Driving on Motorways

.../> For any kind of driving in Germany, you need to take your full driving licence (both card and paper parts if you have the more recent type), insurance certificate (third party only is OK), headlamp converters, GB sticker (if your number plate does not feature it - we got a magnetic one in WHSmith for a whopping £5.99!), First Aid kit, hazard warning triangle (although legally you don't need one unless you break down) and cash (just in case you ...
...this. As someone who likes driving fairly fast, I found this most liberating but I wasn't prepared to do the Grand Prix speeds that some of the cars were passing me at!

On a typical three-lane autobahn, I found that the lorries would hog the inside lane, the middle lane would be for the majority of cars (who on average would be doing around 130-150km/h (78-93mph) and then the outside lane was usually empty, apart from a few cars that ... more

Last month my partner and I had a little road trip to Germany, and I thought I'd share with you the difference between the German motorways (or autobahns, I should say) and the UK motorways.

*** Stats ***
Germany boasts over 7400 miles of motorway roads, and do not charge tolls on any of them. They were also the nation to invent the motorway, with the first Autobahn built between Cologne and Bonn in 1929. Like the UK, Autobahns have two, three or occasionally four lanes but you do need to drive on the right! They all have hard-shoulders and nearly all slip roads on and off the motorway are fairly long.

*** What you need to take with you***
For any kind of driving in Germany, you need to take your full driving licence (both card and paper parts if you have the more recent type), insurance certificate (third party only is OK), headlamp converters, GB sticker (if your number plate does not feature it - we got a magnetic one in WHSmith for a whopping £5.99!), First Aid kit, hazard warning triangle (although legally you don't need one unless you break down) and cash (just in case you need to pay on-the-spot fines!). Visibility vests are not yet compulsory, but this may change. A Green card is also not essential, but you should advise your insurance company of your trip.

*** Road Signs and Road Numbering ***
As someone who doesn't speak much German, I could still understand the majority of the signposts. The signs with text rather that symbols were obviously harder, but I fortunately had my German-speaking partner in the car to translate. If you are planning a trip and want to familiarise yourself first, an excellent website for this is http://gettingaroundgermany.home.att.net/zeichen.htm#supp which also covers roadmarkings and the necessary vocabulary.

Autobahns have names that consist of an 'A' followed by up to three digits. Roughly speaking, even-numbered roads connect east to west destinations, and odd numbers indicate mainly a north to south direction. However, I found much of the navigation was by using the city we were heading for, as some roads have more than one name/number (for example the A2 road is also the E34) - so ensure you know which direction you require.

Other than the duel name of the road confusion, the signs were plentiful, clear and in good condition. An excellent site for perusing the German road network is http://www.hot-maps.de/europe/germany/germany_physical/homeen.html

*** Speed ***
One of the best advantages to the Germany motorway is that there are no speed restrictions at all for large sections of it. Where there are no restrictions, Germany has a suggested maximum speed shown on a blue sign of 130km/h (78 mph), but many people will drive much faster than this. As someone who likes driving fairly fast, I found this most liberating but I wasn't prepared to do the Grand Prix speeds that some of the cars were passing me at!

On a typical three-lane autobahn, I found that the lorries would hog the inside lane, the middle lane would be for the majority of cars (who on average would be doing around 130-150km/h (78-93mph) and then the outside lane was usually empty, apart from a few cars that absolutely bomb past you. Of course, the braver person would attempt to use this lane for overtaking from the middle lane, but I wouldn't advise it unless you have a powerful engine or there is nothing coming in the outside lane. Those Porsches often just appear out of nowhere. Some cars will flash their headlights or use their left indicator to show that they would like you to move back into the middle lane, but I don't think this is a particularly legal move so don't attempt it yourself!

There are, however sections where there is a speed limit, indicated by the speed in km/h in a round sign, and/or overhead electronic signs, much the same as the UK. Some drivers will still ignore this but the majority of drivers slow down to the required speed.

There are also variable speed limits. Some have hourly restrictions to protect local residents, and some are related to the weather - a sign that says 'Bei Nässe' means 'when wet'. When there are roadworks the speed limit is often greatly reduced. Cars towing trailers are limited to 80 km/h (48 mph) on the autobahns.

*** Other rules ***
Seatbelts must be worn at all times, in the front and back. The drink drive limit is 0.05% blood alcohol content. Drivers in Germany will often switch on dipped headlights in poor visibility - which may just mean a slightly nasty-looking cloud. I found it was best to switch them on when everyone else did - a pathetic attempt to blend in. Passing on the right is strictly prohibited unless the traffic is heavy. If you have a breakdown or an accident, you must display the hazard triangle, and report the incident using the emergency call boxes which are installed at 2km intervals. You are likely to be fined if you are caught stopping on the hard shoulder for any other reason - including running out of petrol!

*** Lane Discipline ***
I found that this worked really well in Germany. The same theory as the UK applies, in that you move over to the nearest inside lane after overtaking. Most cars will move over within seconds of overtaking, and as they are going faster than you, you don't run any risk of having to suddenly jam your breaks on.

What I particularly liked about the lane use was how drivers seemed to foresee a problem. I'll give you a situation which you'll be familiar with in the UK. It's a three lane motorway. In the inside lane are loads of lorries and slow moving vehicles. You're in the middle lane, happily zooming along. Then up ahead, a lorry moving at the speed of sludge pulls out to overtake another lorry. You go to overtake in the outside lane, but you see another car zooming along faster. In the UK, that car in the outside lane would a) see what was about to happen, zoom on and then gloat at you slamming on the breaks and then getting stuck in the middle lane, or b) not even notice and zoom on anyway.

There are a lot of lorries on the motorways I was driving on, so this situation occurred many times. And in 95% of cases, the guy in the outside lane slowed down to let me pull out. I would overtake, pull back into the middle lane immediately, and the guy in the outside lane would rocket past. The traffic flows in the most efficient way possible, and everyone's a winner. By the way, I don't use 'guy' by accident - I saw a very small percentage of women drivers for some reason.

*** Condition of the Roads ***
Of what I saw last month, the motorways seemed to be in excellent condition, on the whole. The road surface is good, there are plenty of signposts, and there is rarely litter by the side of the road. The only issue I had was on occasional small stretches of road, in the 'lorry' lane', the vehicles have worn tyre groves into the road, making it feel like you're driving in shallow rut which can catch you unawares.

*** Junctions ***
These appear to have been planned out incredibly well. They are all clearly numbered, and will always have a long slip road - especially to enter the motorway. Lorries in the inside lane will see you gathering speed and always let you in, regardless of how busy it is. With many of the junctions it is very easy to get back onto the motorway if you have taken the wrong junction.

*** Roadworks ***
We saw several sets of roadworks while we were driving around Germany. For smaller works there would be a warning in the overhead electronic message boards that a lane ahead would be closing, and then a vehicle ahead would block the lane with large flashing lights and arrows. The traffic had plenty of time to merge lanes and everything continued to flow. For larger works, this usually meant crossing the central reservation and using the lanes on the other side of the road. There was also plenty of warning for these and the road would be remarked with yellow lines rather than white. All types of roadworks had severe speed limit reductions which were (for the most part) adhered to.

*** Views ***
When we drove into Germany last month, we had been driving from the Eurotunnel at Calais, which means taking in France, Belgium and Holland before arriving at Germany. The scenery so far had been very flat, a few trees, and a few houses. Almost as soon as we crossed the border into Germany there seemed to be rolling hills and thick, dense forests. There were also many, many gigantic wind turbines.

While I can't speak for every German autobahn, the ones I went on had very lovely views, with no grotty areas around the road. The only negative point was the amount of graffiti on walls and bridges as we neared Berlin, but most seemed to be messages rather than mindless tags. See photos below for some views taken from the road.

*** Service Stations ***
These are called Rasthof or Raststätte and are every 40-60km. Getting petrol from a service station is pretty easy. The types of petrol offered are:
- Regular Unleaded (Normal Bleifrei)
- Super Unleaded (Super Bleifrei )
- Super Plus Unleaded (Super Plus Bleifrei)
- Diesel
The stations work in the same way as those in the UK, although if they are busy, many drivers will pull forward from the pump or move into a parking space before going to pay. There doesn't seem to be any cameras on the forecourt - but I'm not going to advise doing a runner!

Some service stations will just have parking facilities and public toilets, most will have a petrol station and some will have a restaurant. To break up our journey across Germany we stopped in a couple of these restaurants. I was really impressed at the cleanliness, the polite and friendly service, and the range of food available. One place we stopped had a fantastic looking salad bar, a juice bar, a whole range of rolls and baguettes, as well as hot food and the option to select some meat which they would grill for you. Everything came well presented and was very reasonably priced. It had a smoking and non-smoking sections and a large play area outside for children.

*** Conclusion ***
On the whole, I found the motorway driving experience in Germany very good. There seems to be a lot less traffic than your average motorway in the UK, and we drove at both weekend and midweek. Once you get used to the fast speed that everyone else is going, everything flows so well and is pretty straightforward. And what a great way to see Germany!

For up-to-date details on the rules and regulations, please check http://www.germany-tourism.co.uk/EGB/practical_information/driving_in_germa ny.htm

Thanks for reading,
GK
 

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