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You can smell it in the air, can’t you? It’s the scent of the open road beckoning a Porsche. I can sense it even here in Germany. Unfortunately, I don’t have my Porsche with me -- or any other car, for that matter. However, I’d like to give my driving impressions of Germany anyway.
When one thinks of driving in Germany, one usually thinks of the autobahn. The German autobahn is very similar to the United States’ Interstate system, with a couple of exceptions. The autobahn is much smoother, and it has almost no paved shoulder, making it seem narrower. Oh, yeah -- the speed limit, when there is one, is a little higher.
While it’s true that the speed limit in the autobahn is generally unlimited, there are stretches that have speed limits anywhere from 80 km/h (50 mph) to 130 km/h (81 mph) based on road conditions. For example, there are usually speed limits when going through a city, through a twisty portion of the autobahn (go figure!), or driving at night. There are areas which are monitored by photoradar. The locals usually know where these are and slow down. The rest get a ticket through the mail with a 5" x 7" glossy.
Here’s the best part about the autobahn, even better than the (lack of) speedlimits: if you’re driving really fast on the left lane and come up to another car, they will move out of your way. As in vacate their lane to let you by. As in deferring to your higher rate of speed. Personally, I think this is fantastic!
Now, there are some drivers that may not move right away, but most cars do try their best to get out of the way of the 7 Series BMW that quickly filled their rearview mirror. This means that if you go fast enough, you can stay in the left lane and go relatively un-impeded down the autobahn. It seems, however, that no matter how fast you’re going, someone will eventually come along going even faster.
At the same time, DO NOT PASS ON THE RIGHT. This is a very structured society. People don’t cross against the light, they don’t go in through the out door, and they don’t pass on the right on the autobahn (actually, I think it’s the law).
While this may seem like driving nirvana, there are a few things that you have to watch while on the autobahn. Here, as in the United States, trucks roam the autobahn like lumbering buffaloes. Coming to a herd of trucks doing 100 km/h (62 mph) when you’re doing over 160 km/h (100 mph) is a tricky proposition. A truck could decide to pull out at any time and pass one of its own at 101 km/h, which triggers a flood of praise to the Porsche engineer who decided that nothing but REALLY BIG BRAKES will do on your car.
Trucks aren’t the only problem. There are still people who don’t pay attention to their mirrors regularly, change lanes erratically, and so on. Fortunately, there seems to be fewer of those here than in the U.S., as the consequences here of a mistake can be very tragic. The cars I’ve seen on television here after an autobahn accident are unrecognizeable. It’s for good reasons that people take driving here a lot more seriously than in the U.S.
The autobahns around were I am (Regensburg) are generally traffic free, so fast bahn storming is possible. Around some larger cities, such as Frankfurt, Munich, or Cologne, however, there’s usually too much traffic to travel unimpeded for any great length. When an accident happens on the autobahn, the traffic backups can be anywhere from 2 km (1.25 mi) to 25 km (15.5 mi) long, with the traffic completely stopped. In some of the longer backups, people usually get out of their cars and wander around. These backups can last for hours.
During a holiday, the traffic backups can be almost as large. This is just like any holiday in the U.S., especially in the summer. It’s not much different than I-75.
So which do I prefer -- the U.S. Interstates or the German autobahns? I think they both have their advantages. For now, I’ll give the nod to the German autobahns because of what I call the “I don’t want to be late” factor (and the lack of rim-bending potholes). It’s enough to make me miss my car. A lot.
| << March 1998<< | >> May 1998>> |
(The BahnStormer is the official newsletter of the Rally Sport Region (Detroit area) of the Porsche Club of America. You can contact the editor at .)
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