routinely stop and fine both drivers.
* In case of a traffic accident, the drivers must form an emergency lane to guarantee that emergency services can reach the scene of the accident. This lane must be formed between the left lane and the lane next to the left lane (i.e. between the two leftmost lanes).
* It is unlawful for a driver to stop their vehicle on the road for any reason except in an emergency or situations where stopping is unavoidable, such as being involved in a collision. This includes stopping on emergency lanes. Running out of fuel is considered preventable and is consequently fined.
* It is also unlawful to turn around or back up on the Autobahn under any circumstances.
* The distance between vehicles (in meters) should be at least half the speed (in km/h) at all times (e.g. at least 60 meters at 120 km/h). This corresponds to a "lead time" of just under 2 seconds. As a reference: the white-and-black reflection posts to the right have a distance of 50 m to each other. Again, the fact that the car in front is illegally occupying the left-hand lane when the right-hand lane is free does not excuse following too closely.

Fines for tailgating were increased in May 2006. At speeds of over 100 km/h, keeping less than 30 percent of the recommended distance now results in a suspension of one's driver's license for one to three months.

* Due to legal regulations (Straßenverkehrsordnung) you are allowed to honk and flash headlights (Lichthupe) in order to indicate your intention of overtaking.[2],Proper distance to the vehicle in front must be maintained. Driving at insufficient distances, even when flashing ones headlights, is illegal.
* The tires must be approved for the vehicle's top speed. Tires for lower speeds (i.e. cheaper than high-speed tires) are only allowed if they are marked as Winter tires (M+S or M/S). In this case the driver must have a sticker in the cockpit reminding of the maximum speed.

[Billy Bibbit]

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well in that case it doesn't [censored] matter whether or not there's a passing lane since no one is 'passing' anyone

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Sure it does, when idiots try to change lanes all the time it makes a [censored] situation even worse. Think the opening scene from Office Space. Most of the time we'd be better off if everyone mostly just stayed in the same lane until they were ready to get off the highway.

[waarior]

Most states have keep right laws. Agree with bytor though that congestion oftentimes makes driving as the op suggested unrealistic.


State "keep right" Laws

[dknightx]

if everyone drived perfectly, there wouldn't even be traffic, even with 5 times the number of cars. So not sure what your point is.

[emon87]

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If it takes someone "only" doing 65 in the left lane in a 55 zone to get them to slow down, good.


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NO.

That is what the state patrol are for. You are not the [censored] state patrol.

[CORed]

While I agree with you that, as a general rule, drivers should use the right lane unless passing, even if everybody religiously follows that rule, at a certain trafcfic volume it will break down. The right lane will become full of slower cars, and the left lane full of cars passing them, and it isn't all that practical to move to the right lane for every driver that wants to go faster, and no matter how fast you drive, there is always somebody that wants to go faster.Although you are right that there are a lot of stupid drivers in America, I think a lot of what you are obseving is a factor of capacity and volume. Also, in my area (Denver, Colorado), many of the urban freeways, especially the older sections, have horribly designed on and off ramps, with acceleration and deceleration lanes that are much to short. The results in the right lane getting clogged up by traffic trying to enter or exit the freeway, so that nobody who doesn't have to exit within the next half mile wants to get stuck in the right lane.

Frankly, I'm not sure which drivers annoy me more--the left lane hogs won't move over even if the right lane is empty, or the hyper-agressive drivers who believe that everyone else should clear a path for them regardless of traffic volume, and will ride two feet off your rear bumper, even if you are passing cars in the right lane going 20 miles per hour under the speed limit.

[JJSCOTT2]

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if everyone drived perfectly, there wouldn't even be traffic, even with 5 times the number of cars. So not sure what your point is.

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and if everyone writed perfectly.....well you see where I'm going with this.

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It's not that American drivers drive discourteously, its that we have a different courtesy. Unlike the Autobahn, almost all roads here have speed limits, and for good reason. The real [censored] are the ones who are trying to do 80mph on a urban interstate. If it takes someone "only" doing 65 in the left lane in a 55 zone to get them to slow down, good.

My personal driving habits are to drive the posted limit or 5 over and try to stay right. However, I don't feel the need to break the speed limit to get out of someone's way if they are breaking the law and there's a slow truck in the right lane.

While changing lanes to block someone is obviously assholeish and dangerous, the "originally offending vehicles" probably were going fast enough and do in fact deserve the left lane. Personally, I hardly ever see lane changing to block someone happen.


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The answer to the original question about why Americans in general are such bad drivers is because people like this actually believe that they are correct.

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I also heard (not sure if it's true but I think I saw it on the history channel or something) that traffic fines in Germany are related to your ability to pay. Which means that if you are a CEO making millions a year, a tailgating ticket could run you like $100,000....where I come from, this would certainly cut down on all the corporate douchebags riding the left lane in their Mercedes while talking on their cell phone at 10 under the speed limit.

[JOEL_]

The german system is pretty much the same all over Europe except the no limit speed limit on the highways.

[Genz]

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The german system is pretty much the same all over Europe except the no limit speed limit on the highways.

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And the absence of the speed limit makes it really important that those rules are obeyed. It's a weird feeling if you are sitting in a middle class car on the left lane, passing someone and then you see in the rear window a S-Type Mercedes or a Porsche or whatever coming closer really fast and you know he probably goes 50mph faster than you. If you have troube getting out of the way then, because some idiot is passing you on the right, I promise you, you'll sweat blood. Usually you need to put that pedal to the metal and try to get ahead of that idiot on your right while you know that the dude behind you will wait for the absolutely last moment to hit the breaks and there is a good chance that there is an Audi like 5m behind him, chasing him. That makes for a good adrenaline rush.

And btw: it is allowed to use the lights and even the horn to announce a passing. But you have to do it early, not when you've already hit the other car's trunk. But it's very uncommon and only used by Ferraris etc. who don't want to go slower that 120mph... But it is actually legal to blink the lights with a distance of like 300m (1000ft) to announce that you are WAY faster than him.

And the biggest annoyance are "turtle races" of course, i.e. one truck passing another truck which is like 3mph slower than him...