
Driving on the Autobahn - devy
https://www.german-way.com/travel-and-tourism/driving-in-europe/driving/autobahn/driving-on-the-autobahn/
======
marktangotango
The autobahn is a glorious thing. When I lived in Germany I bought a Honda
Civic hatchback, 1.6L, 5 speed manual through AAFES car sales (cars sales to
US military personnel in Europe). I drove that car all over Europe from where
I lived near Frankfurt. I’d drive it on the autobahn regularly. That little
car had 120 mph on the speedometer. I had to really push the accelerator into
the carpet but it could do it, easily on a down slope a bit harder on a flat,
not at all up hill. Invariably I’d be in the left lane building up speed to
get around someone going 110 or so, only to have a big bmw or Mercedes to pull
up behind me and flash their lights. Then I’d have slow down, move over, let
them pass then try again. Note this was out in the countryside far from major
cities.

People here are amazed when I tell that story, 120 in a Honda? Is that safe?
All I know is it felt rock steady, and the autobahn was so smooth and sweeping
it, was nothing to drive at those speeds.

I brought that car back to the states and drove it till 2010. A lady backed
into it in a store parking lot. Dented the left rear quarter, totaled the car
because it wasn’t worth much at that time. Somewhere there’s Honda with a
German owners manual in the US.

Edit typo

~~~
RaceWon
> 120 in a Honda? Is that safe

The real problem would occur if you had to stop or slow down as quickly as a
car that actually had real brakes, like say an AMG. But hey... it would be
HUGELY hypocritical of me to say that you should Not have done that.

~~~
willyt
I never understood how ‘good brakes’ make a difference as every car has brakes
powerful enough to lock the wheels. Why isn’t it the ratio of the mass of the
car to the size of the contact patch for the tires that is the overriding
factor?

~~~
wjnc
Anti lock braking and wheel surface contact will make big differences between
cars in braking behavior. Those AMG not only have better brakes, with possibly
better software controlling ABS, but also wider tires. With formulas [1]

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braking_distance](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braking_distance)

~~~
lagadu
Some also have active aerodynamic braking, sports tyres have softer compounds
with more grip which results in better braking and usually larger engines also
provide more engine breaking.

~~~
KozmoNau7
Engine braking is completely irrelevant on a RWD car during hard braking. The
weight transfer means barely any braking is needed on the rear wheels, aside
from a token amount to keep the car going straight.

------
FabHK
A few things the article might have added:

* When getting on the Autobahn, there will _always_ be a "Beschleunigungsstreifen" or acceleration lane. Use it to get to speed while watching the traffic on your left (while signalling, needless to say), then merge in.

* When getting off the Autobahn ("Ausfahrt", ha, always on the right (with < 5 exceptions)), there will be 3 beacons with 3, 2, 1 white stripes on a blue background indicating 300, 200, 100 metres to the beginning of the deceleration lane. Start signalling at the 300m sign, and do not slow down until you've changed onto the deceleration lane (as otherwise you'd force those behind you to slow down & reaccelerate).

* As mentioned, do not overtake on the right. However, if the highway splits (or at an exit), the broken white line dividing the lanes will change: wider and with shorter gaps. Here, one may overtake on the right.

~~~
mariefred
> do not overtake on the right

how is it defined ? suppose someone is driving 100 km/h on the left lane while
the right lane is free and you approach from behind doing 150- should you stay
at the left and wait for slow car to move right ?

~~~
philjohn
You flash your headlights at them. If they still don't move that's what your
horn is for.

All joking aside though ... you don't pass on the right, so if they refuse to
move you need to slow the heck down and follow.

~~~
geff82
Believe me, after a few seconds of waiting I always pass slowly on the right.
It might not be legally perfect, but is the accepted way of handling drivers
that are an obstacle on the left.

~~~
victorp13
This is not at all "the accepted way" in Germany.

~~~
samoa42
the people going 100kph in the left lane will protest, ofc. but they cannot
stand in the way of progress and will be overtaken on the right lane ;-)

------
axiom92
Ah the no speed limit sign!

I rented a 5-series and drove from Frankfurt to Schwangau via Munich last
December. I've been driving in the US for 4 years now, and can tell that the
Autobahn is only as stressful as you want it to be. There are multiple lanes,
and if you're in the leftmost lane, you'll be tailgated by those with better
cars even while doing 230 kmph. If you're not into that kind of stuff, just
stay in one of the right lanes and enjoy the view (otherwise you better stay
_extremely_ focused on the road!).

Driving on the Autobahn also made me realize that buying a car for its speed
is extremely pointless in the Bay Area (or any place that imposes speed
limits), because one would never be able to experience the thrill that comes
out of pushing the gas pedal for 30 seconds straight.

~~~
akie
I live in Germany and get to drive on the no-speed-limit Autobahn regularly.
It's fun! But what many newcomers or tourists fail to understand is that you
can't just go and drive 230 km/h just because there's no speed limit. Whether
or not you can _safely_ drive 230 km/h hugely depends on circumstances, mainly
on how dense the traffic is. If the left lane is almost permanently completely
empty: go for it! If the left lane is regularly used for passing people in the
middle lane, then driving 230 km/h makes you a dangerous amateur who's
actively endangering other people's lives.

Unfortunately, people who've never driven the Autobahn before don't usually
get this and some seem to get in a blind haze and just push push push until
their car is at their speed limit. That can be so stupid and dangerous. Use
your common sense, please.

~~~
jacquesm
Plenty of Germans who are neither tourists nor newcomers _also_ don't get
this. But compared to Poland, Romania, Greece, Lithuania and Latvia driving in
Germany is pretty safe.

------
DrinkWater
Disclaimer: I am German.

I absolutely hate driving on the Autobahn in Germany. The pure stress and the
amount of assholes you encounter is absolutely astonishing.

I have driven cars before in other countries, including the “chaotic” Italy
and the US, and it was always a more pleasant experience.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
Your post seems odd. The autobahn is generally regarded as some of the best
highway experience there is when it comes to other road users.

As someone who spends too much time going slower than the rest of traffic in
grossly overloaded light trucks I think I have some authority when I say that
being a road obstruction to the point where people pull dick moves to pass you
is a great way to turn everyone else into an asshole make driving stressful.
As long as you're not trying to go a ton slower than everyone else in your
lane (forcing them to rapidly merge left or slow down, wait for a gap and move
left cutting someone off) driving in your lane shouldn't be too stressful.

~~~
yoodenvranx
> Your post seems odd. The autobahn is generally regarded as some of the best
> highway experience there is when it comes to other road users

I drive Autobahn both in Germany and Netherlands and I can tell you that
driving in Germany is a 100 times more stressfull compared to NL! As soon as
you cross the border to Germany everyone channels their inner race car driver
and it becomes stressful. Driving in NL is much more relaxed and laid back.

~~~
FabHK
Well, driving in most countries but Germany is more relaxing because everyone
goes at the same low speed.

You can have the same experience on a German Autobahn by staying in the right
lane. You'll go at the same low speed as the trucks, nice and cozy, straight,
without much worries or concentration needed.

Now, if you want to go faster, you do have the option (unlike in other
countries), but then you'll have to be a bit more careful and dynamic, because
it is quite possible that a car approaches you from behind faster than you
approach a stationary target (if the car goes 250 km/h while you go 120 km/h,
say). Of course that requires keeping an eye on not only the traffic in front,
but also the traffic behind, and getting out of the way when required, so you
have to change lanes quite frequently.

It is somewhat more stressful (if you choose to leave the slow lane), but
that's the price you pay.

Furthermore, after a while, all this becomes second nature, and rather stress
free, as long as everyone follows the rule. (What remains stressful are
drivers not following the rules, eg not signalling before changing lanes, or
changing into your lane when you're about to overtake them, etc.)

~~~
blattimwind
> Of course that requires keeping an eye on not only the traffic in front, but
> also the traffic behind, and getting out of the way when required, so you
> have to change lanes quite frequently.

This hits the nail on the head. I know people who complain intensely about
Autobahn driving and when I ride with them all of them have very poor viewing
technique ("Blicktechnik") and are the kind of driver that's rather oblivious
to anything that happens on the road that isn't squarely in front of them. Of
course, with these predispositions, just things like merging or changing lanes
become stressful each time. You have to be able to do both on the Autobahn, so
Autobahn = very stressful for them.

------
zepearl
My additional rules:

\- if I'm driving on the right lane and I'm approaching a car in front of me
while some other car approaches me on the left lane to overtake me (or even if
it's on the right lane but quickly approaching) then I usually slightly break
even if I wouldn't need it. This way the car approaching from the back will
see my break lights and will know that I don't intend to suddenly change to
the left lane to overtake the car in front of me. This is nice for the other
person and makes the traffic more fluid.

\- the faster I drive the more I have to force myself to look more in the
distance to be prepared for anything unexpected (sudden traffic jam, animals,
debris, etc...). Sounds obvious but in other countries I usually drive up to
max 140 km/h but with 200km/h I need a lot more space to react.

\- I try to anticipate and modulate the speed more than in other countries.
E.g. even if the pavement is dry where I am driving, if I see a dark cloud in
the distance I usually start slowing down as it could be that a few km ahead
even, if it's not raining, there might still be a lot of water if a heavy
cloud just did a pass-by.

All in all I usually loved driving in Germany, with the exception of during
the hours when people go or come back from work (can be quite hectic).

~~~
akavel
Two more things this made me remember, at least based on the _savoir vivre_ in
Poland (not sure if that's part of the culture in Germany too):

\- It's considered very polite (kinda gentleman-grade polite) to change to the
left (i.e. higher-speed) lane when you see a car building up speed to join the
traffic from an acceleration lane (on the far right), to open a place in the
traffic for them. That said, it's not "mandatory": you should only ever
consider this as a lowest priority gesture, i.e. if noone's in sight getting
ready to overcome you on the left. Conversely, if you're already driving fast
on the acceleration lane and have trouble merging into the main traffic, and
are already approaching the end of the acceleration lane, I've heard it
recommended to stay on the subsequent "emergency lane" instead of e.g.
reducing speed to a halt and trying to merge (or, obviously, forcing your way
into some other car in the main lanes). It feels kinda risky, but the
alternative of outright stopping, although it may feel tempting from basic
instincts, is actually a huge immediate danger to you and everyone around.

\- If you notice an unexpected, sudden congestion ahead, it's also considered
good manners to blink your emergency lights, to signal a danger to drivers
behind you. That said, I personally find it a rather difficult feat, given
that if the congestion is sudden and unexpected, by definition it means I'm
surprised by the situation, and thus quite busy handling the car and the gear
trying to decelerate quickly but safely, while looking in all the mirrors and
ahead at once to actively monitor the situation around. Searching for the
rarely-used emergency lights switch is a risky distraction.

~~~
invincing
Typically you'll see a "wave" of blinking emergency lights arriving well
before the sudden congestion, you pass that on for those behind you, and
prepare to slow down.

------
aequitas
> When driving in Germany, you need to drive like a German – at least like the
> good German drivers.

Or you can get a Dutch car (with a yellow licence plate, compared to the
German which is white) and German drives will immediately recognise you as a
danger on the road and give 'friendly' reminders with blinking lights to stay
on the right side of the autobahn. Disclaimer, I'm Dutch.

~~~
dasKrokodil
There is a joke in Germany about this:

Q: In the Netherlands, what happens to people who fail their driving test for
the third time?

A: They get a yellow license plate.

------
dmode
I love the Autobahn, less so because of the driving experience and more so
because it represents the Pinnacle of road engineering. Every inch of lane is
striped properly, every sign is informative and bright, every Gore point is
painted, every inch of road is paved with high quality materials, no potholes,
all exit and entry ramps are separated and predictable, with long merges,
highway facilities are in excellent condition. I don't know why we can't have
these things in the US

~~~
scottlocklin
The same reason our cars are shittier, and our water faucets don't make most
excellent whooshing sounds: insufficient German engineers and craftsmanship.

American engineering is always over engineering, but lazy over engineering
without any Teutonic perfectionism. Except maybe the various moon shots. Oh,
wait.

~~~
Patrick_Devine
Just don't bring up the Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Never, ever do this.

~~~
wongarsu
There are plenty of countries that would have opened BER in the state it was
in 5 years ago, either sweeping problems under the rug or fixing them during
operation. The airport is as much a testament to bad construction as it is to
safety inspections and rules trumping economic interest.

~~~
Patrick_Devine
When you kill 17 people and have to reconstruct multiple airport terminals due
to fire
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCsseldorf_Airport#D%C3%B...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCsseldorf_Airport#D%C3%BCsseldorf_Airport_fire)),
you want to make certain you don't have a repeat.

------
athenot
> GW Autobahn Rule 3: Slower traffic stays to the right! As in the US,
> whenever possible, move into the right lane. Most German drivers are good
> about this, but some non-German drivers are not.

Having driven both in Europe and the US, this is one of my pet peeves in the
US. This causes so much unnecessary risk. I used to chalk this up to the super
light driving test in the US (at least compared to Europe).

But recently I realized it's not just driver education: the road UX is
different between Europe and the US on main highways. Here in the US, the
right lane very often "disappears", i.e. becomes an "exit only" lane. The
result is if you're going straight for a while, you find it easier to not stay
on the right and then have to change lanes. In Europe, the road design tries
to minimize the "vanishing right lane" syndrome: exits ramps are separated;
and if need be, it's the left lane that goes.

~~~
CodeMage
_> Having driven both in Europe and the US, this is one of my pet peeves in
the US._

Funny, one of my pet peeves since I moved to the US is the "keep right unless
passing" or "left lane is for passing only" or any other variation of the same
sermon. Sounds logical at first, but it's really bureocracy.

If the highway is congested, then the rule becomes meaningless. The traffic
density is so high, that it's perfectly natural to use all of the available
lanes.

If the highway is not congested, then the density is low enough that you
should be able to change lanes as necessary, with minimal fuss. If that's the
case, then the whole "keep to the right unless passing" is really just a
crutch. In this situation, what we really want is something along the lines of
"pay attention and don't make people pass you on the right", but that's not
enforceable. So we come up with a rule like "keep to the right unless
passing", because that can be enforced by cops.

~~~
rootusrootus
In my experience it isn't really the people in the left lane that present the
biggest problem, it's the cruisers in the middle lane (on a three lane
highway). They effectively cap the speed of the highway because you have to
match their speed and squeeze in (they rarely leave a legal amount of
distance) just to get to the other side of the highway to go faster, or to the
right to take an exit. I really do wish cops would do some enforcement of the
keep-right rule so the highway would flow smoothly.

------
drchaos
It should be noted that not all Autobahns are equally well built and
maintained. Even though they are called "Bundesautobahn" (federal highway),
it's actually the states who are responsible for construction and maintenance.
Some do a good job with that, others not so much.

For the best driving experience I'd recommend Bavaria. They have well
maintained roads and less congestion, also only few speed limits. Avoid Baden-
Württemberg and especially the Stuttgart area, unless you really like traffic
jams.

Here's a map of Autobahn sections without speed limit:
[http://autobahnspeedhunter.de/routes_de/](http://autobahnspeedhunter.de/routes_de/)

~~~
rurban
No, Bavaria is actually one of the worst. The best are by far in the east,
Sachsen. When I have to go from Sachsen down to Bavaria all hell breaks loose.
Crippled asphalt, broken concrete from the 30s, endless constructions, highway
police enforcing 80km/h. It's the worst.

~~~
drchaos
I drive A8 (Stuttgart - Munich) and A9 (Nuremberg - Munich) regularly and
don't see much to complain about. Compare that to A5 here in southwest and you
see what I mean...

Anyway, if Saxony really has better Autobahns than Bavaria, I need to go there
soon ;) Any specific recommendations?

------
deng
I find driving on the Autobahn very stressful. The main problem is the width
of the speed distribution. You have the trucks on the right lane, often
struggling to even reach the required 60 km/h when going uphill, and you have
people driving over 200 km/h on the left. When you're stuck behind a truck,
you have to be very careful before switching lanes since you need time to
accelerate. It's not easy to gauge the speed of an oncoming car in the rear
mirror. Also, nobody wants to drive on the rightmost lane because you don't
want to have a truck behind you when you suddenly encounter a traffic jam
(especially when the end of it is behind a curve). So the left lane is usually
pretty crowded, and often times the distance between cars is way too low for
the speed that is driven there.

~~~
quincunx
Have you considered just adopting a faster cruising speed? Would this not
solve all your problems by giving more room for error should someone behind
you have to hit the brakes if you misjudge? Almost all cars can comfortably
run 170 kph and it sounds like it would make you a lot less stressed (arguably
stress and nervousness are more dangerous than the speed differential itself;
the speed differential can be anticipated by others, whereas nervous driving
is inherently unpredictable for everyone involved.)

The not-wanting-a-truck-behind-you thing is new to me, didn't know that was a
thing.

~~~
deng
The autobahn is usually too crowded for driving such high speeds continuously.
You constantly have to break for slower cars overtaking trucks or who are
simply "idling" on the left lane because they don't want to drive between
trucks. This just creates another kind of stress (and will also reduce your
mileage considerably).

------
chki
>If you see a vehicle coming up from behind you at a higher rate of speed,
signal and move over. Don’t be surprised if they flash their high beams. It’s
common and only considered mildly rude. Just move over.

While this is somewhat common this is a clear violation of Traffic Law and
actually also a violation of the German criminal code ("Nötigung"). It's
definitely not "only mildly rude" and the types of people who flash their
headlights aggressively (often accompanied by driving way to close to the car
in front of them) are those we could really do without on the Autobahn.

~~~
Faark
I thought so as well, but articles I've found (eg [0]) seem to indicate
Lichthupe can actually kinda be used when overtaking. But I doubt most people
on the road use it this way. Flashing your lights till the lane is clear
certainly isn't legal.

[0] [https://www.adac.de/der-
adac/rechtsberatung/verkehrsvorschri...](https://www.adac.de/der-
adac/rechtsberatung/verkehrsvorschriften/inland/lichthupe/)

~~~
chki
Yes you are correct. You are allowed to use the Lichthupe (or the normal horn
as well) _once_ when indicating that you are going to overtake. But that's
only for situations on single lane roads where there is already enough space
to overtake. You are not allowed to push other drivers around it is only for
signalling that your overtaking maneuver is about to happen.

------
Patrick_Devine
I've driven in Germany many times and thought it was a lot less stressful than
driving in the US. Autobahns are typically only 2 or 3 lanes per direction vs
the 4 to 6 lane monstrosities that we get here. They are also very well
marked, designed, and paved.

~~~
tty2300
If you go over 3 lanes per direction you have absolutely failed at designing a
road.

~~~
jcranmer
Or you have the traffic density required to move that many cars. The George
Washington Bridge, which essentially carries all traffic that travels through
New York City that isn't going to/from Manhattan and some parts of Long
Island, carries 9 lanes in each direction on two levels, and absolutely needs
that many lanes.

~~~
tty2300
If you ever fill 3 lanes than you need to seriously invest in public
transport. More than 3 lanes is never a sane idea. 9 lanes is an absolute
atrocity.

~~~
pdonis
_> If you ever fill 3 lanes than you need to seriously invest in public
transport._

Um, you do realize that the George Washington Bridge is in New York City, one
of the largest cities in the world, with an _extensive_ system of public
transportation? The idea that if NYC would just invest in some public
transport those 9 lanes would go down to 3 is laughable.

~~~
Tepix
I somewhat agree with the parent poster. The city's design should not require
9 lanes. I didn't see 9 lanes roads in Tokyo and it's bigger than NYC.

~~~
pdonis
_> I didn't see 9 lanes roads in Tokyo and it's bigger than NYC._

That's because Tokyo and NYC are different cities in different countries,
populated by people with very different preferences.

My point was not that NYC's public transportation and highway systems are
optimal by the criterion of "optimal" that the poster I responded to appears
to be using. My point was that the fact that NYC doesn't look optimal to him
is not that NYC has simply failed to consider public transportation as an
alternative. It's that, as I said, NYC is populated by people with different
preferences from his, and NYC's public transportation and highway systems
reflect those preferences.

~~~
baroffoos
That's because NYC and most of America is dysfunctional to the point where
people think that a 18 lane road is not just necessary but actually a good
idea. Not a single place in the US has _good_ public transport. Maybe good to
US standards but thats a low bar.

~~~
pdonis
_> That's because NYC and most of America is dysfunctional_

Not to those of us who live in America. That's the nice thing about having
different countries, and different states, cities, etc. within countries: it
enables people with widely different definitions of "functional" to all find a
place to live, instead of everybody having to conform to somebody's fixed idea
of how people should live.

~~~
baroffoos
Well I guess if you enjoy spending hours stuck in traffic and having air that
slowly kills you.

~~~
pdonis
What makes you think "most of America" (or even most of NYC) experiences this?

~~~
Tepix
The fact that there are nine lanes gives it away.

------
gdcohen
While the rules of the Autobahn are not that different to U.S. freeway rules,
the practice of them is very different (e.g. the use of blinkers). U.S.
drivers could learn a lot from this.

~~~
pedrocr
Absolutely. Having driven in a bunch of EU countries and then driving in the
US what struck me the most was not that Americans were "laid-back" as the
article claims. At least in California highways following distances are very
small and everyone seems to think it's natural to cut across into another lane
with no safety margins at highway speeds. That combined with very poor lane
discipline, with overtakes on the right and left, made me fell much less safe
than in highways across the EU. As with anything you end up getting used to it
but there's something to be said for simple rules well followed. These
Autobahn rules are fairly normal practice across the EU. The Autobahn just
makes obeying much more important as the speed differences are deadlier.

------
weinzierl
One of the signs is labeled incorrectly. The clear white circle with the four
diagonal lines is actually kind of a combination of the other two white circle
signs. It means end of any speed limits _and_ end of any passing restrictions.

There is no need for a "No speed limit" sign because this is the default.

------
flexd
> "[...] Don’t be surprised if they flash their high beams. It’s common and
> only considered mildly rude. Just move over."

According to the very angry and also very stereotypically German Police
officer pulling over me and my friend back in 2017, flashing your lights is
in-fact illegal. We were doing approximately 140km/h having just passed the
police car in the left lane when someone pulled out ahead of us going much
slower forcing us to slam the brakes to avoid hitting them. No blinkers were
used on their part and we flashed our lights as we had seen and experienced
countless times on our trip to let them know we were coming. We had driven all
the way down from the top of Denmark, through Germany, France and Switzerland,
down through parts of Italy and were then on the way back up through Germany
when this happened so we had seen people flashing their high beams like that
countless of times, and it seemed like a good practice if you were going much
faster than the people ahead.

My friend was driving at the time and luckily got no ticket and kept his
license after getting scolded by the police officer for a good 15 minutes.

No idea if it's actually illegal, but considering of angry the police officer
was I'm assuming so. We were confused as to why they stopped us at first, and
he kept yelling/asking "what is that? Why do you do that?"

Other then that my experiences driving on the Autobahn (and that whole stretch
of road) have been pretty good! Very straight roads of decent quality where
they seem to use concrete or something instead of asphalt like they do here in
Norway. Someone else mentioned the speed limits kept going up and down over
short distances, which I remember as well.

I think the most perplexing thing for us driving on the Autobahn is that you
can purchase alcohol, even the stronger stuff, at the gas stations along the
way, coming from having a strongly regulated alcohol monopoly system here in
Norway where anything stronger than 4,7% alcohol is only available at
Vinmonopolet, which is only open specific hours and dribks with a lower
percentage are also only available in normal stores within certain hours.

This is turning out to be a much longer comment than I intended.

~~~
wongarsu
The police officer probably had a bad day.

Flashing the high beams or using your horn is allowed in two situations: to
signal that you will overtake the car in front of you (or have the intention
to do so) outside of a built-up area, or if you judge yourself or someone else
to be in danger ($16 StVO).

There are some additional provisions about not blinding oncoming traffic, but
that shouldn't be a concern on the autobahn. Signaling something that they are
driving unsafe and put you in danger is justified by the law.

~~~
BorRagnarok
My experience with German road police it that they can be really obnoxious and
rude. Me and a friend got stopped once in Germany, and we were picked out
solely because of our Dutch license plate, nothing more. Guy demanded to
search our car, demanded we open and empty all of our luggage. He was sure
he'd find some marijuana since we're Dutch. Held us up for more than two
hours, threatened to get a sniffing dog (which he hoped would make us give up
what he suspected we had), and just being an enormous douche. He then just
left us standing next to the highway on a very dangerous spot with all of our
luggage a mess and on the street.

So yea, probably he just had a bad day. Or, he's one of the many many men that
work for the German Police that are just enormous a-holes.

------
mattferderer
> If you remain a typical, more laid-back American driver, you could have
> problems. You also need to be alert and pay even more attention to the road
> than required in the US.

I've driven around the US & Germany. There is no "typical" US driver. They
vary based upon what kind of area in the US they live in, the time of day &
the amount of traffic.

I do prefer the semi's & large trucks on the far right rule & the pass only on
the left rule. This is sometimes applied around the US but plenty of cities
have people passing in every lane which seems to slow down traffic overall.

~~~
0x54D5
_This_

Driving in the United States is very region dependent.

In cities it's everyone for themselves. Lots of speeding and general
shenanigans. Especially Boston, Philly, NYC, Baltimore, SF, LA, DC, and Miami.

In the mid west drivers are generally more laid back and follow the speed
limits more.

In rural parts of the Northeast like upstate NY and PA you'll find drivers a
lot like Germans. Stay right, pass left.

PA turnpike has a speed limit of 70 but it's normal to see people doing 80-85
especially on I-80. But I-95 near Philly is even worse. Posted speed limit of
55. People doing 80 regularly in the left lane.

This is basically almost autobahn speeds.

For the non-mericans: 80 MPH ~= 128.748 KPH

American roads are all over the place as far as maintenance goes. The
interstate road between NYC and Philadelphia is extremely high quality and you
can easily hit 120 MPH (193.121 KPH).

------
ddenisen
Tangentially related, but for some reason many Americans that I've talked to
here in the US (I'm originally from Europe, and have lived in Germany for
several years) have a collective misconception that "The Autobahn" is a
_particular_ designated, semi-mythical piece of highway somewhere in Germany
that doesn't have speed limits. They don't understand that lack of speed
limits is the default on any limited-access highway in the country (unless
explicitly restricted).

------
tomohawk
Many of these laws are also laws in the US, but not in all states. Passing on
the right (undertaking) is illegal in many states. Hanging out in the left
lane while not actively passing cars to the right is similarly illegal in most
states.

In Germany, I noticed that they use camera enforcement for tailgating and
undertaking - not just for speed. Since these activities seem much more
dangerous than speeding, it seems strange that there is so little enforcement
in the US.

------
lukego
I rode a bicycle through a long stretch of German autobahn once. Took quite a
while to reach a suitable exit. That was very late at night without much
traffic though.

That was a Schengen thing. I'd crossed from Switzerland into Germany without
any visible border and I didn't know that the blue/green road designation has
exactly the opposite meaning in Germany than in Switzerland...

~~~
leethargo
Similar thing happened to me in Italy. Wanted to ride from Perugia to Assisi,
just following the signs and was suddenly on the ramp to the high way with
cars and trucks behind me. Had to climb over the side rail to escape.

------
Tomte
Re: the recommended limit of 130 km/h: Exceeding that soft limit does not put
you at risk of a fine or a criminal penalty, but courts will increase your
civil liability in case of an accident. Meaning that it gets more expensive.

------
gamache
My one Autobahn experience was a blast. I drove from Frankfurt-am-Main into
Switzerland in a rented Ford Focus wagon (5-speed diesel, thank you). There
was a period of about an hour when I didn't go below 120mph, and there wasn't
a single moment when I felt unsafe. Just stay to the right and keep it between
the lines.

It's striking what a well-built road the Autobahn is. You could put a full
martini glass on the dashboard, and even above 100mph you wouldn't see it
spill. Back in my younger days I went similar speeds on American roads, and
the construction quality just isn't the same.

~~~
rootusrootus
To be fair, Germany is a tiny country and the autobahn spends a _lot_ of time
under construction. It's dug much deeper than typical American highways.
Nobody in the US wants to pay that much for road construction.

~~~
DanBC
I had no idea how big Germany is, or how it compares to US states.

Germany is a bit bigger than New Mexico, but a bit smaller than Montana. If it
was a US state it'd be 5th by size.

~~~
sib
While Germany would be the 5th state by size, it is only 3.6% of the area of
the United States.

(Those of us who grew up when there were two Germanies knew it as even smaller
- only 2.5% of the US' area...)

I learned this when being berated by my German hosts about the fact that you
could at that time mail a letter "anywhere in the country by 4pm" and have it
delivered the very next day, as an example of how efficient the Deutsche Post
was.

We'd usually make up by drinking some good Weizenbier, so it was all good.

~~~
heeen2
Only 3.6% of area but 25% of population

------
kraftman
> GW Autobahn Rule 2: Double check your side-view mirror before moving into
> the left lane!

This was the biggest difference I noticed while driving on the Autobahn;
driving in UK and doing 80-90mph, you get used to looking in the mirror and
judging how much time you have to overtake, cars in the distance probably
won't be doing much more than 20mph more than you.

On the Autobahn I found it much harder to judge how much time I had to
overtake, as they could be doing 50+mph more than me, and they'd go from
barely visible in the distance to very close much faster than expected.

~~~
NotPaidToPost
In the UK everyone's on the right lane anyway, with the other lanes mostly
empty.

~~~
kraftman
Except on the M25!

------
omnibrain
I think it was better if there was a general speed limit at around 120km/h.
Driving in Switzerland or Austria is in general more relaxing and needs much
less fuel. But I have to admit there are things I like about being able to
drive 200+km/h. First is acceleration. Being able to put the foot down and
just accelerate (even in the end it‘s just accelerating to ~120) feels great.
The second factor ist actually driving 200-220km/h. It‘s not really fun but it
is a strange feeling. A mixture of of tension and relaxation and hyperfocus.
You have Focus on your driving because you know an error (it does not have to
be your error) can kill you but on the other hand you fell calm and feel you
have control and through your focus everything slows down. It calms me. I
would describe it as almost meditation, having never meditated. I know
thinking about it I should not do it, and I should not praise it and I
probably should have used a throw away, but it has some appeal and even just
writing about it triggers some of those feelings.

~~~
wongarsu
> Driving in Switzerland or Austria is in general more relaxing and needs much
> less fuel

Nobody is forcing you to drive that fast ;)

~~~
omnibrain
It makes a difference when overtaking a truck for example. In Germany it‘s
possible that the right lane flows with about 85km/h whereas the left lane is
used by “overtakers” with about 180+km/h.

~~~
sgift
One of the reasons I like three lane Autobahnen. You have the left lane for
the racers. You have the right lane for the trucks. And you have the middle
lane to overtake trucks. It all works fine until some beep beep beep beep
decides that staying in the middle lane all the time is better cause they
cannot be bothered to switch lanes every few kilometers.

------
rconti
But don't obey the speed limits too closely. My first few times on the
Autobahn, I'd cruise along at a great speed, then slow down to a reasonable
approximation of the speed limit, only to have the cars I had passed over the
previous 10 minutes blow by me on the left... wash, rinse, repeat.

------
k__
Driving on the Autobahn is actually quite relaxing when you got three lanes.

On the right there are all the trucks, which aren't allowed more than 80km/h.

On the left all the speeders going as fast as they like.

In the middle you get along with 120-140km/h.

------
toadi
Love the German autobahn. Did regular trips to Munich which was about 600km in
like 3 to 4 hours. Just foot down and see the fuel gauge move, because if the
car was flat out I burned almost 30l of fuel per 100km.

------
zsim
I drive on average 25K miles (40K km) per year, mostly intercity and done so
for the last 12 years, 10 of them in UK and the last two in the West of
Germany.

I used to think autobahn and specifically the lack of speed limits was a great
design and that British top speed of 70mph (110km/h) was somewhat dated. Now,
having driven about 50K miles (80K km) in Germany, mostly on autobahns, I
prefer the design of British motorways.

First the signage. On German autobahns it is extremely easy to miss a speed
limit sign. The signs are the same size as regular "slow" road signs and often
displayed only on the left side of the autobahn, they are very difficult to
spot from afar, can be blocked from view by other vehicles and easy to miss
when momentarily concentrating on the situation developing on the road. The
speed signs are almost never repeated. On the contrary in UK the signage is
done with much better understanding of how humans operate: motorway signs are
bigger than their regular road counterparts, easy to spot from afar, installed
in clear view on the both sides of the motorway, often repeated a few hundred
meters later.

Then the speed limits themselves. They are far from thought through. For
example a no speed limit stretch can suddenly, without any apparent reason,
have a 80km/h (50mph) limit sign, then 300 or 400 meters later (quarter mile)
another sign removing any speed limit. This leads to quite a lot of sudden
breaking and many drivers ignore the limit slowing down only to 120km/h or so.
Another example would be a "end of all limits" sign after a long 130km/h
stretch in the beginning of an steep ascending stretch, followed with the
100km/h limit a mile or later on the top of the hill. Literally encouraging
unaware drivers to pointlessly burn fuel accelerating up the hill.

The top speeds can rarely be attained in Germany unless at night. Traffic and
roadworks leave a few short stretches where one can go faster than 130km/h.
But this leads to constant acceleration and breaking and many many emergency
breaking. Chain accidents are very common.

Cruise control is pointless due to constant speed adjustments. Adaptive cruise
control doesn't work well either as it requires a certain distance to the car
in front to operate safely, but overtaking from the right is very common and
most German drivers hence leave a very short distance, essentially tailgating.

I find that the UK system, there traffic progresses steadily at a constant
pace of around 70..80mph to be safer and less tiring.

German roadworks, including non-essential, are scheduled with little or no
regard to the expected amount of traffic (e.g. public holidays, peak traffic
hours etc). In UK system this type of planning gets a lot of consideration.

Diversions on Ferman autobahns are cryptic, signage is very scarce and they
are practically impossible to follow without supplemental info (i.e. satnav).
Diversions in UK are clearly marked and much easier to follow.

UK rest areas (services) are head and shoulders above their German
counterparts and include free toilets.

All in all, I believe, German autobahn network is great, but UK motorway
network had much more consideration for how humans work put into its design.

------
yakshaving_jgt
"The Autobahn is great! There are no speed limits!"

The first speeding ticket I ever received was from doing 270km/h in my old
2003 Porsche Boxster S I had back in 2013. They took a photo of me, and said
that I am "accused" of speeding, and would I very kindly like to send them my
personal details to some office in North Germany.

I didn't bother, and they also didn't care to follow up.

~~~
wongarsu
There are speed limits on about half the autobahn, mostly for noise control,
to improve traffic flow and around construction zones.

~~~
Tepix
The figure is around 70% [1]

[1]
[https://de.statista.com/infografik/16725/tempolimitregelunge...](https://de.statista.com/infografik/16725/tempolimitregelungen-
auf-bundesautobahnen/)

