16 Jun 2016: Autobahn Edition

We drove across most of Germany this week, west to east; In total about 800 km. I had a chance to experience quite a lot of southern Germany's autobahn.

I've been told that the autobahn where you can drive fast doesn't really exist anymore.  I'd say that if there wasn't constant construction, well more than half of the drive would have been the "real" autobahn.

Here are my experiences driving cross country in Germany (and accidentally in Austria)

• Amazing roads.  The quality of the roads was impressive.  Rarely did I find anything even as small as an asphalt patch.  Perhaps the constant construction is the reason.

• SO MANY SIGNS.  One of the things that was clear about the autobahn was that it's well regulated.  Within the space of a kilometer, there could be signs limting you to 100 kph, then 80 kph, then 60 kph, then a slightly narrow road, then back to 80, then 100, then unrestricted. And so..

• It takes much more focus than I expected. Trying to maintain the right speed, especially when sharing the road with trucks, slow cars and fast cars is draining.  I drove nearly 5 hours Wednesday.

• Driving here means using the left lane only for passing.  Granted, it is supposed to be that way in most places in the US, but here, it's REALLY important. Mostly because of the > 100k euro cars.

• Cars driving  really fast come upon you very quickly; many going well over 200 kph  (124 kph)  (as far as I could guess) Getting out of the way is pretty imperative.

• High end cars seem to have a built in 'flashing light' circuit. I suspect it's automatic and probably called the "cheap car lights".  Even if I wasn't in the left lane, more than one car just flashed their lights constantly warning me not to move over. As far as I can tell, it's for warning people who drive lowly VWs not to move into the left lane and get in the way of their SL 500s

• There is a general recommended top speed of 130 kph (80mph), but it doesn't seem to be enforced. Having said that, I've read that if you are in an accident faster than 130 kph (like at 200 kph), you could be in really big trouble, legally, financially, and of course, crashing at 200kph is rough.

• Driving fast isn't that awesome, TBH. At a certain point, it just feels normal. Having said that, going 60 kph after 140 kph seems stupid slow.  I can't imagine driving on US roads again.

• I sorta accidentally drove into Austria. Not a big deal, except that you need an 87 euro vignette to drive on the Autobahn in Austria.

Umm.  The road was lined with Austrians.

• Some of the autobahn was controlled by variable speed systems that didn't seem very effective. I'm not sure anyone even paid attention. 

• I didn't see a single highway patrol car (or whatever passes for one  here), but I believe there were lots of speed cameras. I guess I'll find out in a couple of weeks.