the legendary Autobahn

[henk4]

Originally Posted by NoOne

I find nothing wrong with people tending to stay in the middle lane, that leaves a lane for passing and another for traffic merging on or exiting the highway.

The principle is to stay on the right lane, (or left when you are in the UK), that leaves two lanes for overtaking, and as overtaking on the "other" side is strictly forbidden it's quite annoying when you have to move over two lanes to overtake somebody driving unneccessarily in the middle. Merging and exiting is the exception, not the rule.

[NoOne]

I see your point, but with each highway having its own unique characteristics of exits,on ramps and traffic load, I drive a length of highway where there are exits every mile or 2, in this case my idea would be ideal. If people were more courteous, then 1 lane for overtaking should be sufficient ... in my perfect world.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by NoOne

I see your point, but with each highway having its own unique characteristics of exits,on ramps and traffic load, I drive a length of highway where there are exits every mile or 2, in this case my idea would be ideal. If people were more courteous, then 1 lane for overtaking should be sufficient ... in my perfect world.

In a perfect world you may be right but in practice differences in speed prevent this option. Suppose you are in Germany doing 130 in the middle lane (the officially advised speed) and the right lane is free, behind is somebody doing 150 in the middle lane (totally legal) but on the left lane somebody comes up doing 170. This is the sort of situation I'am thinking about and it happens far too often. (also in the UK) The absence of speed limits requires a very great discipline in sticking to the right to make it fully efficient.
Stretches of highway like you are describing are in Germany usually limited to 120 and 100 kph, making the need to move over less urgent.

[mechanixfetch]

I wish I had the courteous police you have in Ontario NoOne. Here I was nicked for doing 100km in a 90 zone whilst i was in the fast lane. just gowes to show there is no justice in the world.

[mechanixfetch]

I just thought that I should also mention that on the highways in Montana there is no limit anly a suggested speed.

[fpv_gtho]

Originally Posted by mechanixfetch

I wish I had the courteous police you have in Ontario NoOne. Here I was nicked for doing 100km in a 90 zone whilst i was in the fast lane. just gowes to show there is no justice in the world.

well if you think that was bad, check this out. in Victoria here (im in New South Wales by the way) the governments got a no tolerance policy to speeding, where they can book you for doing say 105km/h in a 100km/h zone. i think all other states and territories here except for the northern territory give you something like a 10% speed tolerance over 60km/h ive heard, the northern territory having barely any speed limits

[Misho]

i feel very compelled to say something about noOne's claim that canadian drivers are among the worst in the world. with worst meaning aggressive, fast, dangerous, . . .

it seems that you haven't been to many developing countries. I assure you that driving in the middle east is truly a remarkable experience. depending on which country you visit, the experience changes dramatically. in most gulf countries such as Kuwait, the AVERAGE speed on a highway would be close to 160 km/h. most drivers dont obey the speed limit and most officers never bother to ticket anyone. there are places and times when they ty to enforce speed limits, but its usually limited.

moving on to a place like Saudi Arabia, all i could say is that this is the only county in the world that does not permit women to drive! do i need to say more about the driving over there ??!

finally, a place like Cairo, Egypt with a population of 20 million is among the biggest and most crowded places in the world. it is basically impossible to find words to describe how crazy driving over there is !!

as for Canada, I would have to say that Halifax and Nova Scotia in general, have some of the worst drivers in the world !! with worst meaning slow, overly scared, old, strange drivers !!

[Egg Nog]

Someone posted scans of an old EVO article a while back on the SC.net forums, but unfortunately, I can't find it. Anyway, it was about how one particular businessman upgraded from a 911 Turbo to a McLaren F1, and shaved 25 minutes off of his commute time. He would regularly exceed 200mph. I found a quick paragraph about the same guy online:

A German man brought his car in for service so the techs reviewed the computer data log to see how the car had been running. It showed peek speeds twice a day at over 200mph, one 230+, for the last 16 days in a row! He commutes to work each day on the Autobahn. They changed the oil, told him his car was working just fine, and sent him home.

From http://www.centralcoastweb.com/nsxb/...n/mclaren.html

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Egg Nog

Someone posted scans of an old EVO article a while back on the SC.net forums, but unfortunately, I can't find it. Anyway, it was about how one particular businessman upgraded from a 911 Turbo to a McLaren F1, and shaved 25 minutes off of his commute time. He would regularly exceed 200mph. I found a quick paragraph about the same guy online:

A German man brought his car in for service so the techs reviewed the computer data log to see how the car had been running. It showed peek speeds twice a day at over 200mph, one 230+, for the last 16 days in a row! He commutes to work each day on the Autobahn. They changed the oil, told him his car was working just fine, and sent him home.

From http://www.centralcoastweb.com/nsxb/...n/mclaren.html

This article is about Thomas Bscher, a well known German (former) banker, who participated in the 24 hours in Le Mans with an F1 and is also a very well respected driver of a Masearti 250F in historic grand prix races. He has just been appointed chief of the Bugatti division with the VAG group.

I think his commuting times were a bit outside normal peak hours, because around Frankfurt the streets are too busy to allow for such speeds. (although the Mac has the advantage to get there very quickly)

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Egg Nog

From http://www.centralcoastweb.com/nsxb/...n/mclaren.html

Just read a bit further and see how three persons died in the Mac.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Misho

i feel very compelled to say something about noOne's claim that canadian drivers are among the worst in the world. with worst meaning aggressive, fast, dangerous, . . .

it seems that you haven't been to many developing countries. I assure you that driving in the middle east is truly a remarkable experience. depending on which country you visit, the experience changes dramatically. in most gulf countries such as Kuwait, the AVERAGE speed on a highway would be close to 160 km/h. most drivers dont obey the speed limit and most officers never bother to ticket anyone. there are places and times when they ty to enforce speed limits, but its usually limited.

moving on to a place like Saudi Arabia, all i could say is that this is the only county in the world that does not permit women to drive! do i need to say more about the driving over there ??!

finally, a place like Cairo, Egypt with a population of 20 million is among the biggest and most crowded places in the world. it is basically impossible to find words to describe how crazy driving over there is !!

as for Canada, I would have to say that Halifax and Nova Scotia in general, have some of the worst drivers in the world !! with worst meaning slow, overly scared, old, strange drivers !!

Some of the places you mention I have been too (Cairo) and I can confirm your observations, even taking into account that I was there almost 15 years ago. They really drive like madmen. This summer I was in Lagos, Nigeria and that is totally comparable. The worst drivers I have seen are however in Ulan Bataar, the capital of Outer Mongolia. It's a combination of stupidity, inadequacy and FY mentality, that will make you very careful when walking or driving around there. (When not behind the wheel the Mongols are very nice people though).
The problem with (not all) Canadian drivers (and many american drivers too) is a lack of concentration, not being involved in the driving process, and just pottering on. The monotony of the main roads certainly contributes to this attitude, and actually the speed limits make you very sleepy, because there is very little to excite you.

[NoOne]

Originally Posted by Misho

i feel very compelled to say something about noOne's claim that canadian drivers are among the worst in the world. with worst meaning aggressive, fast, dangerous, . . .

as for Canada, I would have to say that Halifax and Nova Scotia in general, have some of the worst drivers in the world !! with worst meaning slow, overly scared, old, strange drivers !!

Just to clarify, I did say that "... I wouldn't be surprised if Canada ranked up there..." I did not reference worst meaning aggressive,fast or dangerous. My claim was almost identical to yours on Nova Scotia drivers : slow,overly scared ... and with the addition of cell phone use, eating, and trying to read a map or book while commuting.

Originally Posted by NoOne

I don't know which country can claim the worst drivers, but it wouldn't surprise me if Canada ranked high up there, here in southern Ontario we usually have a fair bit of snow, this is nothing new ... it happens every year , yet people will panic when the roads are wet and start driving 10, 20 or even 30 km/h below the posted limits. I see these people and wonder how they get licensed to even leave their garages. Most accidents I see, especially in the winter involve 4wd SUV's, I guess the drivers figure it makes them a better driver.

I have not had the pleasure(?) of driving in any developing countries BUT I have been to Montreal !!! Which is home to the most ignorant, uncourteous drivers I have personally seen. I was in Nova Scotia this past summer, in the Annapolis valley I did venture into Halifax twice (great casino), but I found nothing unusual with the driving there, but I deal with Toronto traffic on an almost daily basis... don't get me wrong I'm not one of them ..... they would have created this post on their laptop at 130 km/h !!!

[mechanixfetch]

When we moved here to Vancouver from Manchester England my parents marvelled about the courteousness (sp?) of other canadian drivers. For instance getting on to the lions gate bridge (see Picture) four lanes often merge into one and there is a simple system of 4-2-1 with everyone staggering their merging 1-2-1-2 and you almost never see people cheat. Most people are friendly on the streets here to at Least in West Van even though most trophy wives cannot drive . I got thumbs up from several people for the wreath I had on my Mom's car that I drive around in. so I think at least WESTERN Canadian drivers are nice. Although they do go too slow on the Highway.

[Misho]

Originally Posted by NoOne

Just to clarify, I did say that "... I wouldn't be surprised if Canada ranked up there..." I did not reference worst meaning aggressive,fast or dangerous. My claim was almost identical to yours on Nova Scotia drivers : slow,overly scared ... and with the addition of cell phone use, eating, and trying to read a map or book while commuting.




I have not had the pleasure(?) of driving in any developing countries BUT I have been to Montreal !!! Which is home to the most ignorant, uncourteous drivers I have personally seen. I was in Nova Scotia this past summer, in the Annapolis valley I did venture into Halifax twice (great casino), but I found nothing unusual with the driving there, but I deal with Toronto traffic on an almost daily basis... don't get me wrong I'm not one of them ..... they would have created this post on their laptop at 130 km/h !!!

sorry for the misunderstanding.

and yes, that casino is awesome !!! they owe me something like $500 so far !!

[NoOne]

Not a problem , I sometimes ramble on a bit which makes my main point a little hard to identify.