The Autobahn? (NRR)
The_Non
5,691 Posts
Americans on here ever driven it? Stories?German strutters use it? Stories? I'm watching a special discussing the differences in driving rules and standards between Germany and the US. Seems very sensible over there in Deutschland.
Comments
Actually only a small part of the Autobahn network really offers the possibility to drive as fast as you want. Mostly there are some speed limits, there is simply to much traffic or there is some construction going on. Stau (=traffic jam) is a regular occurence.
However, if you drive on a part without any of these drawbacks you can drive as you like it. There are some rather new routes in the eastern part, which were buit to improve the infrastructure in the east, with very little traffic and these are already well known as racetracks. Pick a Porsche or a nice motorcycle and have fun...
SG
The discussion about the speed limit on the German Autobahn is straight dumb. the co2 emission won't be affected at all. politicians and scientists are such big idiots sometimes. what's next? a tax on breathing air? a limit to drinking water? scary times.
I've seen some serious crashes on the autobahn. biggest one right behind us. we could watch it, because we were driving in a camper (to the netherlands) and looking outside the back window.
my dad once hit a deer while driving 150 km/h. we were on our way back from italy... nasty!!! parts of the brain got stuck in the headlight. the deer was gone. it probably flew into the nearby forest...
i don't think that driving fast is such a big business. insecure drivers can be hazardous doing 35mph. i don't think that there are more crashes on the German autobahn than on highways in the US, france or italy. i once heard that german roads are very safe... less people getting killed or hurt than in any other surrounding country.
nope... not really. the autobahn is pretty safe. the most fatal crashes involve trucks. and they are not allowed to drive any faster than 90 km/h.
Germany is a carcountry, just like the US. But over here, the Autobahn offers speed freedom. But as piedpiper said, usually there are alot of traffic jams and road breaks, so you can't really speed up that much. However, at night, going from my town to cologne (around 50 miles) in 25 min is fun. Ha! But as secure as the cars are, people over here also do care about their money. a liter of gasoline currently costs around 1,35???, so go figure if you have an SUV and go through narrow streets in some 600 year old town and then on the highway doing over 180...I have bicycle. Autobahns are crazy though. There used to be a trial with a benz test driver that was going so fast that a woman in front of him lost control over her vehicle, her daughter got killed. i don't know if he ever was charged. Then again, usually people drive at a reasonable speed. maybe because we are allowed. same with Dutch people frequenting coffee shops, there are not too many, cause they are used to it. my 2.
crazy shit. you see some mighty fine cars travelling mighty fast.
we were driving 180(kms) in a fucking volvo with NL plates returning from Austria and this one crazy german dude driving a big fat merc starts tailgating like a bitch, flashing his lights and honking his horn, we wernt even in the fast lane, so i give him the finger and its fucking on.
cockboy overtakes, pulls in in front of us and hits his windscreen wiper water thingy, he had it angled so the liquid shot over his car and landed on our windscreen, we are pushing 200 at this stage and suddenly my driver cant see shit, luckily he had the experiance not to hit the brakes, he quickly hit the wipers and by the time we could see, dude was in the distance.
we pulled over and had a smoke. shit could have been real messy.
They drive 120 where they could drive 220 Kmh. BITCHES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why are you driving a 50.000 Euro car which is able to drive over 200 Kmh and than you are NOT doing it ??? Motherfuckers should drive VW Polos or shit, these are only doing 130 Kmh if thats enough to them.
So I have to say, I hate driving Autobahn in germany, because its allways faster, slower, faster, slower you get angry all the time.
Peace
Hawkeye
Isn't this like 65 MPH? If so, that's the speed limit
on most US Highways anyway, and most people drive over it -
so I don't see much difference, except that if you can and
want to drive 100 MPH on the autobahn, it's legal.
But also it's really well made. They get the camber just right and everything. If they took away the speed limits in the UK it would be carnage.
The real difference traffic-wise is that the train and local transport network over here is very good compared to the USA.
What is the speed limit on the M1?
It's 81 mph.
Shifting gears, there are no roads currently in the US (barring Montana's loose road mph restrictions) where at certain points you can just drive as fast as you want. I think it'd be cool to see those diagonal line thingies pop up and just fucking zoom the fuck off.
M1 & M2 in England are a tad intense as well. Many French also seem to have some Grand Prix tendencies to their driving.
Still, I drive at LEAST 80 on I95 whenever I drive down
to Providence from Boston, and that is keeping pace with
almost every other car in the left lane - so, point being,
although you CAN get tagged for it, 130 KPH is pretty common
driving speed on the US highways.
70mph, for all motorways in the UK. Although you can push it by about -10mph without get into trouble. Although they have more and more speed cameras on motorways now.
co-sign. Italians even more, scariest highways in Euorpe.
I guess I should google and try and find some details, web page. Turns out I was wrong...it was in Finland. Funny story though.
I had a '96 Impala that was modified. The guy I bought it off had it up to 155 mph, the most I put it up to was 130. I miss that car.
I really hate it!
A bunch of the above stories make me really upset. I mean what do you guys think can happen when crashing at speeds like that? Ever been the first at the scene of an accident involving more than one dead body? Ever seen blood come out of ears behind a shattered face?
There's normaly enough trafic on the Autobahn so not only the cars and lifes of those idiots who do the speeding get affected. Typical scenario is the middle aged looser with a pot belly and a cheap suit on the way from the job that he hates to the wife he hates and the house he can't afford, living out his pathetic attempst at masculinity by pushing the pedal of the metal of his car that costs more than the money he earns in two years. Frustration combined with decades of build-up testasterone put in a high-tech car ain't nothing but an ugly time bomb waiting to go off. Those guys willingly risk their lifes because they now how much their lifes fucking suck. Those cars are damn weapons. Deadly hi-tech toys with amazing savety features to protect the aggressor and noone gives a shit about the fucker in the small, shitty, flimsy car that during impact will disintegrate into shrapnel.
I did a lot of driving all accross Germany and used to drive "crosscountry" from Berlin down to Stuttgart all the time and it's a fucking nightmare for anybody with a brain and at least a bit of appreciation of his own life. One time when I witnessed another potentialy deadly accident I told myself "that's it, I'm agoing to take the plane from now on." Which was exactly what I did.
With Germany's completly absurd fuel costs and cheap flights, flying is not only saver but also cheaper and of course faster.
Germany is a "car-country" just like the US ? ? ?
Germany is small, it's a tiny excuse for a country and could benefit from many things other than wide streets with no speed limits that can take you from one shitty city to the next, half an hour or one hour faster than your regular road with a speed limit. Why? Everybody lives longer today anyway and should have more than enough time on their hands. If the US are a "car-country", Germany should be a fucking bicycle country. Or pedastrian.
Owning a car in Germany is idiotic from the get-go. First off, cars cost 30-50% more than in the US, just check dealer prices online. This means that you get fucked for the first time when you buy the damn thing, then you get fucked periodicly when paying your taxes, insurances and repairs. And of course you get fucked every single time you fuel up the fucker... cars are for loosers! When living in Berlin (and honestly, who would want to live anywhere else in Germany) you also won't find any space to park. If you count together the devaluation factor of your car, taxes, insurances, repair costs, fines, fuel etc. you'd be out of your mind to own a car. For that kind of money you can take a cab every day of the week.
I did a lot of driving in the US. On one trip only, I drove a total of 8.000 miles NY-DC-Miami-NOLA-Austin-Pheonix and back up to NY in one month and loved it. Speed limits are great! Everyone goes the same speed, the traveling experience is relaxing and safe.
The No-speed-limit idiocy of the German Autobahn is one of the most ridiculous and sensless features amongst many in a country that notoriously refuses to adjust laws and regulations according to technological and social changes.
Fuck driving. I rather sit on the veranda and have a drink!
Frank, I was referring to the fact that Germans love cars at least as much as the Americans do. Not in terms of distances. That's why it is also a car country to me. Try to take the Benz away here, not possible or very hard to do. Of course it is stupid to drive into inner cities with your big SUV and yes, riding a bike is much better/healthier/cheaper. btw, thanks for posting that new mix, grrrreat!
I understand...
first car I had was this old '74 Mercedes 280SE and I have to say, that was a fine set of wheels... never got me the ammount of game that I had expected though, so we parted again after only a few months... lesson learned: better take girls out to a nicer dinner in a cab than spend all you money for gas which I think is taxed with something as absurd as 70 percent in Germany...