I got back from visiting the issuer of my other passport, Germany and I have to comment on the vast differences between driving styles, or lack thereof, of Germany and the U.S.

The obvious one is difference with the interstates/autobahns. In Germany, probably because of the no speed limit thing, there is something called lane discipline which apparently has no place on our highways here. I hate the fact the almost everyone ignores the "slower traffic to the right" signs. You are cruising along and pull out to pass and there is some idiot in the far left lane just poking along. Of course you swing back over and go around original car on the other side thus contributing to the whole chaos of driving over here. Now I have pulled out and flashed my lights like they do accross the pond but that just seems to inflame the situation. It is quite frustrating really.

Of course such behavior isn't only limited to highway. I really can't stand this whole "turn signal? I have aturn signal in my car? What does that do?"
Grrrrrrrrr
-xom

 

Dude no isht.

I have never been driven in a place where they know how to drive since I was last in Europe.

I feel I should be authorized to shoot ppl who can't drive....they should deputize me for the new "Traffic Execution" position....

If you want all the azzholes off our public roads & freeways, all you have to do is charge over $1k for drivers' license fees, and institute the same difficult paper & in-car driving tests which they have in Europe.

The next day, the roads would almost be empty!!!

 

In Japan, they drive like isht, and they have to pay $3500-$4000 to aquire a license. The only thing that they do good there (And I do to) is FLY down some narrow *** passages! Like 1 inch of clearance at the mirrors at 30MPH.

I hate drivers in America. They don't know how to use their damn turn signals. How difficult is that. To signal a lane change? Bay Area drivers are the worst in the world. And they hog the fast lane too.

 

It makes me want a personal OBDIII transmitter!

 

somehow i don't think that would solve it. people in this country don't realize that dirving a car on a public road is a *privelege* not a right. if you started charging $1k for license fees, people would just drive without a license. there are so many uninsured motorists, and drivers without licenses out there that it's not even funny.
i think that the in car portion of the driving test ought to be a hell of a lot harder. drivers should have to (on a closed course) demonstrate threshold braking, slide control and evasive driving techniques (emergency lane changes etc.). at the very least, there should be a wet section where the prospective driver has to demonstate that they can control their car in the rain. anyone who can't smoothly merge with traffic should be instantly failed, there are few things i hate more than being behind some moron who thinks he/she can merge onto 101/280/85/17 at anything under the current speed of traffic.
while i'm re-writing the motor vehicle code here, i have a couple other additions. talking on your cell phone while driving should result in a severe beating on the first offense, and your car and phone being fed to the crusher on the second offense. extemely stupid manuvers such as backing up on a freeway on ramp, u-turns through the median of an expressway, and such should result in the driver's car being put up for auction. driving at anything less than the speed limit in the left lane should result in a ticket just as expensive as a speeding ticket, with the only exceptions being traffic density and weather conditions.

 

European in-car driving tests have heavy instruction and testing in car control, under many different conditions, with very strict requirements.

If the country becomes populated with uninsured motorists, then call it "Logan's Run II", and let us have at them!

 

the problem here is forcing people to go through the instruction and training to obtain a license. this country, and California in particular views driving a car as nothing less than a constitutional right, which it isn't!

at the mountain view DMV, a very good friend of mine witnessed an exchange between a DMV employee and a man who had recently bought a car. the man told the DMV employee, "i've bought a car, you need to give me a license." when she told him he needed to take a driving test, he responeded that he would, under no circumstances take a test, and reiterated his initial statement. this went on for several minutes, after which the man left. now, how do you think he got there? he drove, of course, in his new car. ten bucks says that he is still driving without a license. how do you change the attitude of society so that they expect to be taught and tested on the skills needed to drive a car?

 

Yes American drivers suck, plain and simple. Nobody can grasp the concept of the left lane being the fast lane. I am constabtly forced to pass in the middle lane, which is of course, illegal. You cannot get a ticket for blocking the fast lane here in america, but in england you can get a ticket for blocking the fast lane, and for blocking the middle lane. Therefore slow drivers actually stay in the slow lane!!

And no, nobody uses their turn signal over here, I never figured that one out???

It needs to be about 10X harder to get a liscnese over here, which would be a start.

all those bastards in the fast lane

 

you have to start at the beginning.

driver's ed.

and yes, when i was getting my driver's license many moons ago, i took the classroom training. sure enough, we had some, and this was high school, driving without licenses.

i guess it's the morality of this country. but i dont wanna hijack this thread...

 

how typically british and understated. arround here, i use a technique that's pretty popular on the German Autobahn. you pull up right behind the offending slow car, so that they get a good look at what's behind them, and then you proceed to flash your high beams until they get the hell out of the way. oh, and before i get flamed, you only pull up as close as is safe, and have to look well ahead to anticipate traffic changes. amazingly, some people don't get it.

in the past, i've drive cars that were very slow, such as my first car, a 1978 Volvo 244DL (RWD, 2.0 liter motor with maybe 80hp when new, half that when i got it). you never, ever saw me in the left lane, or even the middle lane. i stayed where i belonged on the freeway. so yeah, i know what it's like to be the slow guy, but anyone driving slow in the left lane brings it on themselves, so i have no patience or sympathy for them.

 

one time... driving home in my "suv" on I-5. on the fast lane coming up fast on this slower car in that lane.

i was about .5 second away from flashing the high beams, when the second my headlights touched the rear trunk of the car, i could make out "HIGHWAY PATROL" on the back of the mustang. he used the median to get back the other way (which is legal for them), so that's why he was slow...

d'oh!

 

There are speed limits on the Autobahn, in fact, the only areas where there are no speed limits is in rural areas. In fact, the German government is starting to put more and more speed limits on the Autobahn, to the dismay of many of its citizens.

While I agree that most of the people in the US don't understand what the fast lane is for, the drivers here who are clueful know how to drive--and move over. It isn't a question of skill, it is a question of ego and attitude.

And not all of Europe is like Germany. France and UK, they got an assload of really bad drivers. Way, way worst than what we have here.

 

that's very true. people think that the rules of common courtesy, and the rules of the road apply to everyone but them. the other part is simply that they don't pay attention. they're talking on their cell, doing their makeup, reading their mail or jerking off (i've personally seen people doing every single one of these, and more whie driving) so that they don't notice they've let off the gas and are doing 45 in the left lane, or that there is a car coming up quickly behind them. the attitude arround here that it's okay to do other things while driving is garbage.

 

The Green Party ***** want speed limits for environmental reasons.

I drove in and around Paris in '99 and found it to be hectic but quite suiting my style. I particularly liked the roundabouts, so that you never had a stop sign at a 4-way intersection. If you were heading straight, you merely tossed the car through the roundabout.

I never had to worry about people interfering on the freeway, and the most annoying thing was all those long, flat speedbumps they have in the residential areas.