You will encounter this whenever riding in a car that a German is driving. The normal flow of driving is to wait for the traffic light to turn green, then gradually accelerate up to cruising speed, cruise as long as no objects prohibit further travel, and upon observing a hindrance to slowly decelerate.
Not a German. A German only stops accelerating as fast as possible at the last possible moment, so that they can stomp on the brake pedal just in time to avoid collision. Even though gas costs $20 per gallon in Germany, this doesn’t prevent the senseless waste of gas or needless cause of stress and motion-sickness.
German traffic lights even warn you ahead of time with a yellow and red light that the signal is just about to turn green, so you can start revving your engine to race to the next red light.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid
Hallo liebe Astrid,
hier die Übersetzung:
Die Deutschen besitzen einen binären Fahrstil
Dies wird Ihnen auffallen, sobald Sie in einem Auto sitzen, das ein Deutscher fährt. Das normale Fahrverhalten ist zu warten, bis die Ampel grün wird, dann nach und nach in Fahrgeschwindigkeit hochzuschalten, weiterzufahren solange nichts im Wege steht und sobald ein Hindernis auftaucht, langsam abzubremsen.
Nicht so ein Deutscher. Ein Deutscher hört erst im allerletzten Moment mit dem schnellstmöglichen Hochschalten auf, damit er dann gerade rechtzeitig auf die Bremse treten kann, um eine Kollision mit einem anderen Verkehrsteilnehmer zu vermeiden. Obwohl Sprit in Deutschland $20 pro Gallone kostet, schützt das nicht vor sinnlosem Spritverbrauch oder unnötigem Stress und Reiseübelkeit.
Deutsche Ampeln warnen Sie sogar durch ein gelbes und rotes Licht vor, dass es gleich grün werden wird, damit Sie Ihren Motor schon hochjagen können, um dann gleich zur nächsten Ampel zu rasen.
Bitte grüß auch den Basti von mir, das hatte ich vergessen,
John
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April 30th, 2008 at 11:57 am
not true, or rather: only 11% true if comparing to south africans, no matter if british or afrikaans or zulu or pedi or whatever. we, ze jörmens, we tend to see everything from different perspectives and in various degrees, e.g. someone is irgendwie (somehow) gay, irgendwie right-winged, irgendwie reich, irgendwie nett. but we never have the heart to really show what we are or what we possess. i experienced in south africa that everything over there is either rich or poor, either black or white, either strong or weak, either fast or slow. and so on.
May 4th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Well, not *really* true, of course there are some of us, doing this… But when my exchange student from Texas was here, he told me that the people in the USA even have a special button on their keys for the car, so that they can start the enginge of the car when they´re still inside the house…(for warming it up) so I think this is worse for the environment, especially when you know that a lot of americans do this, but I don´t know any Germans who do it…
May 5th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I love generalizations. They’re the best reason for hatred in the world.
However, I believe what Miriam is referring to is called “Standheizung” in German and is very well also popular in the cold winters of Germany and is even being advertised on TV (although I am not sure whether there is a seasonal dependence) …
May 6th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Mit einem Automatikauto lässt sich die Binäre-Fahrweise gut umsetzen.
Die Deutschen möchten schnell an ihr Ziel, auch wenn es die nächste Ampel ist. Zumal die Ampelphasen so eingestellt sind, dass wir mit 50km/h eine “Grüne Welle” haben, also müssen wir schnell auf Touren kommen, sonst stehen wir wieder an einer roten Ampel.
Frei nach dem Motto:
Wer später bremst, fährt länger schnell!
Translation:
A car with automatic transmission is really good to drive binary.
Germans like to get fast to their destination, also it is the next traffic light.
Especially you get an “green wave” when you drive 31mph, thats why we had to rev otherwise we stop at the next red light.
German slogan:
Who later brakes, drives longer fast!
May 6th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Germans are always in a hurry and because we never notice any speedlimits (ignoring speedlimits is a sport in Germany [ironic content incuded]) the story is a little bit generalized but true…
Also in germany we do not use cars with automatic gearboxes, which are able to start by themselfes, just when the driver takes his foot away from the brake.
Almost every German car is equipped with a manual gearbox and there you have to put your foot on gas while taking the other foot away from the clutch pedal, it might seem that we drive binary.
If you want to watch people drive trinary, move to a big city in italy, they only give full break, full power an when ignoring any traffic rules the typical italian driver uses the horn (and always stare forward, never take a look to anything behind).
May 7th, 2008 at 2:58 am
Hmmm, you are so right.
I’m German and I’ve been living in the states for a while now, but my friends still complain about my driving style. Apparently, I hit the brakes too late. One of my friends says, he can see the fear in the eyes of the people in the car in their rear mirror us in their rear mirror. Instead of calling shotgun they compete for the seats in the back of the car, now. The other day, we had to stop on our way to the mall because one of my friends got carsick. They explained to me that passengers are not supposed to be pressed into their seats or pushed forward while driving. Humbug! I call it “Fahrgefühl”.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am
The Difference between us Germans and you AMericans is that we are better drivers. We have a better sense for it and don’t have to be so careful, because we can handle it.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
You better should have a look at traffic in Poland.
If Germany is strange, in Poland there is no word for it. I am German and boy, Polish drive like crazy. Don’t know how to increase binary but u’ll find this over there for sure!
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Actually it safes Gas when you’re accelarating fast to your driving speed.
The german Counterpart to the AAA, the ADAC, even suggest to drivers to always put the pedal 3/4 down when accelarating in order to save gas.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Die Amis glauben bestimmt auch nicht das unsere Polizei mit Autos vom Typ VW-Passat auf Strecke gehen, lol!
November 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
“Wer später bremst, fährt länger schnell!”
I love this site. It is so cliché and so true
I’ve spent enough years abroad to appreciate this mirror.
It didn’t change me though, I still race from traffic light to traffic light and enjoy it
June 19th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
You must accelerate as fast as possible to save gas.