RE: PH Blog: What makes the autobahn brilliant
Discussion
M666 EVO said:
in the fast lane
M666 EVO said:
but when you have an XJR up your trumpet at up to 120 mph, do the sensible thing and shift over...
...would it be the same if it was anything other than an XJR tailgating?M666 EVO said:
I obviously wasn't going to undertake him
...heaven forbid, when you could do a bit of good old tail-gating "at up to 120 mph" instead. Now I don't know about anybody else, but I'm not entirely sympathetic.
Reminds me of this when I think too long and hard about the German roads.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0ocPWZdnFM
Sad story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0ocPWZdnFM
Sad story.
benim83n said:
Maybe i just an exuberant yoof trying to max-out his Saxo, but no speed limits does sound very appealing!
It does sound very appealing, but the point is the the Germans have always had parts of the road network that are de-restricted. In the UK that went south barely a few years into the existence of the M1.As a consequence, the vast majority of drivers have no idea about how a car will handle above 90 mph, nor how much you have to adjust your focus on the road at those sorts of speeds and above.
Therefore, the chap squeezing 120mph out of his Saxo VTS might actually be perfectly capable of driving at such speed, but the 65mph dawdler in the Xsara Picasso won't be expecting them, or used to looking out for them...
LewisR said:
German said:
Disastrous said:
Baryonyx said:
So much of UK motorway driving is about 'being in the right' and getting your own way.
Not just driving IMO. The UK is becoming unbearable with it's national obsession for busy-bodying. We seem to have an unhealthy concern for whether others are 'obeying the rules' or 'getting away' with something. Queuing mentality magnified, I suppose. We can't bear the thought of someone getting something we feel they don't deserve or that we aren't getting.I asked my German gf about this attitude recently after driving back from Bavaria. I quizzed her about whether someone would try and block someone else from using the full length of a merge-in turn, say, or whether drivers in Germany would care about what speed others were doing. She just replied "Not at all. If someone is speeding, then they are in a hurry so we let them past. It's the Police's job to catch them, not mine and either they will or they won't. Why should I care?" Most of their lives seem to be like this and it's been something of a rude awakening for someone brought up in the UK where we laugh at 'Ze Germans' for being rules-obsessed and anal.
Much better attitude to life IMO and as a result, they are better-educated, more economically stable and actually happier than most of us seem to be. A shame.
Damn, am missing the place now. :-(
I couldn't help noticing that there were far fewer fatties over there too!
Yeah its still seen as a failure on your part if you are fat here thank god, not as a disability caused by some unforseeable circumstance like it is in the UK now. Its a shame
MC Bodge said:
M666 EVO said:
in the fast lane
M666 EVO said:
but when you have an XJR up your trumpet at up to 120 mph, do the sensible thing and shift over...
...would it be the same if it was anything other than an XJR tailgating?M666 EVO said:
I obviously wasn't going to undertake him
...heaven forbid, when you could do a bit of good old tail-gating "at up to 120 mph" instead. Now I don't know about anybody else, but I'm not entirely sympathetic.
MC Bodge said:
German said:
This. 100% the reason I left, people laugh at the German stereotype and not one has ever been here.
Too true. Germany and Germans are very similar to the UK, despite what people like to think. Of course there are some differences, but there's nothing wrong with that. I really like Germany.The British WW2 propaganda must have been excellently orchestrated for it to have stayed so prominently in the national memory for the past 70 years.
Let's not get carried away, though -By most measures the UK is a very good place to live!
The only problem with us Brits getting to drive on German Autobahns, is that you have to drive through Belgium to get there.
Some of the worst motorways in Europe and definately the worst drivers, I feel every time I drive in Belgium I have survived an ordeal of stupidity, someone about 2 inches from your bumper is not to be recommended.
If they can not bully you out of the way, even though you have no where to go they will then try to undertake, then cut you up with inches to spare, also I am sure most of them have no idea that the stalk behind the steering wheel is an indicator.
Some of the worst motorways in Europe and definately the worst drivers, I feel every time I drive in Belgium I have survived an ordeal of stupidity, someone about 2 inches from your bumper is not to be recommended.
If they can not bully you out of the way, even though you have no where to go they will then try to undertake, then cut you up with inches to spare, also I am sure most of them have no idea that the stalk behind the steering wheel is an indicator.
macdougle said:
PaulMoor said:
Realy not helping the argument with this. The amount of time I get some impatiant t****r hammering up behind trying to bully me out of the way because I'm doing 70 going past two lorrys in lane 1 and 2. Why should someone not be aloud in to lane 3 because they stick to the speedlimit? Its not about being sanctimonious, it's about having every legal right to be there. I have no sympathy for people who sit in a lane and don't pull over, but complaining about people wanting to overtake someone doing under the speedlimit? That is what motorways are for.
You're right there... I was doing near 80 the other day in the outside lane overtaking traffic in the other two lanes and some idiot in an Audi comes barrelling up behind me flashing his lights for me to get out the way, and there's not even anywhere for me to go!! It's ridiculous! But in fairness, I think the original poster was referring to people who don't get out the way when they can, i.e after they've finished overtaking or when they're just sat in the middle or outside lane seemingly oblivious of where they SHOULD be. I see that FAR too often!Edited by PaulMoor on Thursday 3rd May 11:25
Disastrous said:
Agreed, and without having been alive myself, I'd hazard a guess that Germany is perhaps a bit more like Britain used to be?
Thats how it feels. You regularly drive past farms ect with a table full of produce, a price list and a tin for your money....where im from near london the tin would go, then the yoof would come back with a van to get some free food and patio furniture :PI must admit Ive found French and German motorway discipline much better than here; but perhaps we would have better discipline and manners if we had the quantity and standard of motorways that Germany has? I wouldn't use the 'Brilliant'to describe any motorway driving experience though; theyre a cost effective quick route to a destination at best; hardly petrol head nirvana !!! I have alsways subscribed to the notion straight roads are only for joining up the curves!!
M666 EVO said:
Well clearly you are a better driver than me so please, what would you have done?
I'm not sure if you were just cruising, repeatedly dropping back and accelerating up to him or trying to out-accelerate each other -It does suggest that both of you were travelling at "up to 120mph" though.Whatever you were doing, travelling closely behind somebody at "up to 120mph" on the motorway doesn't really sound too clever.
Assuming that you had just been cruising along at almost twice the speed limit before trying to intimidate the driver in front (rather than racing), keeping left and approaching and passing in the empty (as you describe it) left hand lane with an empty middle lane between you and the driver who was driving unnecessarily in the right lane sounds rather less hazardous overall.
Maybe that's just me though.
Edited by MC Bodge on Thursday 3rd May 15:38
M666 EVO said:
"And if that makes me sound like the sort of chap who sits two inches from the car in front, then I don't intend it to - it's just ruddy irritating when you want to make progress"
I hear you there. I was tootling to Reading last Saturday on the M4, in the fast lane, stuck behind an RX8 and he would not move over. I don't understand it. At one stage the entire 3 lanes were clear but he would not move to the middle lane at all. I obviously wasn't going to undertake him but when you have an XJR up your trumpet at up to 120 mph, do the sensible thing and shift over... I think he was upset that an old mans car was ready to show him a very clean pair of heels, bless...
120mph on U.K. roads......wow, very clever.....I hope you get the ban you deserve.I hear you there. I was tootling to Reading last Saturday on the M4, in the fast lane, stuck behind an RX8 and he would not move over. I don't understand it. At one stage the entire 3 lanes were clear but he would not move to the middle lane at all. I obviously wasn't going to undertake him but when you have an XJR up your trumpet at up to 120 mph, do the sensible thing and shift over... I think he was upset that an old mans car was ready to show him a very clean pair of heels, bless...
German said:
Its worth a look, the manpower is driving salaries up, and its seen as a serious problem here...they need 80,000 more tomorrow, and even including the people studying they cant see a way of fixing it....the deficit gets bigger every year. Lots of companies are paying for German lessons + moving costs, so at the moment lots of Greek and Spanish blokes are turning up for some reason
Any idea if there's a deficit in the motoring journalism profession??? Suspect learning German on the job might not be possible in my case, sadly!(If I could write articles that repeatedly ask where the station or the youth hostel are, or possibly telling people how old I am, I'm sure I'd be quids in
)MC Bodge said:
M666 EVO said:
Well clearly you are a better driver than me so please, what would you have done?
I'm not sure if you were just cruising, repeatedly dropping back and accelerating up to him or trying to out-accelerate each other -It does suggest that both of you were travelling at "up to 120mph" though.Whatever you were doing, travelling closely behind somebody at "up to 120mph" on the motorway doesn't really sound too clever.
Assuming that you had just been cruising along at almost twice the speed limit before trying to intimidate the driver in front (rather than racing), keeping left and approaching and passing in the empty (as you describe it) left hand lane with an empty middle lane between you and the driver who was driving unnecessarily in the right lane sounds rather less hazardous overall.
Maybe that's just me though.
Edited by MC Bodge on Thursday 3rd May 15:38
Edited by M666 EVO on Thursday 3rd May 16:11
thewheelman said:
M666 EVO said:
"And if that makes me sound like the sort of chap who sits two inches from the car in front, then I don't intend it to - it's just ruddy irritating when you want to make progress"
I hear you there. I was tootling to Reading last Saturday on the M4, in the fast lane, stuck behind an RX8 and he would not move over. I don't understand it. At one stage the entire 3 lanes were clear but he would not move to the middle lane at all. I obviously wasn't going to undertake him but when you have an XJR up your trumpet at up to 120 mph, do the sensible thing and shift over... I think he was upset that an old mans car was ready to show him a very clean pair of heels, bless...
120mph on U.K. roads......wow, very clever.....I hope you get the ban you deserve.I hear you there. I was tootling to Reading last Saturday on the M4, in the fast lane, stuck behind an RX8 and he would not move over. I don't understand it. At one stage the entire 3 lanes were clear but he would not move to the middle lane at all. I obviously wasn't going to undertake him but when you have an XJR up your trumpet at up to 120 mph, do the sensible thing and shift over... I think he was upset that an old mans car was ready to show him a very clean pair of heels, bless...
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