memes

I've always half assumed the autobahn is littered with crankshaft and connecting rod chunks, various pools of oil and coolant, and the various now worthless vehicles they came from. Oh, and many tire marks that lead right into barriers.

I moved to Germany 2 years ago, and was afraid of highways being like Mad Max, but I was positively surprised.

Most drivers are very attentive and skilled, keeping the rules, driving safe. I like it much better, than Eastern EU, where people are also going 150+, and are being assholes in the meantime. The upper limit of 130 just puts stress on me, because I obey the laws, but the giant SUV in my ass flashing their highbeams does not. In Germany this barely happens to me, most drivers are polite and safe, even in expensive sports cars.

I really came to enjoy the liberating feeling of driving at my own (and the traffic’s) pace on the autobahn. Yesterday I was travelling between Dusseldorf and Berlin, long open stretches of 3-lane roads, with only a few cars around. I was going around 200, yet I saw a car far behind me coming up fast, some polite flashes of lights from the distance, I pull to the right, and let a Porsche pass me quickly.

I might sound like a carbrain, but I’m not. Everybody should try German highways once, so they can form their own opinion, and not judge based on internet memes. I feel 10x safer on the autobahn, than on some shitty Eastern EU highway with a bunch of apes around me, who don’t care about the rules.

Jokes aside you are only allowed to drive as fast as is safe for those around you

It's more like if you drive too fast you're not insured. Oh, by the way, road works, 80km/h. Aaaand you're free again! Have f- oh no, roadworks again, 80 pls. Ok done. Now you can really hit the gas! Joke, roadworks again haha, 80! Finally done, now we promise we don't have roadworks anymore, enjoy! Aaaand welcome to the Netherlands, 100 please.

regarding the legality of breaking the sound barrier:

if i remember correctly there’s is an indirect general speedlimit, because any vehicle moving below a certain height is not allowed to go beyond 400 something kph. now this is intended for planes and helicopters and such, but afaik also applies to cars. therefore breaking the sound barrier, sadly, would be illegal. besides, i think breaking the sound barrier is limited to certain zones anyways.

i’m not trying to nitpick on the joke, but rather give supplementary information that may be interesting.

The US drivers could not handle the German traffic rules, punishments and technical checks for their vehicles. Over half of the vehicles in the USA would fail the Dekra and TÜV inspections.

German here. It is true that yes, there are some parts of the German highway where there is no official speed limit. But often times, be it through traffic or speed limits, you can't drive that fast.

Just make sure you respect the Rechtsfahrgebot

Bit of both actually, the way that Germans drive is kind of an example for the rest of Europe. I'm sure that high fines have a lot to do with it but many of the best driving habits in my country came from Germany.

So it's a good time to say it once more, a lot of this is based on myths, not knowledge.

Having no speed limit is a really bad thing for both the environnement AND for public safety.

https://www.datawrapper.de/blog/the-case-for-speed-limits and so many more examples.

Is it working better for the rest of the world?

germans: famous for their hating the rules

here it's more like follow the speed limit except for when a bicycle is ahead of you. you bike behind a car and they will obey the school zone limit. you bike over the limit ahead of them and they will speed to pass you and kill a child for bonus points.

Germans any other time: obey the rule no matter how bad

If only

Well it's nice not to have a speed limit, but every time I see one, it's such a sigh of relief.

Story time:

Not so long ago, I was on that 4 or 5 lane autobahn before arriving to Munich. I was already dark, overtaking some car, leaving the most left line empty. Then these laser high beams basically illuminating the nearby Alps. I was thinking geez I'm doing 160, relax dude, you have a free lane here. I moved to the right, 2 lanes to my left are now free. Car flies by me, doing probably like 50-70 more than I, AND, AND this guy gets overtaken by another one with about the same speed difference relative to the guy doing 210-230.