Driving on the left pisses people off

[SaburoS]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Wish they would make it illegal to pass on the right and illegal to not yeild to faster traffic coming up behind you (i.e. move to the right lane and allow traffic to pass).  Works in Germany.

Thought it was law already, just not enforced it seems (in California anyway).
Regardless of the speeds involved, if the car behind you flashes his lights, you must move to the lane right of you as soon as you safely can. If it is a single lane, you must pull over to the side of the road when you can safely do so.

[beet1e]

Skuzzy has it. Germany. The car manufacturing, road, and driving capital of the world. The best cars, the best drivers - in the world. I went to visit an old WB friend of mine in Munich in 1999. For the drive down he gave me this advice: "The mirror will be your best friend - very high speed sometimes". No kidding. I was in the left lane, doing 120-130mph most of the time. And then - a Merc SLK came up behind me - left indicator flashing - the European signal that the guy wants to go faster. I pulled over to the centre. He went by, I tried to follow, top speed in my Golf VR6 was 140... the Merc slides into the distance doing 150-160...

...and yet, I felt perfectly safe at all times on German roads.

Skuzzy - remember those toejam or get off the pot signs at the side of the autobahn - "Wo fahren zie den?" with a picture of some angry snails being held up in the left lane... The message: Get over to the right after overtaking.

Seems so unreal that the US speed limit c1980 was 55mph - LOL

[-ammo-]

The car manufacturing, road, and driving capital of the world. The best cars, the best drivers - in the world.

Thanks for that opinion.  The autobahn is truly an innovative idea that many countries (including the US) have copied over the years.  But to say that German cars and drivers are far better than any other countries is just your conjecture.  The Japanese for one make a car that rivals or exceeds the German cars.  Please find me a BMW truck that can do the same or better job as a 4x4 ford, dodge, or chevy truck in harsh conditions in an not so perfect enviroment.

And the driver thing,  KM fuzzy white A--.  No offence

[Gadfly]

How many miles does the average Euro drive per year?  I, and my wife, do about 40,000 miles per year, and among my peer group, that is average.  That must be taken into account when looking at road stats, for sure.

[Vulcan]

Originally posted by beet1e
Perhaps greater driving ability.

This driving ability is not exhibited by the scores of english tourists infesting the fast lanes of our roads in campervans driving in the 'finger 4' formation at 20km/h below the speed limit.

[RightF00T]

beet1e you've got things confused.  This thread is about  4 lane highways with 2 lanes going each direction.  
  The gripe is of retards driving slow in the passing lane going one direction instead of driving in the cruising lane going the same direction.  I find the "blue-haired panthers" to be guilty of this most of the time.

[texace]

I drive in the slow lane all the time on my way to school every morning. I have to go from Fort Worth to Denton at 7 AM every day, and I'll be going 85 MPH in the SLOW lane, with people zipping past me in the fast lane doing 90-100 MPH. But allow me to relate a story that had me pissed off the rest of the night.

It's Friday night, and I'm coming home from a movie. I was alone, in my little 1986 Honda Prelude 2.0 Si. Loop 820 that circles Fort Worth is notorious for being dangerous after 10 PM, as most of the Ft. Worth police are busy guarding bars to keep the drinks off the road.

They missed one.

I'm doing 75 MPH in the fast lane (60 is the limit) and I'm just cruising. All of a sudden, a pair of headlights fills my mirror. Being the billigerent teenager I am, I hold my ground. I'm already speeding, and the right lane is full of cars. I don't have any room to move over anyway, and I don't want to speed up because cops DO hide on that highway, no matter what time.

The headlights flash, and I speed up a bit. I'm doing 85 now. They flash again, and I speed up more. I'm now doing 105 MPH, 15 miunutes from my home. They flash AGAIN (!), so I move over to the right lane to let these guys pass.

It was a brand new Chevrolet Impala, with 4 people inside. Rather than zipping past me, they pull up along side and the passenger shoots me the finger.

So I shot it back...I could care less because it's nighttime and I'm already pissed off.

Then the window starts rolling down, so I slow down a little bit. They slow to stay beside me, and the passenger begins yelling out the window at me, with his three friends shouting at the same time. Since the driver isn't paying attention, he begins drifing into my lane. So I slow again, and so does he.

I'm now fully pissed off. I slam my brakes, the tires squeeling against the rough pavement. I'm back down to 60 MPH. The Impala, being full of inebriated teenagers no older than me, also hits the brakes, but the car swerves into my lane. They're trying to make me stop, probably to get me out of the car and prove how macho they are.

So I swirve around them and take off, hitting over 130 MPH and pissed and scared. I never saw them again after I took my exit.

I hate Texas drivers sometimes...

[Saurdaukar]

Originally posted by -ammo-
Thanks for that opinion.  The autobahn is truly an innovative idea that many countries (including the US) have copied over the years.  But to say that German cars and drivers are far better than any other countries is just your conjecture.  The Japanese for one make a car that rivals or exceeds the German cars.  Please find me a BMW truck that can do the same or better job as a 4x4 ford, dodge, or chevy truck in harsh conditions in an not so perfect enviroment.

And the driver thing,  KM fuzzy white A--.  No offence

I think its safe to say that German drivers (in general) are probably the best in the world.  The process that children must go through to get a DL is long and hard - and expensive.  They tend to take driving very seriously - presumably due to the differences in driver education.

The debate over better cars is a circle jerk.  I cant find you a BMW truck that can haul dirt and trailers and you cant find me a Honda sports car that can run all day at 140 MPH with complete confidence or without a mechanical failure.

[-ammo-]

Originally posted by Saurdaukar
I think its safe to say that German drivers (in general) are probably the best in the world.  The process that children must go through to get a DL is long and hard - and expensive.  They tend to take driving very seriously - presumably due to the differences in driver education.

Mazz- I will have to disagree with that.  However if what you say is true, then "new" drivers in Germany are likely to be better than "new" drivers in the USA, or elsewhere.  However,  experience,  good decision making,  and a commitment to concentrating on the road and traffic make a good driver. That can be found anywhere and is dependant on the individual, not his/her locale.

Originally posted by Saurdaukar

The debate over better cars is a circle jerk.  I cant find you a BMW truck that can haul dirt and trailers and you cant find me a Honda sports car that can run all day at 140 MPH with complete confidence or without a mechanical failure.

I pretty much agree.

[FUNKED1]

Originally posted by Saurdaukar
you cant find me a Honda sports car that can run all day at 140 MPH with complete confidence or without a mechanical failure.

Bad example.  You forgot NSX.  Use Daihatsu instead of Honda and it works.

[Mini D]

NSX?  Don't know if that's really the car you want to be touting for 140mph performance.  An M3 will tear it apart.  Hell... most high HP cars will eat it up.  It has a very nice suspension and is mid engine... but Acura never could figure out how to give it a little more punch.

If you talk bang for the buck... virtually every other car manufacturer offers something faster for less than the cost of an NSX.

MiniD

[beet1e]

Hah!  just wanted to remind everyone that I can troll too.

Rightfoot

beet1e you've got things confused. This thread is about 4 lane highways with 2 lanes going each direction. The gripe is of retards driving slow in the passing lane going one direction instead of driving in the cruising lane going the same direction. I find the "blue-haired panthers" to be guilty of this most of the time.

You're absolutely... WRONG. Had you followed the link that Hooligan provided, you would see that this thread is not about drivers driving in the left lane of a two lane highway at all. Seems like you weren't the only one to make this mistake. The thread is about countries in which traffic is driven on the left hand side of the road with steering wheel on the right of the car, (a somewhat obvious reference to Britain) as opposed to countries like the US which drive on the right, and have the steering wheel on the left. Have you ever been abroad? Have you ever been out of your home state, or your home town?  Still, you're not the only one to post who hasn't first checked the facts. You might want to do that next time before you sound off. And then explain to Dago how you did it.

Hoolig -

From my recollections of driving in the UK (and particularly in Scotland), if you weren't pissed off and/or terrified you weren't paying attention. It makes me wonder if Dago is completely wrong. Possibly the relaxing effects of alcohol is the only thing that makes those razor-thin roads tolerable?

Nice troll, but a bit obvious.

I know some roads are very thin in parts of Britain, but when you get two buses passing eachother on such a road, they make light work of it. In the US, I saw some cars with weird wiry things sticking out near the front wheels. When I asked what these were, I was told that they were "curb feelers". WTF!? Apparently, these are to assist American drivers who can't judge the width of their vehicles - typically Cadillac drivers. I was also told that there's a buzzer inside the car when these make contact with an obstacle? LOL! Made the car look like a freaking catfish.

Ammo

Thanks for that opinion. The autobahn is truly an innovative idea that many countries (including the US) have copied over the years. But to say that German cars and drivers are far better than any other countries is just your conjecture. The Japanese for one make a car that rivals or exceeds the German cars. Please find me a BMW truck that can do the same or better job as a 4x4 ford, dodge, or chevy truck in harsh conditions in an not so perfect enviroment. And the driver thing, KM fuzzy white A--. No offence

Hehe - I see I hit a raw nerve. Now you know what it feels like to me when idiots like Dago imply that we're a nation of drunk drivers, when in fact the US has a much greater DUI problem. BTW, I have no affiliation with Germany, but the cars are damned good. Indeed, Japanese cars are good too, and I've owned a couple of Toyotas - one was a Supra 3.0i turbo.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by ra
Beetle,

I don't know how accident statistics in the UK are collected, but here in the US an accident is often counted as alcohol related even if the driver hasn't had a drop to drink.  If a passenger in the back seat has been drinking, the cop will check the box marked 'alcohol involved'.  Same if there is a case of beer in the trunk.   That's why it is referred to as "alcohol related" instead of "alcohol impaired".

ra

[ra]

Then remember that the definition of alcohol-related does not mean alcohol-caused. For their own reasons, NHTSA has chosen to define an alcohol related crash as an accident in which a driver, passenger, bicyclist or pedestrian had any measurable alcohol in their system. Furthermore, cause, fault or circumstance are not considered. For example, a winter chain reaction crash on black ice on I91 involving 10 cars and three deaths would be considered alcohol related if one of the drivers had taken some cough syrup medication that morning. If you feel that I am engaging in hyperbole, refer back to the May 5 OLR study that uses the same example.

read

[straffo]

Originally posted by Vulcan
This driving ability is not exhibited by the scores of english tourists infesting the fast lanes of our roads in campervans driving in the 'finger 4' formation at 20km/h below the speed limit.

Were you in France this summer ?