Safe Speed Forums

My wife and I stayed in a hotel in a small town called Inzell for 3 nights not far from where Hitler had his country house. We met someone who spoke good English as we don't speak any German, who was amazed that we had driven from England and thought we were "brave". I assume she was referring to the traffic jams caused by roadworks on the autobahns and to the high speeds attained.
Some sections of autobahn are limited to 120 or 130 kph but long sections are unrestricted. You can tell when someone is going twice as fast as you are and I stuck to 100-110 kph so some drivers were doing 200 kph or more - not Porsches but large BMWs, Audis and Mercs mostly. The good news is that dipped headlights all the time are universal, though not required by law as far as I know, and lane discipline is excellent. It does pay to use one's mirrors! Where a speed limit exists it is observed pretty rigorously including through roadworks as are traffic laws generally despite the absence of speed cameras and traffic police. Road surfaces are generally excellent with rough sections signed. The A48 from Koblenz to Trier was an exception, rough but still signed as such. You have to remember that a yellow place name sign means a 50 kph limit though they are often preceded by a 60 kph limit. A nice touch is that moving from lane 2 to lane 1 is not permitted in the vicinity of a slip road though lane 1 to 2 is allowed. I've only seen this in the UK near the Dartford Tunnel on the M25.
So overall I was quite impressed with the roads and drivers in Germany and I've never driven there before. Next time I must learn some German as I can't decipher some of the road signs.
Nick.

Lane discipline is excellent. How would it otherwise be possible to attain speeds of 200km/h (125mph) on a two-lane motorway?

I learnt to drive and passed my test in Germany and I do think this has had some part to play in my accident and “crime free” driving history.

My instructor was an RAF driving instructor who not only did the usual stuff but as part of his work also taught defensive driving and some form of evasive and pursuit driving (it was combined IRC and he had a name for it but it was some 18 years ago). Whilst I was never taught this stuff he did go out of his way to teach observation and “prediction” which while never required for the test certainly has come in handy since I’m sure.

I was examined by a senior instructor and a German examiner (who could not fail\pass me but they liked to sit in occasionally to discuss standards etc, the BFG playing a big part in the area at the time) and I’m pleased to say I passed first time.

However the point is that they do not believe that “speed kills”, they believe bad driving kills and they like to train their drivers not to kill, rather than not to speed. As has been said they tend to treat limits with respect, but to be fair a majority of those limits are respectful, and the police do use discretion (I know having been followed at around 60-65 kph in a 50 for a few miles before being stopped and had a wrist slapped!)

Cheers

Paul


It's also worth noting that they had a written test sometime prior to my test so road users could at least read road signs prior to have a provisional some 20+ years ago.

And you don't argue with the Polizei, not with a gun attached to their waist belt.

The driving in Germany was of a high standard when I was there 10+ years ago, would be interested to see what changes there are since the wall came down , and the influx of migrants.
I was out there when the wall came down, and the accident rate for Eastern Germans, particularly on the Autibahns was very high, mainly due to the Trabants they drove, two stroke and a freewheel facility on top gear.

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Ja Liebchen :yes: Turbo Rolf...

Inzell.. hoffentlich - you visit Salzburg und Tyrol und Munchen for there? Ist Chiemsee nicht? ist very nice area.

Ja - you should have burnt some bridges und tried to go schneller.... Ist part of my fun when we go home. Und I like to test my motor...




Ist requirement of the test... I had to do a written test und it included car mechanics. No problem - Papa had taught me well from being baby. Und ist automatic fail if you do not use mirror - und they will ask at random at any time in test to tell them what ist behind two- three car behind. You have to know as the Turbo Rolfs in their Mercs are a resting their cars too.




We are house trained. Liebchen But they do use CCTV footage und ist also signed that they do - unlike in this country accodring to story in paper I read... last week....



:yes: Ist ganz normal! Driving und road safety - ist taken serious as a whole Ist "HAFEN!" Ist COAST in action!

But for learning German.. you could try Night School in your area. Und ist lot of stuff on internet which you can try too. BBC langauges und this link to other on-line courses where you play mit the language. Und Michel Thomas tapes .. ist gut for basic grammar und teaching how to put things together .

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