Modern Marvels: Autobahn

austin552 · austin552's Garage

History Channel Modern Marvels: Autobahn on today!!

singpilot · 12-02-2005, 09:37 AM

Amazing pics of 356's and early 911's.

jfw834 · jfw834's Garage

caught it...thats for posting!

very interesting how cops are really tough on "lane control" over there. Tailgating and passing on the (edit)RIGHT are illegal here as well, but you would never get a ticket for anything besides speeding, and having your headlamp burnt out.....the USA is a bassackwards place.

dd74 · 12-02-2005, 03:45 PM

Passing on the left is illegal here?

yellowline · 12-02-2005, 03:59 PM

I never thought I'd say this, but I wouldn't mind waiting until 18 for my license...if we had Autobahn type roads. Definitely wouldn't mind regularly doing 110-120 with my car.

We do need stricter standards for licensure here, though. Enforcement is also something we need.

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Man...I caught that. They also showed Hitlers Managers Ferdinand Porsche...but I missed it.

singpilot · 12-02-2005, 05:58 PM

Sonic;

Nice to see you over here on the dark side! Long time!

The Porsche part was excellent!

It was followed by the same 'Hitler's Managers' piece on Werner VonBraun. I almost fell out of my chair. One of the commercials during that piece was for the "Braun" shaving system. I wonder if anyone else caught that.

84porsche · 84porsche's Garage

That is one sweet episode. I really need a TIVO.

Evans, Marv · 12-02-2005, 09:04 PM

Caught part of it. What amazed me was the fact the total thickness of the pavement is 24! I don't think they would make anything like that over here because of the cost.

slodave · slodave's Garage

Marv:

The road is 27" thick. Made sure to pay attention to that this time around. I thought it was 24" as well.

I liked the RUF topping out at 212 MPH with 3 grown men and camera equip.

Dave

austin552 · austin552's Garage

Didn't get to see it all but the DVR got it.

kycarguy 935 · 12-02-2005, 09:18 PM

I watched it again and learn more each time I watch it. I love the vintage Porsche footage.

Joeaksa · 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by yellowline
I never thought I'd say this, but I wouldn't mind waiting until 18 for my license...if we had Autobahn type roads. Definitely wouldn't mind regularly doing 110-120 with my car.

We do need stricter standards for licensure here, though. Enforcement is also something we need.

American's do not have an idea how easy they have it. I got my German drivers license when living there and some of it was waived but not all.

They require new drivers to get actual hands on experience in the snow, rain, high speed (85+) on the 'bahn as well as extensive first aid training and so on. They are REQUIRED to stop at all accidents and render aid, and EVERY car has a first aid kit. If you are stopped and no FA kit, you are fined.

If you are a new driver you pay car insurance at the 175% rate. As you drive with no points or accidents they slowly take 25% off every few years until you get to the 100% rate! What a novel idea!

If you want to ride a motorcycle, you are limited to a 500cc (27 hp) bike for the first two years. After that up to a 750 and then finally unlimited. Very strict with getting experience then moving up.

Do not have more than one drink in Germany then drive. In Denmark if you are in a pub and go outside to get your briefcase out of your car, putting the key in the lock gets you a drunken driven ticket. Doing it a second time gets you 30 days in jail. Third time is 1 year in jail. They have a very dim sense of humour over there on driving while drinking... Take the taxi or underground.

If you run out of fuel on the highway, you can lose points off of your license. Its not showing responsibility so they go after you. If you gesture at someone the other person can go to the police station and file a claim against you. You then get to prove that you did not do this (produce a witness) otherwise you are fined, period.

If you pass on the right side you get a ticket. Sitting in the left lane without passing, also a ticket. In the old days everyone turned their left blinker on to "nudge" some slow idiot in the left lane to move over, its now illegal.

If there is no speed limit and you are driving over 130 klicks (85 or so) and have an accident, even if its clearly not your fault, you are assessed part of the points, fined and get to pay part of the other cars damage. They reason that if you were driving slower you might have been able to avoid the accident.

It goes on and on like this, a totally different world... but still enjoyable most of the time. That is until you pay $5.50 a gallon of gas and high insurance rates. Oh yea, I thought that LA had traffic jams until I came to Germany. Two to three day traffic backup's on the autobahn during vacation times. Simply unbelieveable...

Joe A

austin552 · austin552's Garage

I hear it takes about five years to get a drivers license there.

Joeaksa · 12-03-2005, 07:31 AM

Actually its only around 2 years if you do it in a good approved school. Forgot, cost is about $12-1400 for the license, THEN you get to buy a car!

JoeA

BGCarrera32 · 12-03-2005, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Joeaksa
American's do not have an idea how easy they have it. I got my German drivers license when living there and some of it was waived but not all.

They require new drivers to get actual hands on experience in the snow, rain, high speed (85+) on the 'bahn as well as extensive first aid training and so on. They are REQUIRED to stop at all accidents and render aid, and EVERY car has a first aid kit. If you are stopped and no FA kit, you are fined.

If you are a new driver you pay car insurance at the 175% rate. As you drive with no points or accidents they slowly take 25% off every few years until you get to the 100% rate! What a novel idea!

If you want to ride a motorcycle, you are limited to a 500cc (27 hp) bike for the first two years. After that up to a 750 and then finally unlimited. Very strict with getting experience then moving up.

Do not have more than one drink in Germany then drive. In Denmark if you are in a pub and go outside to get your briefcase out of your car, putting the key in the lock gets you a drunken driven ticket. Doing it a second time gets you 30 days in jail. Third time is 1 year in jail. They have a very dim sense of humour over there on driving while drinking... Take the taxi or underground.

If you run out of fuel on the highway, you can lose points off of your license. Its not showing responsibility so they go after you. If you gesture at someone the other person can go to the police station and file a claim against you. You then get to prove that you did not do this (produce a witness) otherwise you are fined, period.

If you pass on the right side you get a ticket. Sitting in the left lane without passing, also a ticket. In the old days everyone turned their left blinker on to "nudge" some slow idiot in the left lane to move over, its now illegal.

If there is no speed limit and you are driving over 130 klicks (85 or so) and have an accident, even if its clearly not your fault, you are assessed part of the points, fined and get to pay part of the other cars damage. They reason that if you were driving slower you might have been able to avoid the accident.

It goes on and on like this, a totally different world... but still enjoyable most of the time. That is until you pay $5.50 a gallon of gas and high insurance rates. Oh yea, I thought that LA had traffic jams until I came to Germany. Two to three day traffic backup's on the autobahn during vacation times. Simply unbelieveable...

Joe A

Hmmm...not really seeing any problems with this...

Sounds like driving is more of a privledge there as opposed to viewing it as a "right" in the US...
It would definetly put a damper on the "driving while asian" problem.

BGCarrera32 · 12-03-2005, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tcar
...and what's that problem. Never heard of it.

Well my apologies...I realize that came off a tad racist which was not the intention. In MN we have a high population of Hmong and southeast asian in the Twin Cities and they come from a culture which basically has no concept of organized motor vehicle traffic...and my point is that the requirements for passing a drivers test here and the joke of a permit test essentially allows people with no concept of vehicle control to drive a 3000 lb. weapon. The running joke is "DWA" when you see them doing something stupid. In actuality there are just as many other idiots behind the wheel that have no awareness of their surroundings or any concept of traffic flow.

masraum · 12-03-2005, 07:19 PM

Yeah, what's "driving while asian"?

I agree, it should be more like Germany.

yellowline · 12-03-2005, 07:50 PM

The only thing about the Autobahn...Germany is a much smaller country. They don't have vast amounts of land between two congested coasts. That's how they can swing building such nice roads and we were forced to compromise on quality. Of course, if we wanted a 60% tax rate, I'm sure it could be done.

Rick V · 12-04-2005, 04:15 AM

I would like to see our local police start enforcing some of those laws here. In Va it is against the law to cruise in the left lane. We also have what they call aggressive driving laws. You are not allowed to flash your lights to get someone to move over. My local law only inforces the latter. It just burns me up when I can't give a quick flash to try and get "blue hair" out of the left lane.
I personally don't pay much attention to speed limits when there is little or no traffic and I hate not being able to let the car run cause some clown is speed matching the car on the right. A little German police action would be a good thing. Driving is a privelage NOT a right.