4 ms·

Far simpler would be to adopt Germany-style passing rules - ticket heavily for passing on the right (or in other unsafe ways) and for not letting people pass wh

Far simpler would be to adopt Germany-style passing rules - ticket heavily for passing on the right (or in other unsafe ways) and for not letting people pass who signal they intend to. Then if someone wants to go slow, they just have to contend with being passed and having to pull a side when someone behind them signals intent to overtake. The person overtaking will have to wait their turn to pass safely. Roads remain public and we likely reduce the number of accidents from unsafe passing/overtaking.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
The ticket for hogging the left lane would need to be substantially more expensive than most other tickets if you want cops to actually enforce it.
gerdesj 6y ago
Brit here who has driven a lot in both the US and DE, int al. You are talking about "undertaking" - which needs two lanes. The P(GP?) is on about people driving slowly on a scenic route and I've had a look at the road in question and it has one lane for quite a lot of its length. I'll asert: Accidents on an autobahn in DE do tend to be quite nasty when they happen. (Observation: I lived in West Germany for about 10 years and my family name literally means "german")
- sologoub 6y ago
  The road is a single lane in each direction with fairly regularly spaced turn out lanes where the car could safely enter without slowing down a lot and let a few of the followers pass them. What happens in practice is that many professionals like truck drivers use them and most tourists do not, so you end up going with the speed of the largest RV.
- throw0101a 6y ago
  > on about people driving slowly on a scenic route and I've had a look at the road in question and it has one lane for quite a lot of its length. Quite a few places are building regular intervals of "2+1 roads" for regular passing opportunities: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero If people know they'll shortly have a chance to pass 'easily' they may become more patient.
tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
> for not letting people pass who signal they intend to. That's not what you get ticketed for. As long as you're overtaking the cars in the lane to your right at a reasonable speed, you can stay in your lane. If there is a gap between cars that you can safely enter, then you have to move to the right. There is a duty to let people pass if you're driving very slowly, but this is meant for a tractor driving 15 km/h, not for someone driving 5 under the speed limit. Especially if there are two lanes, no speed limit, the right lane has heavy truck traffic going 80 and you're going 130, the Ferrari has to wait until you're done overtaking, even if that takes you until the end of the no-speedlimit section. And if the Ferrari gets pushy (e.g. honking/high-beams), they are risking not just a ticket but criminal prosecution (on top of any penalties for violating the minimum safe distance).
- sologoub 6y ago
  Good call, was way oversimplifying. Everyone needs to wait their turn and be courteous about it. Doesn’t always happen and results do get quite horrific.
ThePadawan 6y ago
> ticket heavily Might be worth pointing out that even if traffic fines are handed out liberally in Germany, they are generally considered laughably cheap. By fining a constant amount (instead of an income/wealth dependent one), all fines do is make something illegal for poor people.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago

The ticket for hogging the left lane would need to be substantially more expensive than most other tickets if you want cops to actually enforce it.

gerdesj 6y ago

Brit here who has driven a lot in both the US and DE, int al. You are talking about "undertaking" - which needs two lanes. The P(GP?) is on about people driving slowly on a scenic route and I've had a look at the road in question and it has one lane for quite a lot of its length. I'll asert: Accidents on an autobahn in DE do tend to be quite nasty when they happen. (Observation: I lived in West Germany for about 10 years and my family name literally means "german")

sologoub 6y ago
The road is a single lane in each direction with fairly regularly spaced turn out lanes where the car could safely enter without slowing down a lot and let a few of the followers pass them. What happens in practice is that many professionals like truck drivers use them and most tourists do not, so you end up going with the speed of the largest RV.
throw0101a 6y ago
> on about people driving slowly on a scenic route and I've had a look at the road in question and it has one lane for quite a lot of its length. Quite a few places are building regular intervals of "2+1 roads" for regular passing opportunities: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero If people know they'll shortly have a chance to pass 'easily' they may become more patient.

tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago

> for not letting people pass who signal they intend to. That's not what you get ticketed for. As long as you're overtaking the cars in the lane to your right at a reasonable speed, you can stay in your lane. If there is a gap between cars that you can safely enter, then you have to move to the right. There is a duty to let people pass if you're driving very slowly, but this is meant for a tractor driving 15 km/h, not for someone driving 5 under the speed limit. Especially if there are two lanes, no speed limit, the right lane has heavy truck traffic going 80 and you're going 130, the Ferrari has to wait until you're done overtaking, even if that takes you until the end of the no-speedlimit section. And if the Ferrari gets pushy (e.g. honking/high-beams), they are risking not just a ticket but criminal prosecution (on top of any penalties for violating the minimum safe distance).

sologoub 6y ago
Good call, was way oversimplifying. Everyone needs to wait their turn and be courteous about it. Doesn’t always happen and results do get quite horrific.

ThePadawan 6y ago

> ticket heavily Might be worth pointing out that even if traffic fines are handed out liberally in Germany, they are generally considered laughably cheap. By fining a constant amount (instead of an income/wealth dependent one), all fines do is make something illegal for poor people.