A couple of complaints and wishes for driving on highways in the US. It's a pet peeve of mine (and I'm sure others) that the passing lane on a highway two lanes and higher is invariably clogged with putzes who don't understand the "hammer lane" concept. The far left lane or "passing lane" is, no matter what name you give it, FOR PASSING the slower paced cars on the right! When you have people driving the same speed in all lanes, clogging and bottle necking them up, no one can pass.
The Germans do it right, I think. Here's how the LAWful way works there. First off, the autobahn is mostly two lane highway (in Southern Germany anyway). In the US most highways are much larger with up to four or more (clogged) lanes. Germans make the autobahn work with mostly two measly lanes. Here are a few simple autobahn rules: If you are in the passing lane, YOU MUST BE ACTUALLY PASSING or overtaking other vehicles. There is no speed limit on most parts of the open (not near large cities) autobahn. Rush hour, has required Germans to impose police camera controlled speed zones at rush hour near large cities like Munich. If you are in the left (hammer, passing) lane doing 120 mph and someone is coming up on your tail. You MUST let him pass, it's the law. I love it. It works beautifully. You pull into the passing lane and approach a slower moving car and, guess what, they get out of your way and let you pass! What a concept! No games, dangerous lane zig zagging, flipping the bird, ect. To experience it is nirvana. Returning to US rules is a bummer. Italy and Portugal are similiar but I'm not sure of the legalities in those countries. If you want to learn about the spyche of those countries and prepare before you visit and drive there. Take your car to NYC and drive around Manhattan for a week. You'll get the idea. Aggressive comes to mind.
OK, second peeve. I've spent much time driving in Massachusetts. I would occasionally find a rotary to negotiate a multi direction junction. You may find a rotary or two in your state at really crazy confluences of major and/or minor roads. The British love rotaries. They call them roundabouts (traffic circles). It's a bit weird for a US driver to get used to them while driving in the left hand lane. In Italy and Spain they drive in the right hand lane, the way we do, and use rotaries everywhere. Traffic circles really shine on secondary roads. Imagine driving into a intersection that has no traffic and not have to stop. Imagine the same intersection with more traffic, and all the drivers may stop IF REQUIRED, or may just simply have to just slow down and yield to the other traffic. Everything keeps moving, it's smooth, things may bog down if busy, but the DRIVERS dictate the stops and movements. Not a stop sign or red light that requires moving lanes to stop when the other lanes are clear. Traffic circles are the utlimate no brainer. US local and state goverments love to put up stop signs and traffic lights.
As a musician, I've spent countless late nights on the highways and byways. The minutes ticking away like hours as I sit at endless array's of traffic lights stopped. Not a soul on the road. Deserted streets, alone burning fuel, trying to stay awake. Boring. Oh, imagine that, my fifteenth stop sign to stop for no one as I snake my way home through neighborhoods with stop signs every other deserted block.
Here is another testimonial to diesel and autobahn I found today
The Germans do it right, I think. Here's how the LAWful way works there. First off, the autobahn is mostly two lane highway (in Southern Germany anyway). In the US most highways are much larger with up to four or more (clogged) lanes. Germans make the autobahn work with mostly two measly lanes. Here are a few simple autobahn rules: If you are in the passing lane, YOU MUST BE ACTUALLY PASSING or overtaking other vehicles. There is no speed limit on most parts of the open (not near large cities) autobahn. Rush hour, has required Germans to impose police camera controlled speed zones at rush hour near large cities like Munich. If you are in the left (hammer, passing) lane doing 120 mph and someone is coming up on your tail. You MUST let him pass, it's the law. I love it. It works beautifully. You pull into the passing lane and approach a slower moving car and, guess what, they get out of your way and let you pass! What a concept! No games, dangerous lane zig zagging, flipping the bird, ect. To experience it is nirvana. Returning to US rules is a bummer. Italy and Portugal are similiar but I'm not sure of the legalities in those countries. If you want to learn about the spyche of those countries and prepare before you visit and drive there. Take your car to NYC and drive around Manhattan for a week. You'll get the idea. Aggressive comes to mind.
OK, second peeve. I've spent much time driving in Massachusetts. I would occasionally find a rotary to negotiate a multi direction junction. You may find a rotary or two in your state at really crazy confluences of major and/or minor roads. The British love rotaries. They call them roundabouts (traffic circles). It's a bit weird for a US driver to get used to them while driving in the left hand lane. In Italy and Spain they drive in the right hand lane, the way we do, and use rotaries everywhere. Traffic circles really shine on secondary roads. Imagine driving into a intersection that has no traffic and not have to stop. Imagine the same intersection with more traffic, and all the drivers may stop IF REQUIRED, or may just simply have to just slow down and yield to the other traffic. Everything keeps moving, it's smooth, things may bog down if busy, but the DRIVERS dictate the stops and movements. Not a stop sign or red light that requires moving lanes to stop when the other lanes are clear. Traffic circles are the utlimate no brainer. US local and state goverments love to put up stop signs and traffic lights.
As a musician, I've spent countless late nights on the highways and byways. The minutes ticking away like hours as I sit at endless array's of traffic lights stopped. Not a soul on the road. Deserted streets, alone burning fuel, trying to stay awake. Boring. Oh, imagine that, my fifteenth stop sign to stop for no one as I snake my way home through neighborhoods with stop signs every other deserted block.
Here is another testimonial to diesel and autobahn I found today
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