Damn you Firefox! *shakes fist*

[solidark]

You know what I hate? I hate it when Firefox starts to annoy me with twice-a-day popups whining UPDATE OR DIE!!! because sooner or late I give in and, well, update. And it usually ends in disaster because I have a bazillion add-ons and themes installed and usually something weird happens and things refuse to work together. Like, right at the moment

Comments

[yachinami]

Yeah, I'd heard the no speed limit on the Autobahn thing, though I never really though much about it. I also heard somewhere in Germany there is a city (I think it was just one specific city) that holds a (monthly?) raffle where you can win a portion of the money from all the speeding tickets in the area. Or something. IDEK.

As for radar speed-traps and whatnot, I think I'd agree they aren't that widespread, at least in certain places? I heard of cameras for people who run red lights down in a city maybe 45 minutes to an hour south of where I live (and I think they all have a sign for each camera, indicating it's monitoring traffic), and there are obvious cameras posted here and there on the highway (though I've gone at least 10 miles over the limit (usually 5 over is as fast as you can go and have most cops ignore you) passing them a few times and haven't had a ticket mailed to me yet), but other than that I never see anything indicating anything on the regular roads in town I live in.

[solidark]

There are indeed sections of the Autobahn where you can drive as fast as your car can go but they are few and far between. There is simply too much traffic and if they allowed it everywhere the police and firemen would do nothing all day except scraping human remains off the tarmac (no, seriously, the Germans are crazy).

I haven't heard of that speeding tickets lottery *lol*. Maybe that was in Switzerland (they do have laws that allow this, I think. Or at least they can change them much more easily than other European countries).

So they do indeed exist. I dunno but if I were the US administration I would probably put them everywhere, like they do here. It's like a reliable money printing machine (because some people are just plain stupid. My boss's dentist comes with a speeding ticket about every two months. And he isn't the only one). Many counties here make a considerable part of their budget by putting these things everywhere ^^;;

[usisblog]

They say? Sorry to dissapoint you but I'm sure it is against law. We have a rule for nearly everything ;). Maybe there was such a city once but today cities are so low on funds they really need that money themself. Darn democrats, you started it

[solidark]

There is one in front of your house? I never noticed it! But then, I'm probably not supposed to anyway (I mean, if everyone did, they couldn't make money with it).

Here, the very... creative... ideas the police has for placing speed traps (also the manually operated ones!) are a source of much amusement around here. They often hide in bushes (very funny when all you can see is the cap of the policeman in question holding the radar pistol above the bush) and in winter they also hide in the big trash cans (no, I'm not joking). Oh, the exciting lives of policemen in rural Bavaria... ;)

*cough* You know that people here say that the "Ossis" are crazy? Not that they're much better here, at least not to my knowledge. But if I have to drive in thick fog (or snow) and the idiot behind me is, like, 2 meters away I get absolutely furious! I try to get as far away from the person in front of me as possible but some people seem to need the sight of the rear lights in front of them to feel comfortable :/ Which is... dangerous.

[usisblog]

Jupp, the speedy one. Not the one with more holes than a sieve ;). The fence got renewed each few months since someone hit it. The last big accident is a few years back. Fence got razored for 50 meters at least and that part had to be renewed instead of just going fixed.

IN the cans? No really? Is it a town folks thing?

At least that part about Ossis you can believe. Freeways are like fight clubs. The more east the more agressive. You can't stay off it or you have your car demolished or worse yourself. Maybe because since in this area are a lot more loosers and "undersized" male brains. Since there are no real jobs the good women leave. The car sign for our town (they call themself city) isn't GR for nothing and it does not mean Greece. If you are a tourist at the wrong line of the street other drivers will let you "starve" if you want to go in other line. They blocking you like a pack or honk like crazy and driving way to far. Here someone would call the police for doing so.
I don' think they changed much last 12 years.

[solidark]

Yes, in the cans. I suppose they clean them beforehand ^^;; They don't do it in summer, though, for obvious reasons.

Since I've never been east of Freising (at least not within Germany) I can't say much about it but everyone I know who ever had to drive a car there is full of stories about the godawful way they drive. But they say the same thing about northern Germans, too. And here too I can't say much, never having been north of Frankfurt/M and never having driven a car north of Ludwigsburg (but IMO the people from Ludwigsburg - LB - are the worst drivers ever! And I swear they make up half of the cars in Stuttgart. I hate driving there ><;;).. I think a problem of the Germans is that they know exactly what their "rights" are and they insist on them. Israelis, Greeks and Italians (and Mexicans) are godawful drivers too but they are very flexible and have quick reflexes and I never witnessed an accident there. But the Spaniards are just like the Germans. You can't drive ten km in southern Spain without passing an accident on either