Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedal2Floor
While I don't believe Germany should change, I think there are few facts wrong here:
1) Not all Autobahn roads have an unlimited speed limit
2) They are talking about lower the speed to 80mph vs unlimited on some roads. That is still more than the US.
3) We have lots of traffic laws here that are not enforced. Since the Police often function as an extention of the tax department in many states, they go after the biggest fines they can get, which is speeding. Why because police and law makers are stupid and easy revenue that they can argue in the press in their favor and hide it as a benefit for the public. If the governments would simply raise the fine for illegally driving on the left lane (or other traffic stupidity), then the tax man would go after a different target and drivers would change habits. Not all states nor all highways have a not left lane driving law which is another problem.
4) Sprawl and lack of public transportation in the suburbs forces people to have cars and to drive to work, school or just get groceries so more stringent driving schools will never work in the US. Also, the people who run the DOT in each state believe that if people are given better driving instruction like the 3 or 5 day defensive driving courses at Skip Barber then people will take more chances on the road. This is supported by groups who claim that people who play driving simulations take more risks on the road because they believe what they can do in a video game they can do on the road. I believe its more of a social thing and nobody having respect for other people or other peoples things and we are still stuck in the 80s its all about me funk.
IMHO
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1. No one is saying that all Autobahn's are unlimited
2. 80 Mph is = 130 Kph and the majority of the Autobahn that have limits are limited to 130, 120 Kph. Not to mention that even on sections that don't have a limit the recommended limit is still 130 Kph. None of the articles I've read on this even describe the speed they wish to lower it to.
3. The schools that are referred to that german drivers have to take are thousands of euros. and take forever to complete. The whole point is to ensure that the driver just doesn't drive in a defensive manner, its so they know the laws of customs of the road. I have yet to see a Farschuler (student driver) learning how to drive Skip Barber style.