BusinessCar Office Blog: 16 May 2008

Date: 16 May 2008   |   Author:

The drive across Europe was the first time I've had a proper run across Germany, and long-distance exposure to the Autobahn culture. It was interesting.

Firstly, and it's true of the whole of Europe, lane discipline is infinitely better than the half-witted middle lane bumbling we see so regularly in the UK. Despite the quantity of HGVs from all over Europe that were ploughing along, everyone moved right to the inside lane when not overtaking. Obviously the threat of a high-speed BMW or Audi (as they tended to be) appearing from nowhere on the stretches without speed limit was keeping everyone on their toes, but it was refreshing to see people using all the road space.

It's also evidence that higher speed limits aren't necessarily a bad thing. If anything, the standard of driving was higher as a result of the need to concentrate because you had vehicles potentially doing well over 100mph sharing space with lorries or cars doing not much more than half that. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it forces drivers to concentrate in a way they might not when bumbling along the middle lane at 70mph oblivious to their surroundings.

But some things never change. Even the Germans can't avoid roadwork chaos, and it amused me that in one hold-up caused by barrier repairs, I watched a couple of white vans switching lanes four or five times as one line of traffic moved quicker than the other. It didn't get them anywhere, but that slightly aggressive, impatient stereotype of 'White Van Man' is obviously a Europe-wide phenomenon.

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