In the eyes of most keen car enthusiasts and wanabe "pro-drivers, Germany is famed for 2 things; its highly evocative automotive brands from Munich and Stuttgart, and the other being the speed-limit free autobahn. Never mind the fact that in reality, only slightly more than half of the autobahn is actually free from any form of speed-limits.
For many, the existence of a speed-limit free is the main reason why Germany builds such "solid" cars capable of maintaining their composure while the equivalent Japanese model would start to feel floaty. Put it this way, the average German commutes to work at 150km/h, which is the average speed of cars driving on the autobahn. The Japanese on the other hand commute to work in crammed subway trains or inching their way through the traffic gridlock of Tokyo averaging 15km/h. As such, the driving culture of an average German is grossly different from that of an average Japanese and subsequently their respective demands for their cars are different as well. Thus, even a humble Volkswagen Polo or Golf will have to be far better built to handle the high speeds than an equivalent Toyota or Honda designed for the tight roads of Shibuya district.
But the autobahn isn't just an important symbol for driving enthusiasts, in the highly regulated Germany, the speed-limit free stretches are seen by the liberals are one of the last bastions of freedom unmolested by nanny regulations of the government.
In fact, the former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroder once called Germany an "Autofahrernation," which means a nation of drivers.
On April 11th 2008, the German state of Bremen has decided to impose a blanket speed-limit of 130km/h on all stretches of autobahn within its jurisdiction. It is the first blanket speed-limit for the German autobahn, and in the current climate change and carbon sensitive era, many are sure that this is only the beginning of many more blanket speed-limits.
Even the Germans themselves are deeply divided over this issue as typical citizens of Europe, sensitivities to effects of climate change and the environment are very strong.
"This is a good day for traffic safety and we are also sending a signal about protecting the environment and climate," said Reinhard Loske, Bremen's environment minister. The logic is that a lower speed limit will force drivers to drive slowly and thereby reduce their vehicle’s fuel consumption. The approval of this new legislature by the Bremen state government is the culmination of over 20 years of debate between German Green Party and Social Democrats on one camp, and the Christian Democrat Party and the car lobby groups (Porsche, BMW, VW, Audi, Mercedes, ADAC, etc.) in the opposite camp. The car lobby group argued that imposing speed-limit on Germany’s highways will affect the “high-speed stability” image that German cars are so famous for.
Greenpeace activist in a protest.
But in this age of CO2 emission capping and USD 110 plus per barrel crude oil prices, I doubt high-speed stability image of going to be major selling point for many more years to come. Yes it is a sad truth, but this is the worry that I have for German car companies – a typical trap for successful companies is that despite the obvious shift in business climate, successful companies find it very hard to drop the formula that has made them so successful in the first place. Does anyone remember the case of Nintendo’s 64-bit cartridge drives? IBM of old? Microsoft vs Google? Apple in the 90s?
German drivers are particularly alert and generally regarded to have higher lane discipline. With cars sometimes travelling in excess of 200km/h, not paying attention to the road or switching lanes without signalling or checking your mirrors is potentially fatal!
In either case of environmental debate, the driving practices in Germany’s autobahn’s ought to be emulated by many other countries. Particularly in my own home country, where the use of turn signals is an exception rather than the norm, cue-cutting is the way to get ahead, tail-gating is rampant and lane discipline is horrendous.
Some interesting notes and general driving practices on the German autobahn :
1. The autobahn is toll-free for cars as the building and maintenance are funded by high taxes on fuel and vehicle. Though heavy trucks are required to pay toll.
2. A stretch of the autobahn is only speed-limit free after passing a de-restriction sign like this. Even so, the recommended speed is 130km/h. Should you be unfortunate enough to be involved in a accident at higher speeds, you could be held partially responsible irrespective of the other party’s fault.
3. Speed limits might vary according to time of the day, and weather conditions. Thus electronic road signs are placed along certain stretches to adjust the speed-limit. Speed-limits are lowered during night time and bad weather conditions. (This makes so much more sense isn’t it?)
4. Despite without having a speed-limit, German autobahns have far lower accident rates than many other countries in the world. It is a frequently used fact to disprove the relation between speed-accident but rather the blame should be on inadequate driver training and discipline.
5. In a traffic jam, the last car in the queue is supposed to switch on its emergency hazard lights to warn fast coming drivers from behind (This could certainly avoid many rear-end collisions in my country!).
6. In case of a traffic jam on stretches of roads without an emergency lane, drivers must form an emergency lane to guarantee that emergency services vehicles like ambulance and fire engines can reach the scene of a possible accident.
7. The German autobahn network is patrolled by marked and unmarked police cars and motorcycles equipped with video cameras to capture traffic offenders.
8. Road-hogging is an offence that may be considered coercion by the traffic police.
9. It is legal for faster cars behind, traveling on the fast lane to briefly honk and flash their headlights to signal their intention to overtake. Repeated flashes and honks and tail-gating is punishable by law though.
10. It is illegal for cars to drive on the fast lane if the other lanes are clear.
How does a government and society foster good driving habits is a subject I often find myself wondering. Besides having a very stringent driver training curriculum, I think it is also probably because they benefitted from almost a century of driving experience, where as in most rapidly developing countries including China, India - most of the drivers are first generation drivers, meaning that neither their fathers or mothers had a driving license. But then again this doesn't explain the horrendous driver discipline in the USA or even France for that matter. Could it be the driving environment? American Interstate highways and city roads are planned on a grid system, thus driving and navigating around is relatively easy. Sparsely populated countries like Finland or Sweden have managed to produce a relatively large number of racing drivers partly I think because in a country that snows most of the time, even a short trip to the shops require considerable amount of driving skills. Any thoughts?
With cars like these in their disposal you do not want to be hunt down by the Polizei in a European version of "Greatest Police Chases"…Ok the TechArt tuned 997 is not in active duty, but they do send pretty competent cars on their patrol rounds.
With de-restricted stretches Autobahn gradually reducing, I think the Isle of Man is the last remaining stretch of road without speed-limits. Australia's Northern Territory roads have been imposed a speed-limit of 130km/h as of 2007.
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