Ah, the world-renown Autobahn. Driving at speeds over 150 mph right next to semis driving 50 mph is quite a rush, and should be on anyone’s to do list when visiting Germany. It’s just a shame the Dutch don’t learn to speed up or get out of the way.
But the lack of a speed limit doesn’t really fit to the German mentality for two reasons.
- It is quite dangerous. Germans love insurance against unfortunate things from happening to them. Physics says going at an unlimited speed may turn out bad.
- It is a waste of gas. As you go faster your wind-resistance gets much higher and you waste fuel. Germans are generally very ecologically minded, so you would think that a country that makes you pay a deposit for just about any container that could possibly be recycled and makes you sort your trash three ways would set speed limits on the Autobahn.
So what does Germany do instead? They spend money to put up signs to tell you there is no speed limit like this:
So you can now drive as fast as you want, but you may soon start noticing signs like this:
That’s the suggested speed. If you are feeling like a nice person, you will follow that suggestion for the safety of the rest of people on the road and to do your small part for the environment. But then the weirdest thing Germany does is put up advertising on giant billboards to tell you just how uncool you are if you drive fast.
The worst part of this whole thing aside from being a complete waste of money is having to constantly explain to American colleagues traveling in Germany that the sign is not about what they think it is about.
I guess Daimler, Porsche, VW, BMW, Bosch, and Conti are happy just the way things are.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Guten Abend, Astrid,hier die Übersetzung:
Verwirrende Nachrichten auf der Autobahn
Ah, die weltberühmte Autobahn. Mit über 250 km/h gleich neben einem Sattelschlepper mit 80 km/h zu fahren ist ein ganz schöner Adrenalinschub und sollte auf jedermanns to-do-Liste der Dinge, die man in Deutschland machen muss, stehen. Es ist nur eine echte Schande, dass Holländer nicht lernen, schneller zu fahren oder den Weg frei zu machen.
Aber die fehlende Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung passt aus zwei Gründen nicht ganz zur deutschen Mentalität:
- Es ist relativ gefährlich. Die Deutschen lieben Versicherungen gegen alle möglichen schlimmen Dinge, die ihnen zustossen könnten. Die Physik besagt aber, dass das Fahren mit unbegrenzter Geschwindigkeit eventuell schlecht ausgeht.
- Es ist Spritverschwendung. Sobald Sie schneller fahren wird der Windwiderstand höher und Sie verbrauchen mehr Sprit. Eigentlich sind Deutsche sehr ökologisch eingestellt, daher würden Sie wohl annehmen, dass ein Land das Sie Pfand für so ziemlich jeden Behälter der wiederverwertet werden könnte zahlen lässt und Sie ihren Müll in drei verschiedene Tonnen sortieren lässt, sich für eine Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung auf der Autobahn entscheiden würde.
Was machen die Deutschen stattdessen? Sie stellen Schilder auf, die Ihnen sagen, dass es gerade keine Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung gibt, so wie dieses:
Siehe Abbildung 1!
Nun können Sie also so schnell fahren, wie Sie möchten, aber Ihnen werden vielleicht bald solche Schilder auffallen:
Siehe Abbildung 2!
Dies ist die vorgeschlagene Geschwindigkeit. Sollten Sie einen netten Tag haben, werden Sie zur Sicherheit aller Verkehrsteilnehmer diese Geschwindigkeit einhalten und Ihren kleinen Teil zum Umweltschutz beitragen. Das Merkwürdigste, das die Deutschen tun ist aber, dass sie Werbung auf riesigen Schildern aufstellen, die Ihnen sagt wie uncool sie sind wenn Sie zu schnell fahren.
Siehe Abbildung 3!
Das Schlimmste an dieser ganzen Sache ist, neben der Tatsache dass es reine Geldverschwendung ist, den amerikanischen Kollegen die ganze Zeit erklären zu müssen, dass dieses Schild nicht das bedeutet, was sie denken.
Aber für Daimler, Porsche, VW, Bosch und Conti ist die Welt noch völlig in Ordnung, so wie es ist.
Gute Nacht,
John
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May 7th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Well, I guess the last sign *is* about what your colleagues think - that’s the psychological trick. Young men love driving fast, but being told by a girl they have a small … more than offsets that.
Great blog!
May 7th, 2008 at 8:45 am
@John:
You should mention, that you can only drive as fast as you like (and be able) on the Autobahn (highway). And even 33% of the Autobahns are restricted with permanent speedlimit. About 20% of the Autobahn are restricted with situation dependable speedlimit.
So, the Germans have only Speedlimit at about the half of their highways… And even there the trafficjam prevent high speed driving most of the time.
On Autobahn there is a speed recommendation of 130 km/h which is about 80 mph. I suggest to use this recommendation…
May 7th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
thanks, frank, for this exceedingly typical german comment! LOL
May 7th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Well, honestly, suggested speeds are a “suggestion” … which fortunately means I can safely ignore them. Especially at between 5 and 7 in the morning on some stretches of our highway … completely deserted, good weather … 220 km/h, here I come! (really, only when there is only light or no traffic. The Audi A4 has superb brakes, but the adrenalin surge after swerving some idiot changing lanes at 80 km/h because there is a truck about A MILE ahead of him is not a comfortable feeling at all).
May 7th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I wonder if it would actually work to introduce a standard speed limit on Autobahns AND allow passing on all lanes (left AND right!!!). But I suppose that would reduce the available German gene pool quite fast…
May 7th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
let alone the political uproar a binding standard speed limit would cause. if not anything worse. just the humble suggestion brought about the “autofahrer-partei” a couple years ago. you don’t wanna push it too far with the germans.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Something else to note is that when you get into an accident and you drove with more that 130 km/h it is always, at least partly, you fault. That’s the reason why government and military regulations only permit to drive at 130 km/h.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
You have also to be aware of this 130km/h suggestion when having the driver’s license checkride. Exceeding the suggested speed leads to a fail
(In fact I don’t know anyone who had to use an Autobahn at the checkride)
May 9th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
“some idiot changing lanes at 80 km/h because there is a truck about A MILE ahead of him”
the mortal sin!
May 9th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
flipflop:
That’s strange, here (Düsseldorf) going onto the Autobahn is part of the normal test procedure only in rare cases it’s not done (exceeding the time limit)
May 14th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
About that billboard, I think that other meaning is totally intended.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 am
> It’s just a shame the Dutch don’t learn to speed up or get out of the way.
*lach* This is soo true.
May 24th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
in our region we even sort our trash four ways.