Just returned from Germany where I had a chance to drive from Berlin to Frankfurt - 360 miles and back.
It is quite interesting to note the diffences in driving compared to the UK.
Firstly, the Germans are MUCH more disciplined when it comes to lane discipline and always always move over (and quickly too) for faster vehicles.
This could be out of fright when a huge dark coloured Audi (they are always Audis) is approaching, headlights on, at over 220 Kph but I think its in their blood
Secondly even on two lane sections the outside lane proceeds at 140-180- kph lorries being banned from that lane altogether. You don\'t get the bunching you find over here
Thirdly, in 720 miles I did not see one police car, no camera signs, nothing. Kept nervously scanning the horizon for the dreaded \'specs\' \'gatso\' et al, but saw none.
Thirdly their roadworks are not well signposted with as little as 800 metres warning - not a lot of notice at 100 mph
Lastly we really do need to sort out the middle lane hoggers that have taken over motorways in the UK the return journey on the MI from Luton passed dozens of them!!
Why do they seem to do it so much better over there?
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Sorry the word is AUTObahn - still in sprechen sei deutsche mode
{Edited. DD}
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Sprechen sei Deutsche = Let speaking be Germans....
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No speed cameras ? I live most my live in Germany and the strectch you travelled on has around 30 camaras painted green and well hidden apart from camera cars and video cars plus road work cameras ,there are are very few derstricted 2 lane autobahns and trucks can go in the out side lane except on a few restricted parts and of these most only are operative at night "larmschutz" areas.But I agree with the other parts
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>>their roadworks are not well signposted with as little as 800 metres warning - not a lot of notice at 100 mph<<
On the E40 in Belgium heading toward Brussels I was once lucky enough to avoid a group of workers standing in the outside lane 'strimming' hedges; the only warning being a man stood in the road waving a red flag. I wouldn't have that man's job.
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Firstly, the Germans are MUCH more disciplined when it comes to lane discipline and always always move over (and quickly too) for faster vehicles. This could be out of fright when a huge dark coloured Audi (they are always Audis) is approaching, headlights on, at over 220 Kph but I think its in their blood
True, but the "faster" cars are pretty arrogant in attitude - how the hell can you pull over to let them pass when you're half way past several lorries with trailers travelling a car's length apart?? Braking is dangerous, acceleration not always possible. Methinks a bit of common sense wouldn't come amiss occasionally. I've been driving to Austria through Germany for 25 years and seen plenty of autobahns in my time.
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I thought there was a law in Germany where you had a given length of time to perform an overtaking maneouver otherwise you could get stopped and given a ticket.
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True, but the "faster" cars are pretty arrogant in attitude - how the hell can you pull over to let them pass when you're half way past several lorries with trailers travelling a car's length apart?? Braking is dangerous, acceleration not always possible. Methinks a bit of common sense wouldn't come amiss occasionally. I've been driving to Austria through Germany for 25 years and seen plenty of autobahns in my time.
I think there's plenty of British motorway drivers can teach the Germans a thing or two about arrogance!
The word 'arrogant' is freely used in connection with Germans - must date back to the war. Having lived and worked there for a year, and travelled back and forth frequently, I don't find them notably arrogant in either driving or personal behaviour (save for the odd one or two unpleasant characters you get in any culture).
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Just to lighten things a bit. We drove past the Smart factory at Hambach (I know, it's just over the border in France but it's close enough to the Saarbrucken autobahn). There they have an acrylic (or glass?) case about 4 levels high with Smart cars displayed on each level.
We could only assume it was a vending machine!
Oh, isn't Saarbrucken an awful place to see from the autobahn/ring road?
--
Terry
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Just to lighten things a bit. We drove past the Smart factory at Hambach (I know, it's just over the border in France but it's close enough to the Saarbrucken autobahn). There they have an acrylic (or glass?) case about 4 levels high with Smart cars displayed on each level. We could only assume it was a vending machine! Oh, isn't Saarbrucken an awful place to see from the autobahn/ring road? -- Terry
Lots of the Smart dealers have those. I've seen one in the UK, but can't remember where...
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I was on the road between Berlin and Frankfurt and although there were speed limit signs posted - generally varying between 100 and 130 kph - they seemed to be only at bends or before poor road surfaces and appeared to bear little relation to the numer of lanes/type of road and were widely ignored. I agree that in towns German police have a greater presence but between the two cities I saw none. Only twice did I see lorries attempt to use the outer lane of the two lane stretches (which made up perhaps half the total).
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The police on the Autobahns here generally adopt a very low key approach. A lot of patrols are done in unmarked cars (generally dark blue Audis and Mercedes E-Class if the Reality TV programs are to be believed). In the past they had also had Porsches, both marked and unmarked.
The marked patrol cars generally drive at around 130km/h in the unrestricted sections and it's a strangely satisfying feeling to hurtle past one at upwards of 200km/h. You have to be careful of radar traps which are very well camouflaged. In the unrestricted autobahn sections, there are also cameras which are set up to catch tailgaters.
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