MUST READ: The Globe & Mail on the Autobahn vs. the Interstate

"Spasoje" (Spasoje)
04/06/2014 at 17:26 • Filed to: LEFT LANE HOGS, AUTOBAHN, TRAFFIC, INTERSTATE

Peter Cheney says, "The more I drive in North America, the more I appreciate the Autobahn." He compares road trips here to one in Germany, going into the minds of left-lane hoggers in the process. Worth it to read: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (33)

thebigbossyboss > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 17:27

Peter Cheney is a cool dude.

Spasoje > thebigbossyboss
04/06/2014 at 17:28

DAMN, that was fast!

M54B30 > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 17:31

I grew and learned to drive In Germany. I moVed back stateside in 08 and i cannot think of one single thing the Interstate system does better than the autobahn.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 17:41

This is what I hate about American roads. The people who use them are undisciplined pieces of shit. If I had a say in things, I'd make dash-cams mandatory, and allow the NSA to have free reign over them. That way they'll do something useful; Send four or five digit fines to jackasses like the one in the Ford flex.

Another point I'd like to make is that the way drivers are taught to drive in the US is a joke. Everything that I was told in driver's ed was common sense and common knowledge. I did not gain any practical experience, such as car care knowledge. I had five hours of driving time with an instructor, and so far, I've had 45 minutes freeway driving experience ever. I know for a fact that driving schools are A LOT more strict in Europe.

Simply put; The Government does not give a flying fuck about the education of people to operate 3500lb steel and glass cages at speeds in excess of 65mph

The Transporter > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 17:45

It's always boggled my mind when I'm driving on I-40 in the wasteland between Wilmington and Raleigh that I spend most of my time stuck behind two people driving side by side doing 5 below the speed limit. How did they get there? Logic dictates that at some point in the past one of them had to be moving faster than the other, so why aren't they doing it now? If one of the cars just wants to go the same speed as the other, why can't they do that behind the car? Why does one of them have to camp out in the blind spot of the other one.

The best part is that as the crowd of cars that starts to build up and get progressively agitated (honking horns, flashing lights, aggressive driving, etc.) the drivers of the two cars get progressively more and more indignant, as if we're the ones in the wrong.

Spasoje > The Transporter
04/06/2014 at 17:53

I feel you. I recently got brake-checked by some entitled numb-nuts doing 80 (km/h) in the HOV when I flashed my lights. His lights flashed like a Christmas tree when I went around him (on the right, obviously), yet he kept doing the same speed.

Times like that make me want to pull a Red Foreman on anyone who says their uncle can teach them to drive just fine...

thebigbossyboss > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 17:56

I think part of it is also design. Here we have a left exit for a major freeway off of another major freeway, so of course, trucks and all this nonsense get in the left lane slowing everything up. It`s just dumb.

Spasoje > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/06/2014 at 17:57

I would have loved that law were it around when I got backed into...

The best North American driving school I've ever found happens to be in Canada, where (at least on the West coast) that self-entitled driving culture is even worse than in the US! It's an interesting irony.

Even so, I'd like to see any average North American driver take their driving test in Rome, let's say, driving a Fia with two cops inside. I would totally film that.

Blondude > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/06/2014 at 18:01

THIS. To fail the drivers ed test here in Illinois you literally have to try to fail. It's pathetic.

Delta Five Nine > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 18:02

Only time I've been seriously brake checked was by a little blue Beetle hogging the fast lane. For some reason he thought brake checking with his Beetle would intimidate the driver in the 2 ton Town Car behind him... and I didn't/almost never flash or didn't anything provocative to this specific car. Thankfully the right lane opened up within seconds so I got away from him quickly.

duurtlang > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/06/2014 at 18:02

Just as a comparison: I had about 28 hours of driving with a licensed instructor on public roads when I took my first driving exam. I failed, like many/most people do the first time here. I passed the second time, but not before I'd added a few more hours of driving with an instructor, resulting of a total of 34-ish hours. I spent another 20+ hours in the back of this car, watching others being taught how to drive.

Delta Five Nine > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 18:05

If there's anything I've learned driving I75 through the week for a few years now, it's that if you want to go fast you have to go FAST. I only ever get decent lane discipline if I am going over 10 over. And that's with a rather large car, albeit a car not an SUV or something. Always frustrating when I look over and see the right lane very, very clear but cars side by side in the middle and fast lane, especially when it's later at night with light traffic.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 18:45

I have only had one encounter with a left lane hog while I was behind the wheel (been driving less than a year). I was on I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln. It was about 8 at night, dark out, with a surprising amount of traffic considering there was no Husker game. There was a Chevy Prism with five college kids camped out in the left lane, doing about 65-70 when the flow of traffic was 80. People were alternate feeding to get around these morons. "Fine," I thought, "they're probably just not paying attention." So I gave them a quick, single high-beam flash. Nothing. Three more flashes. I might as well be signaling another planet. The Suburban behind me gets fed up and roars around on the right. I get fed up too, and leave my high-beams on. Finally, I, too, pull into the right lane and punch it. As I pass, I get the you-mad-bro? look from the kids in the Prism, showing that they did indeed see me back there. So I did what any mature, polite driver would do, and cut in RIGHT in front of them. To my credit, I didn't brake-check them, and I used my signal, but I nevertheless received a high-beam in return for the ones I had issued. And they still never moved, causing the folks who had been behind me to pass on the right as well. It may have been a bit of aggressive driving on my part, but these bozos made me lose my patience.

Spasoje > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
04/06/2014 at 19:10

It's like my experience is looking at itself in the mirror! "My" hogger was an Asian man (there's a driving stereotype in these here parts) in a Corolla with his wife and possibly infant. Everything else was, word-for-word, the same.

Slave2anMG > The Transporter
04/06/2014 at 19:17

Sheep and the herd mentality. I don't think it's conscious but I think those dopes are just derping along and suddenly it's 10 miles later and they're still next to that other car. US 64 between Raleigh and Rocky Mount is about as bad for the assholes that I'll pass...then they'll pass me...then I'll pass them or they'll just speed up a little or more. Finally I say FUCK IT and get up to 90 just to pull away; slowing down does no good because the dopes SLOW DOWN TOO.

Where do these imbeciles come from? And how do they find their way home in the evenings?

The Transporter > Slave2anMG
04/06/2014 at 19:45

The people who would rather let you worry about what speed they're doing by CAMPING OUT IN YOUR BLIND SPOT are the worst. The irony is that they're all driving cars that you know full damned well come with cruse control standard. They can't be bothered to monitor their own speed and they can't be bothered to push a couple of buttons to let a computer do that menial task for them.

Mark - Sixpots None The Richer > Spasoje
04/06/2014 at 19:54

I don't know whether you already read my German perspective concerning the Autobahn. Maybe you'll be interested.

Spasoje > Mark - Sixpots None The Richer
04/06/2014 at 20:37

I haven't and I am! Off to check it out. :)

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > duurtlang
04/07/2014 at 03:04

AND THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE!!! :D

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Spasoje
04/07/2014 at 03:07

Both my parents learned to drive in Fia's! (well, my mom's actual driver's ed car was a Yugo, but she drove a Fia until my grandpa bought her a new opel kadett.)

Also, by your username "Spasoje" I assume you're from the same little corner of the world as me! yay for the Balkans!

Spasoje > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/07/2014 at 04:06

My dad learned in a Fia as well - being a rather tall guy, he had to reach for the ignition through the steering wheel lol

Po tvojoj profil slici, rekao bih da smo ak iz istog grada. :)

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Spasoje
04/07/2014 at 12:50

my dad (who is 6' 1") told me horror stories about the lack of legroom in there!
predpostavljam onda da si I ti iz Beograda? :D

Spasoje > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/07/2014 at 18:02

Iz NBG-a, tanije. Ti?

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Spasoje
04/07/2014 at 22:32

Ja sam iz savskog venca (ono, iznad zvezdinog I partizanovog stadiona, ako znas gde je to)
kolike su sanse, da naletim na nekoga iz Beograda ovde! :D

osbjmg > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/08/2014 at 09:06

I have the same complaints, but are you blaming the people, the roads, or the licensing requirements? I would like to see our licensing requirements much higher and more expensive, while taking longer to gain. It's not a game, bad drivers are killing people, hurting the economy, and fucking up a good time in general.

There's no reason police should be ticketing for speeding, when it's so easy to find really horrible driving, deserving of strict repercussions. I guess this is the easy way to do their jobs, and the government's out is just focusing on crash safety. But it is time we looked at and improved licensing to actually prove you are licensed, that's my argument.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > osbjmg
04/08/2014 at 13:30

I'm blaming the people who drive like they own the road (50 in the fast lane when the limit is 65/ the guy in the flex) and the licensing requirements

Spasoje > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/08/2014 at 18:33

Iskreno, ni ja nisam oekivao... :) Jel' se vraaš u BG esto?

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Spasoje
04/08/2014 at 20:28

Svake druge godine...
ovog jula cu biti u Beogradu.
Jedva cekam da vidim guzvu na mostovima hahaha!
samo sto iz seattle-a je let prilicno dugacak :/
A ti?

Spasoje > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/09/2014 at 01:50

I meni prija ta gužva! Ima nešto urbano u svemu tome što mi žeše nedostaje ovde u Vankuveru (BC)...mada ini mi se da ne bi bilo toliko arobno ako bih se svaki dan zatekao na Gazeli hehe

Obino i ja idem svake dve godine, mada za ovu godine emo tek da vidimo...provozaj se na mostu na Adi u moje ime. :D

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Spasoje
04/09/2014 at 02:16

Naravno! haha ja sam ziveo nekih 15-ak minuta odatle, tako da je to jedna od prvih stvari koje ima da uradim! isto, treba da vezbam prezivljavanje u urbanom Beogradskom saobracaju! ima da ponesem foto-aparat, tako da cu napraviti dosta slika ovih automobile koje nemamo ovde (Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Lancia, Lada, Zastava itd.)

Spasoje > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/10/2014 at 18:23

Samo uživaj! Probao sam da naem neke informacije o moguem skupu oldtajmera tokom jula... Za sada, izgleda da nee biti ništa, ali ako natrim na nešto, javljam ti.

Mada ako nisi nikad bio u muzeju automobila (Majke Jevrosime 30 - www.automuseumbgd.com ), preporuujem da ga posetiš!

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Spasoje
04/10/2014 at 20:53

bio sam, I to dosta puta u tom muzeju!
Ne znam tacno kada je, ali svakog leta se na Avali odrzavaju trke. zove se "Rally na Avali", I prilicno je interesantno.

Spasoje > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
04/11/2014 at 18:27

Koliko mogu da vidim, održavae se 8. i 9. juna...za malo, jbg :(