Peter Egan supports Rechtfahren!!
This is the article I was telling a couple of you guys about earlier this fall...
LINKIE to article
It's a long read but well worth the time.
These people were watching their mirrors! And they knew exactly what to do.
You're right. It is a long read.Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
This is the article I was telling a couple of you guys about earlier this fall...
LINKIE to article
It's a long read but well worth the time.
Got
?
What the hell does Rechtfahren mean?
Literally, load right. But on German roads it means those with heavy loads or slower vehicles should keep right on the highway... much like our Texas state laws that say "Slower Traffic Keep Right" and "Left Lane For Passing Only".
It actually means "Drive right." And unless I'm mistaken, it's "Rechtsfahren", not "Rechtfahren."
Speed
Almost... you're correct, I missed the "s" (the letter "s" implies motion towards, without it the word just means right [as opposed to left])... and it's supposed to be two words.
"Rechts fahren" literally means to the right (rechts) go (fahren)... but the implication is drive to the right (or keep the road load to the right).
What an excellent article... addresses a lot of my frustrations... though it doesn't get to non-use or random use of indicators; deliberate and aggressive blocking of merge areas; the astonishingly thoughtless behaviour of both drivers and pedestrians in car parks; and people accelerating when you go to overtake (a problem not confined to the US!).
Two questions:
- How long before you became accustomed to driving on the wrong side of the road?
- How in the hell is one to realistically make it out of those damned English traffic circles?
Last time I drove in Britain, it took me about 100 yards to adapt. Those who can't adapt to driving on the correct side of the road for their environment (right side in the states, left side in the UK) usually don't last long.Two questions:
- How long before you became accustomed to driving on the wrong side of the road?
- How in the hell is one to realistically make it out of those damned English traffic circles?
Traffic circles are the simplest and best solution to multi-road intersections, provided you have drivers with more than two brain cells to rub together. Drivers in the circle have right-of-way over drivers on the feeder roads, and upstream drivers have right-of-way (i.e., in a US traffic circle which rotates counter-clockwise, the guy entering the circle at the 6 o'clock position has right-of-way over the guy entering at the 3 o'clock position) over downstream drivers. You don't signal to enter a circle (since there is only one correct way to enter it), but you do signal to leave it, which gives the drivers in the circle behind you an indication of what you're about to do. As long as you're paying attention (instead of chatting on your cel while sipping your double-caf Mocha Grande), traffic circles allow people to traverse intersections much more quickly than typical traffic light arrangements.
Unfortunately, traffic circles won't work in the US, where the idea of right-of-way is a lost art, and drivers will resort to foul-tempered anarchy unless specifically spoonfed exactly what to do and when to do it, which is what traffic lights do.
Iain
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Treibenschnell,
You speak German? Just curious how you came up with your nickname?
A little bit... I took some German and Russian in high school and college. Some of the Russian stuck... the German seems to have faded away due to lack of practice.
Now I'm attempting to learn Japanese.
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