You may have heard me say that one of the three things I’ll miss about Germany (assuming I ever get to move back to the States. Ahem.) is the Autobahn. I’m sorry, but I LOVE to drive my car pretty fast, and 55-65 mph just doesn’t cut it anymore. After living over here for 15 years, when I visit the States, I feel like I’m crawling along in my car on the highway.
One of my favorite commercials is this one:
Well, my ‘Stang isn’t a GT500 (just a GT which is pretty fast and quite enough of a guzzler), and it’s not a manual transmission (I’m a lazy driver these days and I don’t like a manual anymore because of the horrid, miles and miles long traffic jams in Germany, occasional as they may be), but you get the idea. So anyway, as I’m touring the roads and Autobahns here in Germany, it used to be that I just had to watch out for things like this:
This is a portable set up which gets moved from place to place to catch the unwary speeders on camera. There are also permanent cameras, but at least you always know where those are! A few months back though, my loving husband sent me this email:
Didi,
I thought you might find these interesting.
Love, me
Attached to this email were a few pictures like these:
Now why would he think I’d be interested in those? Oh, yeah. Right. There are times he really does know me pretty well. 
What a sweetheart to send me pictures of the new speed cameras, so that I know what to watch out for! And check out the really sly one embedded in the side of the car! While you may have heard that the Autobahn has no speed limits, that’s not entirely true (and obviously there are speed limits inside cities and towns where you see cameras like the ones shown in the three pictures above). In some areas on the Autobahn, true, there is no speed limit. But in other places there is a speed limit, anywhere from 100km to 130km per hour (62 to 80 miles per hour).
Okay, so I started keeping my eyes peeled for these cameras, because while I like to drive my car fast, I’d like to continue to drive it, and if you get too many tickets or you get caught driving toooo far over the speed limit, the nice Polizei take your license away for a few months, not to mention the fines. Eeeeewww. I must note here that I don’t completely blow off the speed limits, but the dang cameras will snap your picture if your even 7 km over the limit, which is less than 5 miles! In the interests of full disclosure, I think I’ve only had my picture taken about five times in 15 years, so that’s not too bad! And two of those times were on the same day in the space of about ten minutes, but that’s a different (and rather embarrassing) story for another time… 
I’ve never seen one of these “new” style cameras anywhere yet, which I suppose is the point after all. So this is just one of the things you get used to over here. Sometimes you can drive as fast as you want, and most times you really can’t. And even on those stretches of Autobahn where there really is no speed limit, I don’t drive much faster than 105-110 mph except to pass someone. Of course, at 110 mph, I’m still getting run off the road by those folks who are driving 150-175 or more. Seriously. I’m not kidding: 150-175 mph or more! For the record, I think that’s just nuts. But I digress.
But another email from ITMan really threw me for a loop this morning. He forwarded this to me along with a couple of other “situational awareness” type emails from the Army:
Polizei will be running double camera cars, a few miles apart of each other, on the A6, A62 and A63 starting TODAY (25 Sept 09) for the next 2-3 weeks (actual end date unknown). If a car is flashed for speeding at the first one, then flashed for speeding on the second, the driver will lose their license for 6 MONTHS and receive a 2,000 EURO fine.
Um. Wha? Yes, I know that there are portable cameras, and I know that there are fines for speeding, yadda yadda. But I’m pretty sure that there’s no law on the books anywhere about staking out sections of the Autobahn with double camera cars and handing out 2,000 Euro fines and six month license suspensions for speeding.
I’ve always suspected that the Polizei here pretty much did what they wanted to do (which is why I’ve always walked—and driven—pretty small and tried not to be noticed when they’re around), but this just takes the cake. You just have to love a country where the Polizei can make up laws when they feel like it. Thankfully, I don’t spend a lot of time in the area where this is taking place since it’s north of here by Ramstein and Kaiserslautern. Sheesh. Welcome to Germany!
Go quilt! Your work gets better every day!
October 1, 2009 at 3:48 am
Wow, I have to say your speed limits don’t sound so fast…you’ve just ruined my dreams of the autobahn. I learned to drive in Canada where 120 kph is about average on the highway and lots of people driving 140. (They do risk fines and stiffer penalties for repeat offenders, but lots of people do it.) Here in the US it is SLOW…but as a [reluctant] adult, I realize this is probably better.
-christina
October 1, 2009 at 6:59 am
Hi Christina, and welcome!
Keep those dreams alive! There are still some places that have no speed limit at all, so all is not lost!
And even in the places where the limit is 120kph, people routinely drive 140 because usually, the fines don’t start being really huge and bothersome until you’re caught driving 30kph over the limit. At least that’s what the law says…Polizei do what they want it seems… 
Nadine (Another [reluctant] adult)
October 1, 2009 at 7:32 am
I remember on my trip to Nashville last year being thrilled in Kentucky when legally I could drive 120 km. Our 100 km limit on the major highways in Ontario is ridiculous outside of the major cities. The 401 between Toronto and the Ottawa cut-off, if you’re not doing at least 120 you’re a hazard.
I hope one day the regulators will wake up!
October 2, 2009 at 8:47 am
It’s the same way on the Autobahns here sometimes; if you’re not driving a decent speed, you’re a hazard! I tell this to my husband frequently when he drives slow…
October 2, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Ladies,
My son is a firefighter/paramedic. Be glad, be very glad we are “slow” here. I give my boy hugs and support after he cleans up some absolutely horrendous accidents and and no one is going the speeds of the Autobahn or the Trans Canada Highway.
October 2, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Kelly, I hear you, and I’ve seen my fair share of bad accidents both here and there! But one of the other big differences between driving in Germany and driving in the States is that Germans take driving much more seriously than Americans, in my opinion and experience. Driving lessons are months long and very expensive, and actually owning a car is even more so. And the Autobahn has always been this way, and people here are used to driving very fast.
The laws are different here as well, the most notable being that it’s illegal to pass on the right (which doesn’t mean no one ever does it, but when people do it it’s noteworthy and they do it with caution). Honestly, I didn’t always drive that fast on the Autobahn, I had to get used to it, and learn how it’s really done. It’s like a dance, and people are very predictable when they drive here as a general rule.
I hate to drive on the highways when I go back to the States, but it’s not just because it feels slow. It’s truly more about how out of control people are on the highways there, regardless of how fast they are driving.
Basically I KNOW it would be a total disaster if the entire US jumped to much higher speed limits, only because it would be new and different, and people wouldn’t have been driving at those speeds their whole lives. And the driving laws don’t support it; IMO, the number one thing that saves the Autobahn from being total chaos at high speeds is the law against passing on the right. It may not make sense why it matters so much until you’ve actually driven this way, but once you have, the laws in the States are the ones that are crazy…
October 3, 2009 at 12:41 am
Nadine,
I hear you! Each country is so different. I was in Scotland for two weeks this summer and we did drive. After we got used to the roundabouts we appreciated the ease they gave in getting through towns. I think I am a little sensitive to speed because the most recent accident my son cleaned up but really – Mustangs rule!!