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#11
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Autobahn
Hi!
On 22.05.2018 23:40, The Real Bev wrote: > On 05/21/2018 03:48 AM, Erik Meltzer wrote: >> Eventually, I think you'll have to go back to public transport. > > Apparently, but I live in the suburbs of Los Angeles and public > transportation is woefully inadequate for general usage.* I can drive to > my daughter's house ~30 miles away in half an hour.* It would take 5 > hours by public transportation.* There are just too many places to go > to/from here to make this practical. > > Uber is suggested, but I don't see how that makes a difference.* A car > on the road is a car on the road.* Period.* It solves the parking > problem, of course. One might conceive something like buses that do not travel on predefined routes but according to demand. Passengers use their smartphone to register their location and destination and their desired time of departure, and a computer system routes the buses accordingly. Something similar is being built in Hamburg, Germany; we'll see how it goes, but given enough buses (or vans, which is what they'll use there), I can imagine it should work well. And be cheaper than taxis or Ubers, too. (Ubers are not really a viable alternative anyway -- they're affordable only by exploiting the owners/drivers.) >> I have since come up with another theory: speeding is less fun >> in SUVs, which are regrettably on the rise over here too, albeit >> not nearly as much as in the US from what I read. > > Worse gas mileage = more expensive, but I don't think that matters as > much as time.* You can see further in an SUV than in a Corolla, which > would seem to indicate that you could drive faster... The same speed feels the faster the higher you're sitting. Hence, maybe 100 mph in an SUV feels like 140 mph in a sedan (of similar size, engine, and ride quality). > Pretty much the same here, although* you're not allowed to drive > small-displacement motorcycles and other slow-by-design vehicles on the > freeways. There is such a limit in Germany as well, but it's ridiculously slow: you must be able to drive 60 km/h (36 mph) to legally use an Autobahn. The only vehicles that actually go that slow are driveable cranes and such, and sometimes city buses with standing passengers and motorbikes with trailers (both of which can't legally go faster). > Theory has it that slow drivers use the rightmost lane and > fast drivers use the leftmost, but slow drivers don't seem to understand > that concept.* These are the same people who apparently can't read the > SLOW VEHICLES USE TURNOUTS signs on narrow mountain roads. Slow traffic keep right works reasonably well over here. Letting faster traffic pass on single-lane roads does not. > 'Interstates' are generally not all that interesting for pleasure trips, > although they're fine for speed once you get out of the cities.* Older > Federal and State highways are much better and more interesting and > those are what we used for most of our cross-country driving. So that's similar. But I use the Bundesstraßen and Landstraßen not just for pleasure trips (and getting to the Autobahn), but sometimes also because I don't feel like participating in a traffic jam. Even with the big rig I drive for work, I've been known to avoid Autobahns (and occasionally it turned out I was actually faster that way). > BTW, your English is perfect.* If you're not a native English speaker > I'm impressed as all hell! Thank you. I was in England twice for a couple of weeks as a teenager, and I've mostly been reading English books and watching English movies ever since (and of course, websites & newsgroups). Yours, Ermel. -- Nach 10 Jahren oder so zurück im Usenet. Schmeckt wie früher. |
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#12
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Autobahn
On 05/23/2018 03:46 AM, Erik Meltzer wrote:
> Hi! > > On 22.05.2018 23:40, The Real Bev wrote: >> On 05/21/2018 03:48 AM, Erik Meltzer wrote: >>> Eventually, I think you'll have to go back to public transport. >> >> Apparently, but I live in the suburbs of Los Angeles and public >> transportation is woefully inadequate for general usage. I can drive to >> my daughter's house ~30 miles away in half an hour. It would take 5 >> hours by public transportation. There are just too many places to go >> to/from here to make this practical. >> >> Uber is suggested, but I don't see how that makes a difference. A car >> on the road is a car on the road. Period. It solves the parking >> problem, of course. > > One might conceive something like buses that do not travel on > predefined routes but according to demand. Passengers use their > smartphone to register their location and destination and their > desired time of departure, and a computer system routes the > buses accordingly. Something similar is being built in Hamburg, > Germany; we'll see how it goes, but given enough buses (or vans, > which is what they'll use there), I can imagine it should work > well. And be cheaper than taxis or Ubers, too. (Ubers are not > really a viable alternative anyway -- they're affordable only by > exploiting the owners/drivers.) "Jitney" system. For many years a distinguished British gentleman annoyed out City Fathers by advocating (loudly, and he had a beautiful singing voice) such a system at every council meeting. He ran for city council once, accepting no contribution greater than $5 (my only EVER political contribution) and lost, unfortunately. There's a cheap/free local bus system, but I've never used it. The Metro system (parts of LA County) is very nearly free for seniors, but I use it only for the few places I go to where I would have to pay for parking at $4/hour or more. >>> I have since come up with another theory: speeding is less fun >>> in SUVs, which are regrettably on the rise over here too, albeit >>> not nearly as much as in the US from what I read. >> >> Worse gas mileage = more expensive, but I don't think that matters as >> much as time. You can see further in an SUV than in a Corolla, which >> would seem to indicate that you could drive faster... > > The same speed feels the faster the higher you're sitting. Hence, > maybe 100 mph in an SUV feels like 140 mph in a sedan (of similar > size, engine, and ride quality). > >> Pretty much the same here, although you're not allowed to drive >> small-displacement motorcycles and other slow-by-design vehicles on the >> freeways. > > There is such a limit in Germany as well, but it's ridiculously > slow: you must be able to drive 60 km/h (36 mph) to legally use > an Autobahn. The only vehicles that actually go that slow are > driveable cranes and such, and sometimes city buses with standing > passengers and motorbikes with trailers (both of which can't > legally go faster). There are places out in the desert where the freeway is the only road that bicycles are allowed to use on the shoulder. I don't think we have speed limits for city buses, but I've never seen any (that I remember) on the freeway. Tour buses are common on the freeways and seem to exceed the nominal speed limit as often as cars do. >> BTW, your English is perfect. If you're not a native English speaker >> I'm impressed as all hell! > > Thank you. I was in England twice for a couple of weeks as a > teenager, and I've mostly been reading English books and watching > English movies ever since (and of course, websites & newsgroups). Do you have a British or American accent? We've been watching a German TV series called Bad Banks (in English). It's in German and sometimes French with English subtitles. It's truly impressive that the actors speak genuine unaccented American English as well as what sounds to my ears to be perfect German (I studied for 6 weeks and couldn't take it any more) and French (5 years). I'm also amazed at the Australian actors with perfect American accents. The idea that people can grow up speaking several languages natively is enviable. -- Cheers, Bev Not all cultures are equal. If they were, we would have a lot more cannibal restaurants. |
#13
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"Emergency Vehicle"
Erik Meltzer > wrote:
>On 07.12.2017 19:49, The Real Bev wrote: >Here in Germany, there are plenty of small access roads to Autobahns >marked (with the German signage equivalent to) "no passing for any >vehicles except emergency vehicles". They're for letting local >fire departments et.al. to enter the Autobahn in case of a crash >there, without needing to take the long way via the next official >entry/exit. Usually they lead to some acticultural road, which >from the other end is marked as no access accordingly. It's all very organized in Germany. Even if it doesn't always work as it should. ;-) >> and* there was ALWAYS some sort of ancient rusted wreck >> nearby. >Maybe the tow trucks dumped the wrecks near the access roads after >having dragged them off the main road, when it seemed foreseeable >that no-one would come to claim them and pay the towing bill? >Unrelated side note: I just resubscribed to rec.autos.driving after >a decade or so of absence, and got only nine postings. Is this >group dead, or is something wrong with my feed? It just got a lot quieter when people moved to the Internet for finger-painters. Likely your feed is subscription/reader sensistive but don't expects hundreds of articles a day. -- /"\ Bernd Felsche - Somewhere in Western Australia \ / ASCII ribbon campaign | For every complex problem there is an X against HTML mail | answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. / \ and postings | --HL Mencken |
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