Thats is an odd article seemingly based on an informal rule applied when revising limits and the officer's personal perception/experience. It even cites scientific evidence to the contrary but simply dismisses it by pointing to the personal experience of the expert.
Here's a personal experience: driving in Belgium, the Netherlands or any other country with limits is much more pleasant than driving on German motorways, where you have 40-50% of roads with no limit whatsoever. The high limit means even as drivers tend to be much better trained than in most other countries I've driven, German traffic is unpredictable. You'll overtake a truck driving 90kmh, while yourself driving 130kmh (advised speed) and someone comes up behind you with >170kmh. Changing lanes is much more stressful than eg Belgium which has pretty bad drivers, but they all stick close to the limit of 120kmh, meaning flow of motorway traffic is much more steady.
If the issue really were that drivers don't stick to the limit - enforcement is the answer. Increasing limits does not improve safety on its own.
What exactly is unpleasant in Germany? If you have a guy suddenly behind you then most likely you didn't check properly in the mirror, and estimated speed of approaching car wrongly. You could also perform overtaking manoeuvre more dynamically, just increase the speed when overtaking and reduce after.
Last few months I drive to work on the Germany motorway, and what I can see so far is terrifying. Not fast drivers are the problem but the poor and ashole drivers:
- Poor drivers: Me 140/160 km/h, other 120 km/h, and suddenly he/she is changing the lane (to overtake another car ofc), no blinker (you honk at them and they show you the middle finger), nothing! Or switching the lane when when there is not enough space. Jeeez, no! Because you annoyed to drive 117 km/h behind the truck, don't put others in danger. Not everybody in Germany drives 170 km/h or more. So there will be place for you as well, just wait some seconds. Or predict, you see the slow truck in advance, change lane a bit earlier, or show blinker earlier (I always slow down I you give me enough time). Ah, and damn left lane lovers. You overtake them from the right (although you shouldn't) and then they realise "oh shit, I should be in the right one".
- Ashole drivers: Driving bumper to bumper even with high speeds, or swaying left to right just to how "hey, I'm behind you" and make a pressure on you.
To summarise, after driving in Germany for 8 years, I love it. I like the discipline although on the motorways is getting worse imho. I'm assuming because of immigration from other countries which don't have good driving habits.
For me unpleasant was driving on motorways in San Francisco area (madness, and not just because of number of lanes), but I was there only for a few days, so maybe my impression is wrong.
Here's a personal experience: driving in Belgium, the Netherlands or any other country with limits is much more pleasant than driving on German motorways, where you have 40-50% of roads with no limit whatsoever. The high limit means even as drivers tend to be much better trained than in most other countries I've driven, German traffic is unpredictable. You'll overtake a truck driving 90kmh, while yourself driving 130kmh (advised speed) and someone comes up behind you with >170kmh. Changing lanes is much more stressful than eg Belgium which has pretty bad drivers, but they all stick close to the limit of 120kmh, meaning flow of motorway traffic is much more steady.
If the issue really were that drivers don't stick to the limit - enforcement is the answer. Increasing limits does not improve safety on its own.