Is Every Speed Limit Too Low?

Re:Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? by arthurdenture on Monday August 04, 2014 @03:17PM (#8133499)

> The USA's per capita automobile death rate is over twice as high as Germany's, in spite of speed limits in general being lower in Germany and there being far more and more generous roads in the USA. [...] Statistically speaking though, you would think that more driving on wider, bigger roads and in less densely populated areas would lead to less accidents and not more.

The relationship between forgiving roads and safety does not necessarily run in the direction you assume. People generally drive at a speed that feels safe, so a road that feels safe will have faster speeds. Faster speeds don't necessarily lead to more crashes, but they definitely lead to a higher rate of serious injuries and fatalities.

Given a difference in fatality rate between two developed countries, I'd definitely look at factors like traffic engineering before jumping to the conclusion that, say, Americans are just worse drivers than Germans.

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Re:Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? by ajmurmann on Monday August 04, 2014 @06:49PM (#8134506)

I agree completely that traffic engineering is much better in Germany and makes a huge difference. Roads are better sign posted, on ramps are very generous. As I mentioned elsewhere in Germany you are also not allowed to overtake on the right on the Autobahn. So there is a huge push for slow drivers to stay on the right and cars are nicely sorted by speed. Therefore you need to relatively rarely change lanes whereas in the US people will constantly change lanes on freeways especially in busy places like LA. That not only leads to higher risks and makes driving more aggravating, but also slows everyone down. It happens quite frequently here that I will be on a 3 lane freeway and there are three slow cars next to each other. That would be unthinkable. I believe that this allows the German Autobahn to serve more cars than freeways in the US while having in average fewer lanes. I always have this metaphor in my head where I think of it similarly to a Ethernet cable that can now submit more data because the protocol allows for fewer collisions etc.

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Re:Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? by danielq on Monday August 04, 2014 @07:30PM (#8134666)

I have been driving 8 years in Germany and then 9 years in the US.

In my experience, driving on US freeways requires less lane changes than on German autobahns. This is mostly due to the facts that in the US everybody is driving about the same speed; in Germany, as mentioned above, if you want to drive faster than the trucks but not fast enough to stay always left, you are constantly switching lanes to overtake people in the second lane. If you want to drive a speed that is lower than the 'general' second lane speed, you even need to go in and out from the truck-lane.

Furthermore, since it is OK to overtake on the right in the US you don't need to change lanes if your lane now goes a little faster than the lane on the left. Even though you shouldn't stay left for a prolonged time if you are [much] slower than the rest (even in the US), it is OK to be overtaken on the right.

Though, I am faster on German freeways (driving around 160-170km/h), I enjoy driving in the US more as it is generally more relaxed.

I somewhat doubt that the German autobahn rules are better with dealing with medium-high-traffic situations than US rules. Would be interesting to see actual data on this claim.

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Re:Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? by 67726e on Monday August 04, 2014 @03:38PM (#8133599)

Given the large differences in standards, training, and attitudes about driving in the US vs. Germany. I would say calling American drivers as a whole, shittier, than German drivers is a not too far off assessment.

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