Germans fight back plans to restrict the autobans

IVIaster said:
Deutschland, Deutschland ?ber alles...
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Finland, Finland, Milk with Vo-od-ka
All the lakes with sugar
to make vooood-ka

Army coups when we get drunk,
we drink up and then we go for a shot
Finland, Finland, guns and vo-od-ka

:tease:

And that with army coups after drinking is actually true. In the early 30s, some blokes in the home guard had a party, got drunk, they marched to the local labour house, and occupied it, before they got even more drunk and went to the local equivilant to the NRA.

Yeah, and this happened like several times, at different places. :tease:

Got nothing against Finland, though. Nothing against Germany either.
 
Discussions about general speed limits pop up every once in a while - but they make me shudder every time again. Might sound a little bit silly, but those few stretches of road in Germany on which you don't have to watch your speedo are a major reason to feel proud of my country because it hasn't given in to the world wide (wrong or right - nobody really knows!) opinion that general speed limits are the only answer to prevent road accidents, and I hardly doubt that general speed limits would have such a huge impact. Being free to choose your speed does mean that you actually can drive at 100 KM/H in an unrestriced area if it does make you feel better as well!
 
The Autobahn works in Germany because, well lets face facts people of Germany: You really REALLY like to stick to rules. So if someone is going 140 mph in the left lane, and another car is coming from behind going 160, the slower car will move to the right lane without a second thought.

If America had a road like that? It would be like our interstates; one jerk will be driving 66 in the left lane and will do their best to make sure no one passes them. Here, for some, the road is their religion and they are going to preach it to you. It is very annoying.
 
German members stop this lunacy - I urge you to lobby your MP (or what ever the guy in the Reich stag is called) and get this nonsense stopped. By the way the most disciplined drivers in Europe are. .... the Swiss, just like we used to be but are now no longer.
 
mautzel said:
Aren't you allowed to overtake on the right lane in th US as well?
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If you mean the shoulder, no. Too much debris to be safe, anyway. A continuation of my story: the same person who you eventually pass, the one driving 66 mph in the left lane? Once you pass them, and then merge into the left lane driving, lets say, 75 mph, the slowpoke will then speed up to your speed and and ride 2 cm from the rear of your car, angry that you dared to pass them.

I have envisioned a autobahn of sorts that would go from New York to California. It can be done, because once you get past Pennsylvania and all the way to Eastern California there are mile and miles of nothing. And I mean nothing. Oklahoma and Kansas are two states with gigantic fields of corn, wheat, flat land and sparse populations.
 
jayhawk said:
If you mean the shoulder, no. Too much debris to be safe, anyway. A continuation of my story: the same person who you eventually pass, the one driving 66 mph in the left lane? Once you pass them, and then merge into the left lane driving, lets say, 75 mph, the slowpoke will then speed up to your speed and and ride 2 cm from the rear of your car, angry that you dared to pass them.

I have envisioned a autobahn of sorts that would go from New York to California. It can be done, because once you get past Pennsylvania and all the way to Eastern California there are mile and miles of nothing. And I mean nothing. Oklahoma and Kansas are two states with gigantic fields of corn, wheat, flat land and sparse populations.
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I think he means on 3 lane highways.
 
Now if only the Aussies could be more like the Germans and reverse the decision to put speed limits in remote parts of the Northern Territory.
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We can only hope...
 
Bundesautobahn said:
Funny they mention that since lower speeds only increase the pollution it seems.
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somehow I don?t get the logic behind that...

jayhawk said:
The Autobahn works in Germany because, well lets face facts people of Germany: You really REALLY like to stick to rules. So if someone is going 140 mph in the left lane, and another car is coming from behind going 160, the slower car will move to the right lane without a second thought.
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I wish it was like that... but trust me, we have a LOT of idiots here as well... they?ll just decide to drive along at 130 kmh, and then do it no matter what happens around them... when this happens, I eventually just end up overtaking on the right. it?s illegal, but then again so is driving close behind someone flashing the lights... then when you overtake them they accelerate so they can drive behind you making obscene gestures...

the other problem is that somehow people around here tend to get an inferiority complex if someone overtakes them, so they keep to the left... and overtaking a car travelling at 200 km/h on the right can get really fucking dangerous... some people just get very competitive, and they don?t realize that in the end they are travelling on a public road (that happens not to have a speed limit), and not driving on a goddam racetrack...

german drivers may be slightly more disciplined when it comes to sticking to the rules, but the real reason why we can have these highways is because we have lots of laws concerning the technical integrity of our cars... modifying your car in germany is a pain in the ass, because you need to get every tiny little thing homologated... I have a huge binder in my car with all these official documents about my suspension, my brake kit, wheels/tires, seatbelts, you name it...
 
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First of all, overtaking on the right means just... overtaking on the right. We have very strict rules here that you may only overtake cars on the left, and they are part of what makes the system work. So the cars in the right lane go 80-100km/h for example (mostly trucks), middle lane is 120-160, etc etc. You are NOT ALLOWED to overtake someone traveling in the middle lane for instance on the right lane. That works very good, because you only have to watch one side for faster cars, but it needs the people following the rules.
Having driven in other countries I have to say compared to them the people here obey the rules just fine, and yeah sometimes people sleep in the left lane, but there's no need to go all flashing lights and overtaking on the right on them. The people who do that mostly are in cars that are too close to their topspeed to do proper acceleration, have "evil face" blinds mounted on their front lights and use racing seatbelts...
I drive 80km of Autobahn every day, and about 70km of that are unrestricted. If you want to go fast, you can go fast but the problem are the people who still want to go fast when there is too much traffic. So they flash their lights at everyone in the left lane and act like utter dicks.
 
un-dee said:
So the cars in the right lane go 80-100km/h for example (mostly trucks), middle lane is 120-160, etc etc.
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well no, the rule is that you drive as far on the right as possible, but most people don?t seem to know this... if they did, the system would work...

un-dee said:
Having driven in other countries I have to say compared to them the people here obey the rules just fine, and yeah sometimes people sleep in the left lane, but there's no need to go all flashing lights and overtaking on the right on them. The people who do that mostly are in cars that are too close to their topspeed to do proper acceleration, have "evil face" blinds mounted on their front lights and use racing seatbelts...
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yeah but mostly these sorts of cars aren?t fast because they?re all show and no go... and yeah, I have racing seatbelts (if thats what you meant to imply), but only wear them when I?m on the track... my car isn?t a fast&furious wannabe...

you?re obviously right in that, in a perfect world no one would overtake on the right, because there would be no need... but when I do have one of these sleepers in front of me, I keep the proper safety distance, and wait to see if maybe they decide to move over... if they don?t, I?d much rather pass them on the right lane than drive really close behind them with flashing lights, which is just plain stupid...
 
Ford Prefect said:
well no, the rule is that you drive as far on the right as possible, but most people don?t seem to know this... if they did, the system would work...
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*sigh* We all know this, and I do, but where I drive there mostly is so much traffic that you have endless streams of cars on all lanes, just going different speeds. (4-Lane Autobahn)
 
yeah, we have a four lane AB here as well, and whenever there is sort of a medium amount of traffic, you get loads of people driving on the 2 lanes on the left, all the trucks on the right... and the second one from the right is completely empty :rolleyes:

but anyway, it?s a lost cause... if you want to drive fast then you have to deal with people that don?t know how it works, most people I know do this by driving agressively behind the car in front... which is much more dangerous than just changing one lane to the right, and driving by in a relaxed manner... :)
mind you, I?m not trying to say I do this all the time... generally I?m quite civilized and always stick to the rules as much as possible...

mautzel said:
Yep, that's what I meant - overtaking on a regular line in a multiple lines road. (If the police catches you while doing that over here, be sure to hand in your license for a month in some cases!)
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according to traffic law:
driving really close to other cars and flashing the lights ("dr?ngeln"): 250 ?, 3 points, and 3 months taking the bus...

overtaking on the right: 50 ? and 3 points...
 
mautzel said:
Yep, that's what I meant - overtaking on a regular line in a multiple lines road. (If the police catches you while doing that over here, be sure to hand in your license for a month in some cases!)
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50? and 3 points in flensburg, cheaper than tailgaiting, when I close on a left lane blocker, I flash twice if he doesn?t move I pass him on the right, saves time, money and nerves.
 
Ford Prefect said:
according to traffic law:
driving really close to other cars and flashing the lights ("dr?ngeln"): 250 ?, 3 points, and 3 months taking the bus...

overtaking on the right: 50 ? and 3 points...
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I always thought that included handing your license in as well, but there you go. (3 Points on your license is still a lot, though)
 
I once overtook a guy on the right who was going 100 in the left lane, and he pulled right without looking. I had to drive onto the shoulder to prevent a crash. I don't do that anymore now. And seriously, if you look at the things a bit more laid back it doesn't happen too often that someone blocks your lane. At least not here.
Also, you can flash your lights on the car in front of you without driving 1m from his bumper, no 250? and most people get the message.
 
well yeah, you?ve obviously got to be careful, and if something does happen it?s gonna be your fault...

anyway, as I said, it doesn?t happen that much... and most of the people do wake up when you flash them from a safe distance...
 
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