One-day police crackdown on speeding

Braking - was going to post a table but it didnt work.

Factors are Driver Awareness, Quality of Brakes, Speed of reaction, type of road surface
How many people do you get up your chuff on the Autobahn at 200KPH with a 1 second gap between you and them!
You need a 4.5 sec gap at that speed to stop and it takes you approx 270meters to stop.

Here ya go. Says it all really.

Although it should be good fun to zoom down the motorway at adrenaline pumping speeds it isn't because half of all Germans are certified idiots with an adrenaline addiction and, being a bunch of fat lazy bastards, the only way they can get this rush is to get their company-leasing-as-little-sales-rep Audi/Alfa/BMW up to its max speed. As they are a nation with a singular lack of judgement and appreciation of what will happen to your pathetic little body when that much kinetic energy is involved in a collision and, by being the same nationality as Michael Schumacher, are sure such a collision cannot happen to them the 1 second gap is more than enough for them.

These days I drive a very slow car and cruise the motorways at 110Km/h with the grandpas and appreciate the fact that the traffic volume usually dictates the journey time to a greater extent than your capability to drive 200 at any point, and going slower saves a fortune in fuel. Just relax and enjoy the drive, get your adrenaline rush by doing sports - the fun/risk relationship is far better.

What nationality are these Grandpas then?
Why does being the same nationality as Michael Schumacher give you poor judgement, but being the same nationality as Lewis Hamilton, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, James Hunt, Jackie Stewert, Graham Hill, Jimmy Clark, Sterling Moss etc. doesn't? Nice load of xenophobic bollocks!

Yawn.

Personally I reckon the Germans are very good drivers compared to most places I've driven in.

Really? Normally I'm not one to say that British is best at anything but I find the Germans' driving too aggressive, too fast, too unpredictable, too impatient, too little commonsense & judgement, too little anticipation of what others may do, too little appreciation of the surroundings, too many bizarre manoevres with no signals, with a blinkered determination to do everything they're allowed to do.

I've seen so many rear-end accidents on the fast lanes of the motorways (usually the A8) here, many involving 3+ cars, the obvious and inevitable result of their insane tail-gating, something I never saw in the UK.

I find the opposite, yes they are aggressive but i find their lane discipline on the autobahns to be far better than the UK.

Around town they are lacking in courtesy though and it does piss me off when people press up behind another car in a desperate bid to stop anyone else filtering in to the traffic and the lack of a simple wave to acknowledge someone letting them in or ceding right of way is damned ignorant.

You should try driving round the M25 or the stretch of the M1 from London to Luton sometime then.

Fair point about the lane discipline, but tailgating at 50Mph on the speed restricted M25 or clogged M1 is a totally different story to what goes on here. The results of a collision at that speed will still be pretty ugly, but not the carnage you'd get at over 100Mph.

I agree with you, in fact I've started a one man campaign of waving to people who stop to let me through even though it's my right of way anyway, from little acorns do mighty oaks grow! (Either that or I'm pissing in the wind!)

On a drive from Stanstead to Cardiff on a Friday afternoon in stop and go traffic I saw at least eight to ten accidents. On an equal stretch Munich to Salzburg or even Munich to Dresden, also on a Friday afternoon with heavy but flowing traffic, I saw absolutely zero accidents. For what it's worth.

Driving is one of my passions - some thing I have had much training in and I am constantly striving to improve myself - and so I take an interest in all of this.
I drive alot in Germany and in the UK.
My observations - broad generalisations
Uk roads verses German -The UK wins hands down. Better design, UK uses cats eyes, slip roads are better design etc etc.
Lane discipline - German Autobahn is better (fewer but still some middle lane gits)
Tailgating - The UK motorways are better. People do tend to keep their distance a bit more in the UK- the message has kind of got through. The Germans well... they have to be the fastest at everything so tailgating is very bad in Germany
Car Control - I would guess that more Germans but not enough have an idea of understeer and oversteer etc etc blah blah - because they have to drive in cold snowy conditions
First Aid Training and the carrying of a first aid kit is mandatory here a massive possitive for the Germans on that one.
Winter tyres are law here not in the UK again a big possitive for the Germans on that count too
Courtsey on the road - The UK is a far more polite place lots of thanks yous etc. The Germans are impolite on the road. Takes abit of getting used to.

Thats it
Winter tyres should become law in the UK - It would save lives

What are cat eyes, slip roads?

I drive often in NYC and I am looking forward to driving in Munich but it seems like I will really need to pay attention
to learning their particular rules of the road.
From two way streets that should be one way streets and turning lanes that double cross into the other lanes lines.
Tailgating and lack of parking spots. Just like home. At least people don't get shot for parking spots.
The not waving and acknowledging makes me wonder how the germans communicate to each other in their cars.

As my boyfriend once said, "the fastest one wins." Of course that was in a roundabout in Mexico. Talk about chaos!

Cat Eyes = Road Reflectors
Slip Road = Acces Road/Side Streets

I must agree; I find the drivers down here pretty ignorant. Courtesy is neither understood or appreciated - that counts for general walking about 'town' too.

A friend of mine out here observed that the average German goes around in their own little 'bubble' oblivious to the world outside or other people in general. When I lived in northern Germany, I found the people nicer.

But hey, we Brits aren't perfect.

We would call those service roads here... only parkways have those.

Road reflectors...Gotcha!

So why is there no mention fo road rage.Something i have suffered in England but not in Germany.Over here they get out of the fast lane if blinked at or the like.In England you ahve a 9999 year old granny stuck in the fast lane doing 45 mile an hour observing the traffic tail back in her rear view mirror.

One of the things that make me feel very queasy in the stomach in Germany is how everyone tailgates. Driving at fast (legal) speeds on the Autobahn would not be so much of a problem if everyone also kept a minimum distance from the car in front of them, but everyone tailgates like there is no tomorrow, and like this even driving 100km/hr becomes an issue.
That said, I still prefer traffic in Germany to traffic in Spain any day.

Yep
They leap in there BMW 8750ci Mseries coupe with ABS ESP ABC DEF and XYZ which they have just payed 80,000 euros for and suddenly think they are invincible and all this technology will save them.
When in reality they havent the first clue about what they are doing, they are in effect virtually a passenger. They know where the brake and the steerimg wheel is and that is it.
But hey if arrogant clueless people, with lots of money and big egos wern´t around then the german car industry would be on its knees.
The tailgateing aside. I do think it is a pretty good place to drive in.

This is almost always true unless you're going a very short distance or are driving in the middle of the night. Not enough people realize though. Or maybe it's just the triumph of hope over experience that makes them drive like loons.


Correct!


Wrong! Slips roads are what you call ramps - on-ramp, off-ramp. Definitely not side streets or access roads.

A quick google search would suggest british motorways are safer than german autobahns and both are safer than the US freeways.

Personally I prefer the autobahns as I find the lane discipline in the UK terrible, too many middle lane hoggers and the chances of getting up to motorway speed seem to be reducing every time I go back as the motorways get ever more overloaded. I really don't like driving in the US as the lorries are too big and the road surfice is awful. My experience is mainly the I95 between Phili and Wilmington so perhaps it gets better elsewhere?

Wiki road saftey

The tailgating is certainly dangerous from time to time and the flashing of the headlights a real annoyance. To be fair I don't see it so often and I do have a really naugthy habit of slowing down to the same speed as the car on my inside if somebody is really getting on my wick.

Really dangerous is the German's complete and utter failure to understand how a roundabout is supposed to work. It's my right of way if I'm on it guys. They should have instructions on every one. I know they are new here but it's really not that hard.

Actually the priority for roundabouts in most European countries has only recently changed to be the same as the UK's. As far as I know the change isn't complete in all countries. And obviously lots of people won't have heard anything about it.

I think it's safe to say that UK road safety engineering is the most advanced in the world. The casualty rate is about 50% of most of the rest of Europe. And annual casualty figures have remained static for 15 years despite a huge growth in traffic. There's some innovative work being done by the Highways Agency at the moment.

Try leaving the proper distance between yourself and the guy in front of you. In 9.5 out of 10 cases someone will muscle in between you, effectively reducing your distance by half. You have to brake to get your distance again, the guy behind you keeps barreling up your ass, instant accident or traffic jam. Keep your front and side distances, everyone!

I've been here 6 years and the law ain't changed in that time. Slow learners I guess.

To be fair the roundabout I use every day has only been there 3 years though.

It was less than 20 years ago. Not sure if it changed everywhere at the same time, or whether it was done bit by bit. Probably the latter.

Before getting too excited about the German's relatively better lane discipline you have to see how they behave on a 3 lane motorway. As most of the German motorways are 2 lanes there's no room for a fast-lane hog and they get pushed over fairly promptly. Put them on a 3 lane road and it all goes wrong, it seems that many human brains just can't cope with all that open space.

On the subject of tail gating I just read in the ADAC's hugely amusing rag that the police will now fine you 500 yoyo and take your license for a month if you follow the car in front closer than 3/10ths of half your speed when going above 130Km/h. This absurdly complex formula gives at 160Km/h (that's 100Mph for us Brits) that gives 24m thinking/breaking/stopping distance, if I understand this correctly, which doesn't seem much. Everyone knows that if you leave a large distance to the car in front some wanker in an X5 or Alfa will pull into it, but to have this stupidity officially sanctioned is not exactly progress.

And why does the TT spell checker highlight the word 'wanker'? Hasn't it learned what word yet?

Edit: Most French roundabouts have instructions on them, and AFAIK, if the roundabout doesn't have the 'Vous n'avez pas la priorite' sign then you give priority to the right as usual.

Reminds me of the old april fool about the UK being forced to change to driving on the right but they would change the cars one week and the lorries a week later.

Agreed on the lane discipline. Germans on three lane motorways are as bad as Brits. No surprise there.

I drive the A8 from Rosenheim to Munich every day. 3 to 4 lanes. I'd disagree completly with that statement.

Brilliant echo here.

@ Pas

I once saw an Italian Alfa Romeo drive straight onto an English roundabout in front of a 38-tonner. I don't know how they missed each other, but the Italians were very upset, blowing their horn and so on and clearly thought they had right of way. They would have been correct in Italy at the time.

I know, that's part of the problem. If people actually cared about keeping the proper distance, they would not try to move into the space between the car in front of you and you, but that does not make it any better to tailgate so no one can do this.

I have had people do that to me. The person in front, in the outside lane just has to go past the next car and will not pull in. Solution (though it is a fine and no points) is quite easy, I use the hard shoulder to undertake both the idiot blocking the outside lane and the person on the inside lane.

How do you know that the person behind you has not got a real emergency and they are trying to get past whilst you, dogmatically block them because their car is faster and more expensive than yours??

It is so annoying that people with what they perceive as inferior cars, houses, jobs and incomes have a huge chip on their shoulder and try to block anyone that they perceive to have a nicer, faster and more expensive car than them. In fact it is quite sad that the low income people have this attitude because at the end of the day, the person with the crap car and low income will have the satisfaction of blocking the BMW, Merc, Porsche for sure but they will be going back to a smaller house, fatter wife, poorer paid job etc than the other car driver. The question is who "wins" in the end? The poor, crappy car driver or the driver with the Porsche and big house, I know which one I would rather be.

Finally, for those people that insist in sitting in the outside lane of the Autobahn at a speed of 50kmh during the winter months when there is snow on the road, get out of the way, some of us have four-wheel drives and snow tyres on so bloody-well move over

Do not start a sentence with the word "and".

The spell checker is familiar with the term "wanker" and its plural as it can be used to describe militant cyclists, people with "nice car" envy, self-pitying whinging gits on low income, of which there are quite a few financially challenged people who would chew their own left arm off to own one of the very vehicles they profess to hate. All of the aformentioned have a large representation on this board and you seem to be their self-elected leader.

Try and get a decent job and then you can afford the iconic brands of vehicle that you profess to hate. (Nope, no-one believes your militant stance for bicycles and against iconic car brands is anything else other than envy, no matter how hard you try )

It's been interesting reading some of the posts here. We have three cars at the moment, a very fast sports car, a middle or more average Audi sedan, and a small, slow putt-putt which protests at speeds over 120 and can't accelerate worth a damn. (But is great for city driving.) I first used to think that driving real fast in the sports car was thrilling. Now I've learned that for a real knuckle gripping adrenaline rush nothing beats taking out the putt-putt on the autobahn and trying to pass a slow truck in a two-lane unlimited speed zone.

I curse the slow cars when I'm going fast. I curse the fast cars when I'm slow. It all depends on your perspective, I guess.

Unfortunately, it's people like canaryman and their attitude that they own the road, that will end up with those of us who enjoy the freedom of being able to drive at whatever speed the conditions dictate, being artificially restricted to some speed plucked out of the air by some attention seeking politician.

Yep... the kind of bloke that uses the hard shoulder to undertake.
buys a car because it is an ´iconic brand´ LOL
Excellent...Tell me you are taking the piss LOL

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