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Scott en Aztlán - 16 Dec 2006 02:33 GMT

Suppose a German driver is driving on the Autobahn. He checks his
mirror, sees no vehicles are about to overtake him, and changes lanes
to pass a slower vehicle. About midway through the pass, he notices
that a C6, which is travelling faster than he anticipated, is flashing
its passing lights and is about to overtake him.

What Would a German Driver Do? Would he do what Ed White does and
maintain his current speed, completing his pass in his own sweet time?
Or would the German driver speed up in order to complete the pass and
clear the way for faster traffic as quickly as possible?

My bet is the German driver would try very hard to get out of the way
ASAP. This sort of cooperative attitude is undoubtedly the reason the
Autobahn has routine speeds of 100+ MPH and yet has a better safety
record than the American Interstates.

Would anyone with Autobahn driving experience care to comment?

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Ted Kennedy - President of DDDAMM (Drunk Driving Divers Against Mad Mothers) - 16 Dec 2006 02:47 GMT

Someone wrote:

>Suppose a German driver is driving on the Autobahn. He checks his
>mirror, sees no vehicles are about to overtake him, and changes lanes
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>Autobahn has routine speeds of 100+ MPH and yet has a better safety
>record than the American Interstates.

I'll second your bet.

>Would anyone with Autobahn driving experience care to comment?

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Alan Baker - 16 Dec 2006 04:07 GMT

> Suppose a German driver is driving on the Autobahn. He checks his
> mirror, sees no vehicles are about to overtake him, and changes lanes
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Would anyone with Autobahn driving experience care to comment?

Sorry, but wouldn't speeding up be JLEDI behaviour by your standards?

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'It is Mac OS X, not BSD.' -- 'From Mac OS to BSD Unix.'
"It's BSD Unix with Apple's APIs and GUI on top of it' -- 'nothing but BSD Unix'
(Edwin on Mac OS X)
'[The IBM PC] could boot multiple OS, such as DOS, C/PM, GEM, etc.' --
'I claimed nothing about GEM other than it was available software for the
IBM PC. (Edwin on GEM)
'Solaris is just a marketing rename of Sun OS.' -- 'Sun OS is not included
on the timeline of Solaris because it's a different OS.' (Edwin on Sun)

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Scott en Aztlán - 16 Dec 2006 06:02 GMT

Alan Baker <alangbaker@telus.net> said in rec.autos.driving:

>Sorry, but wouldn't speeding up be JLEDI behaviour by your standards?

Sorry, but no.

In general, a JLEDI is someone who yields the right-of-way to a driver
who is not following the rules. In this case, JLEDI behavior would be
if the faster driver simply slowed down and waited patiently while the
LLB completed his pass.

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Brent P - 16 Dec 2006 06:09 GMT

> Sorry, but wouldn't speeding up be JLEDI behaviour by your standards?

No, the passing lane is to be yielded to faster traffic. There is no
speed limit on the autobahn outside of areas where too much traffic would
make it irrelevant anyway.

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Brent P - 16 Dec 2006 06:07 GMT

> My bet is the German driver would try very hard to get out of the way
> ASAP. This sort of cooperative attitude is undoubtedly the reason the
> Autobahn has routine speeds of 100+ MPH and yet has a better safety
> record than the American Interstates.
>
> Would anyone with Autobahn driving experience care to comment?

Your bet is correct, and it would go one step further, he might -abort-
his pass to get out of the passing lane.

Driving on the autobahn for me was like driving in dream world (except
the construction zones, which were narrow, but much better than even
typical chicago traffic IMO) for me. It was just wonderful to share roads
with competent drivers. Of course the most frustrating drive of my life
was the first one after I got back to chicago. I was so used to German
drivers....

Such a nice system... where minding your manners is the top priority
instead of speed.

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Alexander Rogge - 16 Dec 2006 22:41 GMT

> About midway through the pass, he notices
> that a C6, which is travelling faster than he anticipated, is flashing
> its passing lights and is about to overtake him.

The driver is expected to accelerate and yield after completing the
pass. If the driver can't accelerate to the faster speed, the driver
must find a gap in the traffic to the right and yield. Most drivers
comply with the regulations that keep the traffic moving efficiently.
It's when a stupid driver does something unexpected that the whole
roadway can become a parking lot. A braking wave can quickly become a
10 km traffic jam. Keep Right Except To Pass.

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Scott en Aztlán - 17 Dec 2006 04:32 GMT

Alexander Rogge <a_rogge@yahoo.com> said in rec.autos.driving:

>> About midway through the pass, he notices
>> that a C6, which is travelling faster than he anticipated, is flashing
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>roadway can become a parking lot. A braking wave can quickly become a
>10 km traffic jam. Keep Right Except To Pass.

I can hear Ed now:

"Well, I drive on the Interstate, not the Autobahn, and I'll complete
my pass in my own good time!"

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Studeman - 17 Dec 2006 06:59 GMT

I assume that the phrase "is about to ovetake" was incorrect, otherwise
there would be no problem,as that implys another lane is to the left.
If the car #2 could slow safely, he should pull over as he obviously
did not chek mirrors properly or made a misjudgement.
If his car has sufficient power to make him (driver#2) think of
passing, he should complete the pass, even if it means a minor delay
for the rearmost driver.

In other words, if the passer, after checking al the significant parts
of the road, started the pass in a safe manner, he should complete it,
albeit with a bit more foot-on-pedal..

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flamablenuts - 17 Dec 2006 09:14 GMT

> Alexander Rogge <a_rogge@yahoo.com> said in rec.autos.driving:
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> :)

As a personal rule.
If half my car is past the rear bumper of the vehicle being overtaken, then
the driver attempting to pass would have to wait. That being said, it's ok
to give your car a little more juice as to complete your pass as quickly as
possible and not interfere with the flow or traffic.

KRETP!!!

just my two pennies worth

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People that speed don't kill People. Idiot sloths kill people.

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