I recently posted a blog pertaining to German roads and their gloriousness and the fact that our system and driving skill-set sucks. Yes, I believe that's the word I used...
In no time flat, I got many high-fives on Twitter and Facebook and so I thought that my job was done. As I sifted through the comments, I found a few that pointed out that not all things are rosy on German Autobahns. I did mention that the grass is not always greener...
Sure, if you get into an accident at 150 km/h, you probably won't survive. Hell, I'd rather be dead than spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I'm speaking for myself, of course. It's not just a safety issue, it's a mindset. We are owed our permits and that creates drivers that are lazy and reactive and because of our collective lack of skill, we get hurt or dead and often. In Germany, driving is a hard-earned privilege.
A few years back, I did some research for my TV segment which aired on CTV. The topic was driver's licences and the variations from country to country. Back then, I found that in Germany, the base age was of 18 years, that there was a minimum of 24 hours of theory and that there were minimally 40 hours of practice on the road, 3 of which had to be performed at night. On top of this, these young people had to take an 8-hour first aid course. Also, these classes cost thousands of Euros, not a few hundred bucks.
The laws have changed over here, but the damage is already done. It will take decades upon decades to note any type of improvement in our behaviour.
“What does this tell me?” you ask. Well, at the time, there were fewer accidents per capita in Germany and other European countries than in North America. Considering this, I guess extra schooling does count for something.
And then, there are the roads themselves. Unlike our amateur-like 6-inch thick pebble-mud-crap-asphalt-junk jobs that have to be redone every 6 weeks, the Germans use a thicker (14 inches or more) asphalt-concrete cross-section with full paved hard shoulders on all Autobahns and most roads. I'm sure their overpasses and bridges are better assembled as well.
In light of eastern Canada's crumbling infrastructure, wouldn't it make sense to go faster? If only to try and out-pace a falling piece of concrete? Nah, we'd just rear-end a “sensible” person cruising along at 95 km/h in the left lane and then be crushed.
In no time flat, I got many high-fives on Twitter and Facebook and so I thought that my job was done. As I sifted through the comments, I found a few that pointed out that not all things are rosy on German Autobahns. I did mention that the grass is not always greener...
Sure, if you get into an accident at 150 km/h, you probably won't survive. Hell, I'd rather be dead than spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I'm speaking for myself, of course. It's not just a safety issue, it's a mindset. We are owed our permits and that creates drivers that are lazy and reactive and because of our collective lack of skill, we get hurt or dead and often. In Germany, driving is a hard-earned privilege.
A few years back, I did some research for my TV segment which aired on CTV. The topic was driver's licences and the variations from country to country. Back then, I found that in Germany, the base age was of 18 years, that there was a minimum of 24 hours of theory and that there were minimally 40 hours of practice on the road, 3 of which had to be performed at night. On top of this, these young people had to take an 8-hour first aid course. Also, these classes cost thousands of Euros, not a few hundred bucks.
The laws have changed over here, but the damage is already done. It will take decades upon decades to note any type of improvement in our behaviour.
“What does this tell me?” you ask. Well, at the time, there were fewer accidents per capita in Germany and other European countries than in North America. Considering this, I guess extra schooling does count for something.
And then, there are the roads themselves. Unlike our amateur-like 6-inch thick pebble-mud-crap-asphalt-junk jobs that have to be redone every 6 weeks, the Germans use a thicker (14 inches or more) asphalt-concrete cross-section with full paved hard shoulders on all Autobahns and most roads. I'm sure their overpasses and bridges are better assembled as well.
In light of eastern Canada's crumbling infrastructure, wouldn't it make sense to go faster? If only to try and out-pace a falling piece of concrete? Nah, we'd just rear-end a “sensible” person cruising along at 95 km/h in the left lane and then be crushed.