Shame I never got over there to drive it *NM*

[www.egmcartech.com]

Looks like this is driven by the Green party's control over the legislature and the stated goal is to reduce CO2 emissions. Made me wonder if this was why Porsche has expended so much energy in Hybrid/electric vehicles.

Can't imagine them driving 74mph on the highways were they once had no limits.

it's only a matter of time before speed limits are imposed throughout germany. already about one-third of the autobahn have 100 KPH speed limits and the other two-thirds have so much traffic that you can't do much faster than that anyway. it's just a fact of modern society. it's over.

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

The local Porsche club had open track day at Hochenheim last weekend. I missed it, but hope to get in on the next one.

hockenheim has open days all the time. you drive up, buy the ticket, drive for 10 min (IIRC) and then get off. wait in line and do it again.

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

One of my great driving memories is going from Saarbrucken to the outskirts of Manheim in my old 1979 911SC, in light traffic on a Saturday morning, on the A6 (I think). I averaged 125 MPH for the entire run, and was passed by only one car: two blond girls driving another Porsche, a cabriolet with the top down, hair flying in the wind. We were on our way to the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Those were the days!

Over here, the drivers are aggressive and fast (I get passed by motor homes!) But EVERYONE follows the rules. It is predictable. There are so many 'me first' attitudes in the states that higher speed limits invite idiots to be idiots.

yes it's pretty clear that Americans are inferior to drivers elsewhere

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old timer
yes it's pretty clear that Americans are inferior to drivers elsewhere

Not sure that American (and I include Canadian) drivers (in general) are inferior to all other countries, but they sure don't follow the rules of the road the way they do in Germany, basing on our experience of driving in Germany 11 years ago.

Even the day I rented a 996 and had it up to speed (150 mph) on the Autobahn, even my wife commented that she felt safer driving on the Autobahn and German roads than she did back home. You don't get left lane hogs, drivers use their mirrors to check for traffic rather than applying makeup, they follow the speed limit signs when imposed on the Autobahn. Passing on the right is strictly verboten. They just seem to take more pride in their driving.

Part of that might be the fact that to get a driving permit, you have to go through about a year of driver training at a cost of roughly $3000 (at least that was the case 11 years ago.) to get a licence in Germany.

I guess it depends on where you are. I recall in Naples traffic lights were considered "advisory". I have found bad drivers everywhere.

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Lawdevil
I guess it depends on where you are. I recall in Naples traffic lights were considered "advisory". I have found bad drivers everywhere.

I think IFlyLow is refering to drivers in Germany. Italy, as I've been told, is a whole other story. I recall my sister felt Italian drivers were really bad. Her car was even rearended by a garbage truck while driving in Rome.

Guenter
2014 Boxster S
GT Silver, 6 Speed Manual, Bi-Xenons, Sports Suspension (lowers car 20mm), Porsche Sports Exhaust, Porsche Torque Vectoring, Auto Climate control, heated and vented seats, 20" Carrera S Wheels, Pedro's TechNoWind, Sport Design steering wheel, Roll bars in GT Silver
[www.cyberdesignconcepts.com]

It also depends where you are in Italy, and sometimes driving practices change from the city to the autostrada. I lived in Milan for four years, and I remember the drivers on the A4 (East and West from Milan) were quite disciplined. In the middle of town, however, it was a different story. They parked (and double and triple parked) everywhere, darted in and out of traffic lanes, and generally it was a bit of a mess. Once on the highway, despite very heavy traffic sometimes, it was a lot better.

Years ago in Rome I fell in with a group of people from rural and small town USA. (I'm a Noo Yawka.) When we went to visit the Colosseum, they were bewildered by the traffic madly circling around. I gathered them up, stepped into the fray, and with confidence and deliberation strode across. The cars moved this way and that, but like the Red Sea parting, we reached the other side unscathed. I'm sympathetic to non-urban tourists having the double whammy of being in bustling foreign cities. In England it took a while to get conditioned to expect vehicles to turn into the "wrong" lane. In Zurich, just having one foot off a curb would have cars stopping. In Munich I was impressed by the traffic lights going from red to yellow, and then green.

When I was Hanoi, I recall the guide giving us instructions on how to cross the street amidst a sea of scooters, motorcycles and a few cars. The trick was to walk a very constant speed and the traffic would weave around you - never speed up or slow down.. If you stopped, you were bound to get hit.
mike

other drivers in vehicles behind ours were honking. You're supposed to be moving on the yellow.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I had assumed the German traffic regulations were based on the drivers having respect for them and that the yellow indicated, "Achtung! The signal will be turning green momentarily." Perhaps Zurichers are more like Brooklynites when it comes to traffic signals.

On many autobahn routes the entire right lane is taken over by a train of trucks from all over Europe. That leaves only one lane for cars. You are lucky to go 60 mph.

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Clarkaddison
On many autobahn routes the entire right lane is taken over by a train of trucks from all over Europe. That leaves only one lane for cars. You are lucky to go 60 mph.

Yes. The trucks are limited to either 90 or 100 kph (63 mph) and are not allowed to use the other lanes. (At least that's the way it was 11 years ago.) I think it makes it so much safer.

Here in North America, trucks tend to drive in the middle lane of a 6 lane highway. That way, when they get into an accident, they can take out all 3 lanes instead of just one or two going in the same direction.

Guenter
2014 Boxster S
GT Silver, 6 Speed Manual, Bi-Xenons, Sports Suspension (lowers car 20mm), Porsche Sports Exhaust, Porsche Torque Vectoring, Auto Climate control, heated and vented seats, 20" Carrera S Wheels, Pedro's TechNoWind, Sport Design steering wheel, Roll bars in GT Silver
[www.cyberdesignconcepts.com]

Up untill around 7-8 years ago (if I remember correctly), the Northern Territory of Australia did not have any speed limit - unlike everywhere else in Oz.
But the carnage of cars, motorcycles and trucks hitting the local wildlife (water buffalo, cattle and kangaroos) made the government change the limit to 130 kmh (80 mph).
The roads out there in the outback are really desolate, so if you hit anything, you could be on your own, laying at the side of the road (so to speak) for many hours.....

there in a 997. In some areas the speed was derestricted. In one case IIRC the driver almost had the engine floored for 30 miles with no turns or bends in the road.

But there are big dangers, as you touched upon. 'roos, and water buffalo and cattle. Heck even the frickin' lizards are huge. To keep on schedule the two people drove at night some and avoided hitting anything -- though more than once they were warned about driving fast at night. Not a close call but not too far out of one town tjhey did encounter a water buffalo in the middle of the road. They were going very slow and stopped in plenty of time.

Water was another problem. Big rains put some areas of the road underwater.

The other danger is the large road trains, trucks. In one case they came up a large truck that had left the road -- driver dozed off -- and was off the road some distance, still upright and relatively undamaged, but it would require some work to get the truck and its trailers back on the road.

One pic showed the 911 and its radiator openings nearly blocked with the remains of all the locust/grasshoppers the car hit on one particularly buggy high speed section. Yuck.

Sincerely,

MarcW.