<p>I got curious about just how fast those cars in the fast lane were going in Germany adn found this from Wikipedia:
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<p>A study was done by a German newspaper (I want to say it was the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) a couple of years ago after a mother with her 2 children were run off the road by a speed freak and killed. Purportedly, the worst autobahn driving was around Stuttgart, and the Stuttgart - Munich run was particularly notorious. Reasons cited include the presence of the BMW and Mercedes plants, test-driving centers, and a weak-willed Bavarian govt. when it came to industrial lobbying by the big car manufacturers. Drivers that buy the big Mercedes and BMWs want to be able to drive them to their logical conclusion! </p>
<p>Driver education in Germany is very serious and not taken for granted – extremely expensive to learn to drive. Cars are meticulously maintained in order to pass the TUV (inspection). Result is – there are very few ‘fender bender’-type accidents on the 'bahn, but the accident fatality rate is very high due to the speed.</p>
<p>Just an interesting cultural note, I guess.</p>
<p>One of my favorite newspaper columns was written by Don Garlitts, who was a top drag racer, racing the top fuel dragsters that reached speeds of 270+ mph in 1/4 mile. He received a letter complaining that a reader’s car would only reach 105 mph, and not the rated top speed of 120 claimed by the specifications. </p>
<p>After expalining that there probably was an electronic governor to limit the top speed, Garlitts added a personal note… that that whenever he drove over 70 mph in his sedan, he felt very uneasy, and was keenly aware of the inadequacy of his shoulder belt restraints and the roll protection in comparison to what he had in his dragster.</p>
<p>What do you mean by drivers who buy big Mercedes and BMWs need to drive logically? Are they really fast?</p>
<p>Uhhhh… yes? Have you ever seen a Mercedes or (more applicable) a BMW driven well/fast?</p>
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<p>Actually, only certain parts of the autobahn have no speed limits. A lot of it is speed regulated now, but they use a smart system where they can change the speed limits to suit different traffic conditions. </p>
<p>Also, as someone else pointed out already, driving education is 10^5 X better than ours. Can’t even get a license until 18, and no crappy vehicles are allowed on the road. You’ll get a ticket for not pulling over for faster traffic, tail-gating, etc. and ticket amounts are based on how much you make, so even if you’re wealthy, it behooves you not to get a ticket.
For these reasons and others, German auto fatality/injury rates are much lower than those in the US</p>
<p>Yep. But God forbid the government infringe on peoples’ rights to drive without (what most of the world considers) proper training - that’d be un-American!</p>
<p>Driving on the autobahn is great. The Germans usually have such good lane discipline and follow the laws so well that it can be reasonably safe for them to drive the high speeds on the autobahn. They actually stay out of the left lane unless they’re going to pass. If they see a speed limit sign (the autobahns have them around towns or in curvy or more dangerous places) they react and pull down the speeds to the limits. Of course, the German polizei enforce the laws as well. I still remember seeing some of their Porsche polizei cars.</p>
<p>Back to the subject at hand: I learned to drive in Philadelphia, and my parents were worried about the Schuykil Expressway (76) even then. With good reason. However, one night as I came home on the “approved” back road, two drunk young men tried to force me off the road (screaming rather lewd suggestions). No one in sight. (Fortunately, they were drunk enough that I managed to get ahead of them and then drove 65 mph on a winding dark back road, until I got to the entrance ramp to 76 and drove on it for the first time.)</p>
<p>Which all explains why one of the first things my husband and I did after our kids were licensed was to send them to a real driving school. (<a href=“http://www.prodrive.net/[/url]”>Pro Drive Driving School – Portland International Raceway) At the real driving school, they learned first how to drive a skid car–like driving on wet ice–and then how to drive their own cars on a track, at speeds in excess of 100 mph. They were taught emergency braking, obstacle avoidance, and what to do to avoid an accident. I’ve seen the results. It does make a difference. My daughter managed to avoid a major accident by inches. (In the end, there were five cars involved–and she was the one who slipped through a tiny gap unscathed.)</p>
<p>I hired a driving instructorfor my two, but if I had it to do over again, I’d send them to a driving school. Great idea, dmd.</p>
<p>If you’re in Massachusetts, I recommend InControl Advanced Driver Training. They do the hands-on high-speed maneuvering on the runways at the former Weymouth Naval Air Station. Expensive, but worth it.
<a href=“http://www.incontroladt.com%5B/url%5D”>www.incontroladt.com</a></p>