Traffic rules - important or not?

LaFoto · Apr 19, 2006

Warning:
< rant>

Germans are known for their love for rules and regulations. Normally we are quite some law-abiding folks.

And I think that most traffic rules are there for a reason. OK, I admit to not always staying within the given speed limits, but a red traffic light is a red traffic light, and Give Way is Give Way, isn't it so?

So there is this wide country road (much wider than the average British country road! ... the kind that could easily be called a highway in American English). Two lanes and a shoulder to the left and the right (which means there is oncoming traffic, not two lanes in each direction like on a motorway!). The two exits towards "Pool Town" (the place where there is the pool in which Sabine swims daily) are designed in a manner that long sliproads help the entering traffic to accelerate and then merge and the exiting traffic to stay fast and only brake down on the exit strip. (Do you still follow me?)

Those who come entering the fast traffic on that country road (speed limit is at 100 km/h, which is a little under 70 miles per hour) have to give way. Understandably, isn't it? And isn't this the case worldwide? I would assume it is!

On the motorways, where there is a far lane on to which traffic can move to help entering traffic to merge, it has become a silent rule that - provided you have room for that - you move over to the far lane and let the entering cars enter.

This is not possible on the country road. To move would mean to move into oncoming traffic.
What is the consequence?
Those who are on the slip road have to yield and give way. If there is very little traffic, they can accelerate soon and almost be at 100 km/h when they enter, if there is traffic, they must roll, watch, wait, then accelerate and enter. That is my interpretation of the rule "Give Way" under the circumstances.

You still follow me?

Now for some obscure reason that I simply refuse to understand, people around Pool Town have begun to brake for entering traffic. Why ever that is so I really don't know. Right of Way is Right of Way, is my opinion. It is not like that country road was sooo crowded you'd need to let them in one by one ... in situations like that I am well willing to let one car in before me, hoping that each and everyone is willing to do the same. But when I am there alone, speeding (a little over the limit, I admit) along my lane, and there is traffic coming in from the right, right next to me, accelerating like crazy to get in before me, expecting me to brake for them (!), do I have to do that?

Tonight upon taking Sabine to the pool I did not!

Blew my horn like crazy when that Mercedes driver (female) simply came up onto my lane RIGHT WHERE I WAS, forced me over to the other lane (with oncoming traffic!!! Thankfully there is, in fact, enough room for three cars next to each other, the lanes are wide AND there is the shoulder), and entered the road before me. I used foul language (yes, even though Sabine was by my side), calling her "Stupid cow" and shouting (in vain, I know, she never heard me) "WHO has to give right of way here, eh?" And flashed my lights at her.

Boy I was mad!
And I am mad with all the others who have induced this silent "rule" that those who have the right of way give way to those who haven't. Now this behaviour seems to be expected! It also happened to me that I was on that same slip road meaning to enter, saw someone in my rearview mirror, did NOT accelerate but just rolled along getting more and more slowly, and that car would simply not overtake! But brake behind me and not go! How stupid is that, I wonder!?!?!?

OK.
< rant over>.

nitefly · Apr 19, 2006

I don't blame you. I hate drivers like that, and so does my dad.. Haha, I love it when my dad has arguments with other drivers.

Andrea K · Apr 19, 2006

I absolutely hate that! On the road I take to work it is a normal highway, and usually I will move to the far lane to let entering traffic in, but sometimes there is a car directly to my left and I can't. Every once in a while a car will come up to me on my right and expect me to move over, even though there is a car to my left and I can't. So I'll end up having to slam on my breaks and almost get smashed by the guy who is tailgating behind me. SOOOOO frustrating, especially when I constantly try to accomodate the entering traffic by moving over, speeding up to let them in behind me, or slowing down and flashing hi-beams to let them in. But about once a week I'll get some a$$hole who will try to merge into me when I have nowhere to go.

:thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown:

Oldfireguy · Apr 19, 2006

Mercedes driver (female)

There is your problem. Those crazy female drivers! Just kidding!

We have the same problem in the states. People are suppose to yield but don't. I think sometimes they feel like they are the only ones on the road and most of the time have a cell phone stuck to their heads.

When I work I go to an average of two accidents a day. People drive worse than ever. They don't care, it's all about them, they are just a bunch of ......

Darn it! I'm starting to sound like my dad.

Gotta watch out for yourself because no one else is going to.

Be cautious out there.

nvr2low · Apr 19, 2006

well, you definatly had the right of way. i make sure in those cases that i speed up just as fast as the person trying to merge so they have no place to go, either hit me or their brakes. That usually ****es them off, i find it quite amusing.

LaFoto · Apr 19, 2006

Hey, shhh! I was already going at 120! Never tell!
Sabine got a big fright out of the situation, mind, though I never felt it was really THAT dangerous! It's only that this is a pet-peeve situation for me, what with rules being so overturned here! And I find that particularly with FAST traffic rules are there for a reason!

ThomThomsk · Apr 19, 2006

LaFoto said:
Warning:
< rant>

Germans are known for their love for rules and regulations. Normally we are quite some law-abiding folks.

And I think that most traffic rules are there for a reason. OK, I admit to not always staying within the given speed limits, but a red traffic light is a red traffic light, and Give Way is Give Way, isn't it so?
< rant over>.

If you look at the number of road deaths per 100,000 people in the EU, the figures look like this (statistics from 2001):

United Kingdom 6.1
Netherlands 6.2
Sweden 6.2
Denmark 8.1
Finland 8.4
Germany 8.5
Ireland 10.7
Italy 11.1
Austria 11.9
France 13.8
Spain 13.8
Belgium 14.5
Luxembourg 15.9
Greece 19.3
Portugal 21.0

Now, I'd say that on the whole the Germans are a little more law abiding than the British (especially on the Autobahn), so those results are surprising.

For comparison, Australia would slot in between Germany and Ireland, and the US was worse than Belgium but better than Luxembourg.

Thomsk

PlasticSpanner · Apr 19, 2006

What's even more surprising is that the UK supposedly has the most speed cameras per car on the road than any other EEC Country but since their introduction deaths on the roads have increased! :x

Corinna, the answer to your problem is to get a bigger car! When I'm in my work van I have no problems convincing drivers to give way! (or changing lanes for that matter! :fangs:

)

JTHphoto · Apr 19, 2006

PlasticSpanner said:
Corinna, the answer to your problem is to get a bigger car! When I'm in my work van I have no problems convincing drivers to give way! (or changing lanes for that matter! )

i concur on this... i have had several near death experiences while in a small car... people just don't care, they never see me. I have never even come close to an accident while driving my Jeep or other large vehicle.

i think i'll rant a little...

similar to corinna's post... in regards to the freeway/highway merge lane or "sliproads", yes, by the time you reach traffic you should be going the same speed as traffic... do not merge at 35mph when traffic is going 65mph, you are going to get someone killed - probably the poor fool behind you (i.e. me!).

and left turn lanes are for turning left out of traffic, they are not merge lanes... thank you.

JohnMF · Apr 19, 2006

what is even more surprising about those stats that Thom presented is that the actual driving test(S) in germany have got to be the hardest to pass in europe.

On the subject of Germans liking rules and regulations. what always amuses me is that whenever i am in germany i notice people will not walk across a road unless it is at the pedestrian crossing and the green man is flashing. It sounds sensible, but you will see crowds of people gathering at traffic lights, on a completely empty road, not a car for miles, and no one will cross! Everybody will just stand there for ages looking at each other. I will wait for abit then lose my patience and cross, and then everybody else, on seeing one person do it, will all do it. Always amazes me

ThomThomsk · Apr 20, 2006

PlasticSpanner said:
What's even more surprising is that the UK supposedly has the most speed cameras per car on the road than any other EEC Country but since their introduction deaths on the roads have increased! :x

I'd be interested to see a reference for that. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, an independent survey in 2005 showed a reduction of deaths and serious injuries at camera sites of 42 per cent - around 1,745 fewer people being killed or seriously injured each year with about 100 lives being saved. The key words in that sentence are "at camera sites", and it may be that the anti-camera lobby are quoting a year-on-year increase overall. That doesn't necessarily mean cameras cause more accidents, although I can see why they might want people to think that.

Thomsk