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Originally Posted by Bobble
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoM4
I've driven on the autobahn quite often and many parts actually have speed limits, especially around cities where more people are driving. I don't think the Autobahn system is necessarily the answer to lower speed-related traffic deaths, but rather more educated/skilled drivers. Germany has better driver education and other laws regarding traffic other than speeding that is strictly enforced to increase safety and allow for higher speeds. In America, any 16 idiot can get a license, slow-poke in the fast lane while texting and not realize his tire is flat, haha.
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And in Germany you don't get a license at 16 and when you do it's somewhat provisional and if you get a ticket under that provisional license you are screwed as you lose it and getting one back takes time. I have several relatives who have had this happen or their kids have. In one case Opa bought my nephew a new 1er got a ticket during his provisional time and lost his license for 18 months. He rode a scooter in rural Germany in the freezing cold learned his lesson. Also the left lane is strictly enforced as passing only and anyone can use it to pass. As someone else said you can be tooling along at a buck ten and have a cargo van pull in front at 60 to pass a slower vehicle and perfectly legal. Also flashing to pass is another issue everyone seems to point to, do that to someone and expect an interesting expression. It's a whole other thing to drive the autobahn for 2 weeks and to live there and drive the autobahn or the autostrada in Italy for that matter. And as you said the vast majority does have speed limits and even in the portions where it's open it's still limited to what is safe, can't do a 100 in the fog regardless of the limit, it will get you ticketed. |
In some states (Illinois and Indiana for example) it is actually illegal to "sit" in the fast lane, even if you are doing the speed limit. The problem, however, is that I've never heard of this being enforced and I've definitely never seen cops pull someone over for it while driving.