Daily Breakfast 672 – Night Driving
Catholic youths build wheelchair access ramp; will Fr. Roderick survive the Archdiocesan survival camp? Night driving in Germany.
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This was one of the funniest episode in ages! Thank you! You are definitely able to tell a story.
Disclaimer: No, I am not crazy and I don’t speed. And I don’t want to sound like this guy, who knows everything better and I do think, you did everything right on this crazy place that is called the Autobahn.
I hear you!
Yes, the Autobahn! And yes, sometimes there is this swearing like a trooper… And no, I don’t swear. 
But there is this saying: “Beware! Dutch caravan on the left lane! Dutch caravan on the left lane!” Not so funny, I guess. But it is not meant in a rude way. I love the Dutch. I really do. 
I myself had a very dangerous experience two years ago, when I came back from a business trip and I was on the Autobahn in the German/Dutch border area. I was traveling with 160 km/h, which is 100 mph. There were three lanes. I was on the middle one. On the right one, there was a truck. Behind the truck there was this caravan. Right before me, the caravan rushed to the middle lane. It did not indicate that early enough. It was close. Very close. I was able to switch to the left lane and luckily nobody was there. No, you can’t say that it is always the Dutch caravans! Of course not! The thing is: it is a matter of practice. Stay calm, indicate the changing of lanes early, early enough before changing them and then do your thing and don’t care about idiots (those special BMW and Mercedes drivers you are talking about). Yes, there are many of those idiots. Unfortunately.
Driving on the Autobahn comes down to this point: it is a matter of getting used to it. Trucker Tom mentioned a similar thing on his podcast some months ago: he was talking about the US interstates and how some people have issues to get on the interstate, when they see a truck in their mirror: they turn right onto the interstate without accelerating first. A different situation, I know. He was complaining about the lack of training. If you are training for a German driving license, you have to train for driving on the Autobahn. My driving teacher wanted me to speed there. I had to drive 220 km/h (137 mph) in order to see, how difficult and dangerous it can be. I learned my lesson during training with a person able to help sitting beside me in this special equipped training car. And I don’t want to do it again. It worked. I am not saying that people from other countries should have to take lessons to drive on the Autobahn. This would be ludicrous. I just want to explain the Autobahn.
If you have an idiot behind you that is honking and flashing the lights: call 110. It is our police. Tell them the licence plate of the suspects and where you are (there are signs on the right of the Autobahn with numbers that indicate your position for the police). The drivers will learn not to honk and what not next time. Our police is able to chase and get those idiots. Have you ever seen a Porsche police car? They are looking beautiful… The Autobahn is no racing track. Yes, it has this image. Especially in other countries. But it really is no racing track. Use it as a racing track and you will learn what happens. If there is no speed limit in place, you are supposed to drive 130 km/h (80 mph). If you go significantly (with the emphasis on significantly) slower, you can be stopped by the police, because it endangers other drivers. If you go faster, it is your responsibility. If you cause an accident at a speed of more than 80 mph, you will be hold liable for your driving.
I know, this sounds crazy. And there is ongoing discussion about a speed limit everywhere on the Autobahn of 80 mph or less over here. But the thing is that it has been working without this limit for more than 50 years. And the thing is: if the Autobahn is empty (which does not happen very often), you are able to travel huge distances very fast.
To all of you visiting Germany and driving on the Autobahn: My advice would be to travel at 80 mph (where you are allowed to do so, there are many areas with lower speed limits in place), indicate the changing of lanes early enough and then change the lane and do not care about stupid drivers. Let them honk and flash the lights. Fine! They don’t own the street. And of course: travel on the right lane and do only change the lane to pass a slower moving vehicle. I think, stupid drivers are everywhere, and we have them too. Lots of them. And believe me: if you feel, you are being aggressively pressed by this “BMW” or “Mercedes”, then call 110. They should understand English and they don’t understand idiots who are using the Autobahn as a racing track bullying other drivers.
On a funny side note: you were talking about this Czech deacon speeding with you on board. I have a protestant friend, who ended up driving a Catholic bishop from one village to the next (it is a longer story). The bishop asked him: “Are you always driving at this speed or are you indicating you have a 70 year old bishop in the car?” My friend, puzzled: “What? No!” And he increased the speed. He still is a protestant, but he has quite a positive view on Catholic bishops.
Oh Christian, that IS typically Dutch. I notice very often cars don’t indicate with their indicator lights that they are changing lane. I was in a near accident because of that not too long ago. It seems to happen more often lately that drivers think they’re the only traffic on the road and therefore don’t have to indicate what they are planning to do.
Hey Inge! Thank you for your answer.
All of you, have a nice and not to hot day.
According to the weather forecast, it will be quite hot over here, especially here in Germany. Hot air from Sahara is moving to Europe. I am glad that I have some days off until Monday – air conditioning is not very common over here. Sorry for the off-topic!
“All of you, have a nice and not to hot day.”
That would be in English: All of you, have a nice and not too hot day.
Sometimes, the errors I notice are embarrassing. I am glad that I do not notice all errors I do make.