Mothers againts Dumb Drivers

Rasczak · 07-10-2007

Everyone loves to hate drunk drivers, including me, and I think every effort should be made to keep them off the road.

But alcohol isn't the only thing that impairs someone's ability to operate a vehicle safely. I submit that being an incompetant driver - whether its because you're too old, too young, or just too unskilled is just and dangerous.

Should there be tougher standards and penalties to keep crappy drivers off the roads?

MRiGnS · 07-10-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasczak

Should there be tougher standards and penalties to keep crappy drivers off the roads?

yes

Rasczak · 07-10-2007

Glad you agree. If I remember correctly, obtaining a drivers license in Germany is not easy - correct?

MRiGnS · 07-10-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasczak

Glad you agree. If I remember correctly, obtaining a drivers license in Germany is not easy - correct?

Well, you have to be 18 to drive alone and 17 to be allowed to drive with someone having his license for min. 3 years afaik.

You have a 2 year long testing phase (dunno the right word) after you got your license.

But actually I don't know much about the differences as I'm not very common with the US procedure in obtaining a license.

+ i got my license in italy. I'll investigate and provide add. informations.

bns · 07-10-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasczak

Everyone loves to hate drunk drivers, including me, and I think every effort should be made to keep them off the road.

But alcohol isn't the only thing that impairs someone's ability to operate a vehicle safely. I submit that being an incompetant driver - whether its because you're too old, too young, or just too unskilled is just and dangerous.

Should there be tougher standards and penalties to keep crappy drivers off the roads?

I agree completely. However, we then have the problem of how do bad drivers get to work? I think we need better public transportation. Then, driving is more of a privilege and less of a necessity. Then you would be more free to demand high standards for driver's licenses. As it stands, I'd like to get them off the road, but I'd hate to think that I was causing them to suffer because they can't get a ride to work.

MRiGnS · 07-10-2007

stuff i found

Quote:

When driving on the German Autobahn, one realizes that auto racing is not confined to famous race tracks like the Nürburgring. Germans, and the Austrians and Swiss, like to drive fast, and they have been in love with their cars ever since Carl Benz (1844-1927) invented the first practical motor car in 1885. The company formed by the 1926 merger of the two firms that Benz and fellow automobile inventor Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900) had created would become the industrial giant Daimler-Benz AG, Germany’s largest concern. (As of Nov. 1998, DaimlerChrysler AG.) But it is Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, which is now Europe’s largest auto maker. Germany is the third largest producer of automobiles in the world (exceeded only by Japan and the United States) and a country that takes its driving very seriously. This is understandable when you realize that a German driver’s license costs about $1500-2000, after a minimum of 25-45 hours of professional instruction plus 12 hours of theory, and such a license is good for life.

German and European traffic law has a few variations that North American drivers may not always be aware of. For instance, it is illegal to pass on the right on the Autobahn. Slow moving vehicles must always move to the right, and faster vehicles may pass on the left only. The only exception is when both lanes are moving slowly (under 60 km per hour, 35 mph), as in the frequent traffic jams (Verkehrsstaus). In such cases drivers are allowed to pass on the right, but at a speed no higher than 20 km per hour faster than the traffic in the left lane. [For more on traffic laws in A, CH, and D see our driving links below.]

You will see speed limit signs (round) posted much less often in Germany than in the U.S. But German drivers are expected to know the law. In cities and towns, the speed limit (Tempolimit) is 50 km/h (31 mph) unless otherwise posted. In the last decade or so, the "30-Zone" has gained great popularity. These are residential areas with a posted 30 km/h (18 mph) speed limit to protect children and pedestrians who live in the neighborhood. On normal two-lane highways the limit is 100 km/h (62 mph). Cars towing trailers must stay under 80 km/h (50 mph). The autobahn has a "suggested" speed limit of 130 km/h (80 mph), a suggestion widely ignored by many Mercedes and Porsche drivers. They may suddenly appear out of nowhere, close behind, blinking their brights to move you out of their way. Not even $4.00-per-gallon gasoline can make most German drivers slow down.

In Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, children under the age of 13 are not allowed to sit in the front seat of any vehicle that has a back seat. Seat belts are mandatory for the driver and all passengers in the car, front and back.

Most of Europe, including Germany, has a .08 (0,8 pro mille) blood alcohol limit for drunk driving. (.05 if you are involved in an accident.) In former East Germany the legal limit for driving under the influence was zero until 1992. German law deals harshly with driving under the influence. Violators may lose their license on the first offense and must pay high fines...

It is rare to see a dented, smoking junk car in Germany. This is not just due to typical German neatness or pride of ownership. It also has to do with a German institution that is as feared and respected as is perhaps the Internal Revenue Service in the U.S. The Technische Überwachungsverein or TÜV is an agency that must approve the roadworthiness of German cars and trucks. Without a TÜV (pronounced TOOF) sticker, a vehicle can't be licensed or driven. Cars have been known to fail TÜV inspection for having a single rust spot or dent in a critical location. A broken light or a malfunctioning exhaust system would be obvious reasons for rejection. A popular bumper sticker seen on older German vehicles likely to run afoul of TÜV reads, "Bis daß der TÜV uns scheidet." (“Till TÜV us do part.”)...

07-10-2007	#1 (permalink)
Rasczak Stirrer Of Shit Join Date: May 2007 Location: Oahu Posts: 3,955	Mothers againts Dumb Drivers Everyone loves to hate drunk drivers, including me, and I think every effort should be made to keep them off the road. But alcohol isn't the only thing that impairs someone's ability to operate a vehicle safely. I submit that being an incompetant driver - whether its because you're too old, too young, or just too unskilled is just and dangerous. Should there be tougher standards and penalties to keep crappy drivers off the roads?
	Eric "For whoever habitually suppresses the truth in the interests of tact will produce a deformity from the womb of his thought." -Sir Basil H. Liddel-Hart "How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."—Ronald Reagan http://self-composed.com

07-10-2007	#3 (permalink)
Rasczak Stirrer Of Shit Join Date: May 2007 Location: Oahu Posts: 3,955	Re: Mothers againts Dumb Drivers Glad you agree. If I remember correctly, obtaining a drivers license in Germany is not easy - correct?
	Eric "For whoever habitually suppresses the truth in the interests of tact will produce a deformity from the womb of his thought." -Sir Basil H. Liddel-Hart "How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."—Ronald Reagan http://self-composed.com