Highway Driving

[JR]

I was taught to keep to the right. Then, while I was still young, I spent a lot of time on German roads. Boy howdy, when they say keep to the right, they really mean it.

I can remember tooling along in a VW 1300 cc at ~2am on the road between Stuttgart and Munich. These happen to be the two cities which have Porsche and BMW headquartered there. I pulled out to pass a truck. It was doing 80Kph, as required by law, I was doing about 100 Kph. A car behind me flashed its lights, a common experience in that country and used as a courtesy in this an many other circumstances. It was so far back I presumed it was flashing someone else back down the road. Moments later a bank of six lights lit me up like high noon. That car was doing something near 300 Kph, and I was definitely a pimple on the a$$ of progress. I got out of the way, he passed, signalled, and moved right. Moral: nobody belongs in the fast lane. Go there, do your business, and get out.

Germans have a very sophisticated road-going society. Signals mean something and there are a lot of them. But no honking when in town. Hand gestures of any kind are against the law. Things have changed of the years as the number of cars has increased, but it's still a great place to drive.

I used to find it very frustrating that so many Americans don't follow the "rules of the road" as I learned them. Eventually I just got over it and decided to do the right thing and not be offended by those who are clearly destined for he77.

JR

[JimD]

I believe a high percentage of the"hessitator" and "the racer" are what I call foot drivers. They aren't using cruise control. So when you come up on them they accelerate. When they are moving in parallel with the car next to them, they tend to stay there. I've caught myself doing the same thing in the rare case when I am not using cruise.

I drove 10 hours last week at an average of about 70 mph. The absolute worst was the trucks, often doing well under the speed limit, jumping into the left lane and then staying there for miles as they tried to creep by the truck in the right lane. I think the quality or politeness of truck drivers is a lot less than it used to be. My son is working on his CDL and student driving so I hear the other side too. But I still think they need to stay out of the left lane unless then can execute a pass within less than a mile. My biggest risk of a ticket is when I come up on a situation like this in the making. I want to get around those trucks NOW before I am stuck behind them for the next 5 miles or more.

Jim