Saturday, July 17, 2010

Bahn-storming

This is the sign in Germany that indicates no speed limit (yippie!)


Germany is a fantastic place to drive. I can tell you that the Autobahns do exist and there are lots of areas that have no speed limits. They also have a lower highway mortality rate. They do have some odd and quirky rules when it comes to intersections but so does B.C.

It is an amazing system. It is efficient, it is fast and, unfortunately, it would never work here.

The first thing that you have to understand is that the Germans have a different view of driving. Here in North America you will find people texting, eating, applying makeup and all doing all sorts of odd things behind the wheel. It was not that long ago that German cars didn’t even come with cup holders. In North America they have caught people, texting, eating, watching movies. It becomes easier with automatic transmissions and cruise control. People become dissociated from the driving process. It is like they are watching TV or playing a video game.

Unfortunately not a unique sight on Ontario roads


This attitude is not helped by the driving test in North America. In Ontario, until a couple of decades ago, you got your learner’s permit with a 20 question multiple choice test and you could immediately turn around and take a road test. The road test was often about ten minutes long and contained a three point turn and a parallel park. As long as you behaved yourself, watched your speed limit, obeyed all the signs and were lucky you were going home with your licence. With that licence you were legally able to drive anywhere in Canada. You were also able to drive anything from a Chevette to a Corvette. There was a legend at my high school about somebody who was not lucky. Allegedly, this guy crashed in to a school bus full of his fellow students while he was on his driving test.

In comparison, the Driving Licence in Germany costs over $2000 and requires 25 – 45 hours of professional driving instruction and 12 hours of driving theory. The driving instruction must include autobahn, city and night driving. The questions on the test are about mechanical aspects of the car as well as regular driving theory. With everything they have to go through to get their licences it is easy to see why they value them so much.

There is also a huge difference in the vehicles you see on the road. Here in Ontario we can see some rough cars on the road. They do have to get their exhaust system checked every two years but the rest of the car only has to be checked if the ownership is changed. The police can order vehicles to be inspected but you generally only see this happen in extreme situations.

In Germany you rarely see a car that is not in pristine condition. Part of this is due to the German pride, they really believe in doing things right if you are going to do them. They are also required to put their cars through a rigorous inspection every two years. It is notoriously tough. Cars can fail for having a broken light or even a dent in the wrong spot.

The German roads are also in great shape. They are planed with speed in mind and are well maintained. Here in Ontario they regularly run competitions to find the worst potholes in the province. There is a lot of competition. Some of them are inconvenient. Some of them are suspension killers. Many of them sneak up on you. There is nothing quite like that feeling when your tire drops ½ way to Australia when you are not expecting it.

A very pretty stretch of autobahn



Again this is a little easier for our German friends. Here in Ottawa we have a temperature range that runs from 40 above to 40 below Celsius. That can take quite a toll on anything. Then you have to factor in the damage done by snow plows and tons of salt. We could have perfectly maintained roads but we really wouldn’t like the taxes we would have to pay for it.

If we wanted to move to a system like they have in Germany here it would take a lot of time to transition. If they just flipped the switch and let us rocket down they highways as fast as we want, the roads would be filled with carnage and emergency vehicles. Just imagine all the rusty 1995 Cameros , all the fast and furious Honda Civics and all the soccer moms in their mini-vans running late for something. Now imagine them all fighting for fast lane supremacy. You also know that there would be some fool in the passing lane going exactly 100 km/h to slow down those crazy drivers.

Sorry, the mullet got in my eyes



At one point in Montana the daytime speed limit was “whatever is safe and reasonable”. This allowed the police some latitude. If they felt that somebody was driving too fast for the driver’s experience, the driver’s car or the road condition they could issue a ticket. Some felt this was unfair but it allowed the police to keep the highway from turning in to a scene from Mad Max. The federal government in the states put an end to this when they threatened to withdraw highway funding from any state that did not keep a tight rein on their speed limits.

Will we ever see autobahn style regulations in Canada? It isn’t likely. Before we saw anything like this there would have to be fundamental changes in how we as a society view driving and how we regulate what vehicles can be on the road. There is not much social pressure to move in this direction. There is a push towards more regulation, more arbitrary speed limits and more cameras. This allows the do-gooders to feel like they are saving the world and it increases revenues coming from speeding tickets. It also allows the car insurance companies to charge more. There are a lot of economic incentives to keep things as they are. More’s the pity