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I've always thought the Germans have a far stronger 'Green' lobby than we do. The only thing that surprises me about this news is that it hasn't happened sooner. It'll be interesting to see what the reaction is and what happens over time.
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I have been a regular driver on the Autobahnen for many years and in fact will be flying over tomorrow and picking a car up. I have had the opportunity to drive many high-performance cars on German roads and have generally found it to be a pleasant experience c.f. UK motorways.
The 'unrestricted' stretches are actually becoming scarcer and scarcer. Most stretches of Autobahn actually already have speed limits - some of them quite low by UK standards. If fact many urban stretches, or stretches close to juntions etc. are limited to 100km/h or even less. Some stretches which pass close to cities are resticed to even lower speeds due to 'Laermshuetz' (noise abatement). There is a country-wide 'advisory limit' of 130kph (about 80mph).
The 'derestricted' autobahn is really only of symoblic importance, and it seems to me that support for it has been waning in recent years, so I think it is inevitable that limits will be introduced on the remaining derestricted sections.
I fail to understand what this has to do with 'business efficiency' though?
Even where there is currently no speed restriction, drivers can be prosecuted for driving at excessive speed inappropriate to the conditions and insurance companies warn that they may not provide cover in the event of an accident at 'excessive speed' - quite how this is determined is unclear, but driving in fog at above the advisory limit would be an example.
Anyone driving in Germany will notice that in general drivers pay close attention to speed limits (even without the use of cameras) and there are relatively few 'tearaways' - this is probably because the police enforce traffic laws with great vigour!
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I fail to understand what this has to do with 'business efficiency' though?
Fuel consumption climbs steeply as speed is increased beyond "normal" mway speeds, so I guess that service stations on the autobahnen will fill find their sales dropping off
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HJ, I can't argue with your sums, but I'm not sure that they have the impact you suggest. The serious profits have long been moving away from high-energy-use businesses.
Even at 70mph, 214 hours still a lot of working weeks on the road, and plenty of businesses I know have set about eliminating most of that unproductive time. Not by increasing speed, but by reducing the amount of travel: one (very big) business I know enforced this on its suppliers by banning the sales reps from its premises, with significant efficiency gains for both parties.
The managers of that particular large PLC have been increasing their efficiency by reducing their need for transport, rather than trying to speed it up.
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The managers of that particular large PLC have been increasing their efficiency by reducing their need for transport, rather than trying to speed it up.
Video conferencing is the way to go, with desktop cameras at PC's costing £10's of pounds!
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You're never going to wipe out the need for every journey though, and for every journey that takes place, HJ's point holds true.
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Bazza, I'm sure that some journeys will always be necessary -- I'm currently in a phase of having to significantly increase my own travel (grr!), despite having carefully designed my work practices to minimise it.
Interestingly, I have been finding that the big productivity factors in travel are not speed, but predictability (which avoids setting off a few hours early to allow for delays) and the ease of working en route. A two-hour train journey where I can do my reading and make my phone calls is not hugely less productive than equivalent time at the desk, but every minute driving a car is time not working.
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It's arguable whether or not it has anything to do with the speeds attained, but german motorway driving standards can at times be exquisit. Possibly not a good example, but I was once approaching a truck doing half my speed on a derestricted two lane section. I prepared to slow my Beetle to give way to an RO 80 almost doubling it.
A split second before I took any action the wagon hauled over into a very long layby - don't suppose they have those in 2004 - and rejoined the slow lane behind me.
I was so gobsmacked I forgot to wave any thanks, so Danke if you're reading this :)
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>Anyone driving in Germany will notice that in general drivers pay close attention to speed limits (even without the use of cameras) and there are relatively few 'tearaways' - this is probably because the police enforce traffic laws with great vigour!
Indeed. And with their "we obey the rules" attitude (kidding), and good lane discipline and little tailgating - they are "formalising" the 130kph.
So, in the UK, with appalling tailgating and lane discipline, some people want to raise our limits.
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Well, I wouldn't say the German's were perfect (some do seem to indulge in high-speed tailgating) but in general driver behaviour is better and I certainly find driving over there is a lot less stressful. Part of this is due to less congestion, but also to less agressive behaviour. I don't know what is happening in the UK these days, but so many people seem to be on a 'hair trigger' - and not just when driving either.
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I was driving a new Golf 1.4, with three passengers, towards Koln airport. I passed a similar Golf and went to pull in in front. The driver, a (look at my muscles!) string vest sun god, increased speed to match mine. When I increased speed as fast as I dared he matched me, and again when I slowed down almost to a stop. He did this for many kilometers until his passenger, a very pretty young woman with a baby in carry cot snapped at him and caused him to make a sharp turn over the rumble strips as he almost missed his turnoff.
This and a other episodes persuade me that German drivers are not better than ours.
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A couple of interesting related German driving facts:
If you are involved in an accident on de-restricted motorway and you are travelling faster than 130kph, you will automatically legally be held partially responsible.
If you make a rude hand gesture or similar to another driver, he can, and will, drive to the nearest police station and pass on your reg. nr. You will probably be charged and fined with "Fahrerbeleidigung" (Insulting a driver). The fine isn't much, but this actually happened to a friend of mine!
I have to say, I don't think the loss of de-restricted m way will make much difference for most German drivers. Even 10-15 years ago, when I did most of my driving there, you couldn't really hold very high speeds for long because of volume of traffic. I'd be amazed if German industry suffered one pfennig's loss...
All the more reason to use the lovely ICE trains they have!
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