The German autobahns

For the most part have no speed limit, you can go as fast as you want, I have driven on them many times, and ridden motorbikes there at in excess of 160 mph, I have also ridden motorbikes all over Asia and the rest of Europe, I can safely say the German standard of driving on the Autobahns (motorways) is better than anywhere else in the world I have had the pleasure of being.

Most of these roads are also only 2 lanes wide, people overtake and then move back in to the inside lane, where in other countries with 3 or 4 lanes, and 50 - 70 mph limits, you find a tendency of people to sit in a middle or outside lane and "hog it" as if they own it, probably due to the fact their mentality works along the lines of I am doing the legal speed limit, so tough luck if you want to go faster.

With the German system of no speed limit it frees up police that would be aimlessly driving on these roads looking for the next victim, to actually be able to concentrate on real police work, and crime solving.

I noted last year that they extended the no speed limit rule to more towns also, to experiment on how people would act with no speed limit in a town, it was/is a resounding success, they quote drivers as saying "we do not have to look at road signs and speed signs now, so I can spend more time looking out for pedestrians" would you like to read an article on more towns/cities doing the same? if so it is here if not have some of the info below.

"We reject every form of legislation," the Russian aristocrat and "father of anarchism" Mikhail Bakunin once thundered. The czar banished him to Siberia. But now it seems his ideas are being rediscovered.

European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way, as brethren -- by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and warning signs.

A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs. Ejby, in Denmark, is participating in the experiment, as are Ipswich in England and the Belgian town of Ostende.

The utopia has already become a reality in Makkinga, in the Dutch province of Western Frisia. A sign by the entrance to the small town (population 1,000) reads "Verkeersbordvrij" -- "free of traffic signs." Cars bumble unhurriedly over precision-trimmed granite cobblestones. Stop signs and direction signs are nowhere to be seen. There are neither parking meters nor stopping restrictions. There aren't even any lines painted on the streets.

"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles."

Monderman could be on to something. Germany has 648 valid traffic symbols. The inner cities are crowded with a colorful thicket of metal signs. Don't park over here, watch out for passing deer over there, make sure you don't skid. >The forest of signs is growing ever denser. Some 20 million traffic signs have already been set up all over the country.

Psychologists have long revealed the senselessness of such exaggerated regulation. About 70 percent of traffic signs are ignored by drivers. What's more, the glut of prohibitions is tantamount to treating the driver like a child and it also foments resentment. He may stop in front of the crosswalk, but that only makes him feel justified in preventing pedestrians from crossing the street on every other occasion. Every traffic light baits him with the promise of making it over the crossing while the light is still yellow.

"Unsafe is safe"

The result is that drivers find themselves enclosed by a corset of prescriptions, so that they develop a kind of tunnel vision: They're constantly in search of their own advantage, and their good manners go out the window.

The new traffic model's advocates believe the only way out of this vicious circle is to give drivers more liberty and encourage them to take responsibility for themselves. They demand streets like those during the Middle Ages, when horse-drawn chariots, handcarts and people scurried about in a completely unregulated fashion. The new model's proponents envision today's drivers and pedestrians blending into a colorful and peaceful traffic stream.

It may sound like chaos, but it's only the lesson drawn from one of the insights of traffic psychology: Drivers will force the accelerator down ruthlessly only in situations where everything has been fully regulated. Where the situation is unclear, they're forced to drive more carefully and cautiously.

Indeed, "Unsafe is safe" was the motto of a conference where proponents of the new roadside philosophy met in Frankfurt in mid-October.

True, many of them aren't convinced of the new approach. "German drivers are used to rules," says Michael Schreckenberg of Duisburg University. If clear directives are abandoned, domestic rush-hour traffic will turn into an Oriental-style bazaar, he warns. He believes the new vision of drivers and pedestrians interacting in a cozy, relaxed way will work, at best, only for small towns.

But one German borough is already daring to take the step into lawlessness. The town of Bohmte in Lower Saxony has 13,500 inhabitants. It's traversed by a country road and a main road. Cars approach speedily, delivery trucks stop to unload their cargo and pedestrians scurry by on elevated sidewalks.

The road will be re-furbished in early 2007, using EU funds. "The sidewalks are going to go, and the asphalt too. Everything will be covered in cobblestones," Klaus Goedejohann, the mayor, explains. "We're getting rid of the division between cars and pedestrians."

The plans derive inspiration and motivation from a large-scale experiment in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands, which has 45,000 inhabitants. There, cars have already been driving over red natural stone for years. Cyclists dutifully raise their arm when they want to make a turn, and drivers communicate by hand signs, nods and waving.

"More than half of our signs have already been scrapped," says traffic planner Koop Kerkstra. "Only two out of our original 18 traffic light crossings are left, and we've converted them to roundabouts." Now traffic is regulated by only two rules in Drachten: "Yield to the right" and "Get in someone's way and you'll be towed."

Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically. Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy. And the model is being tested in the British capital's Kensington neighborhood.

More is less, or less is more!

And this is the whole point here, from the write up above you can see less is actually more, you can extend this theory also to government, less would be better quality than the ever expanding government and rules we now find ourselves in. If only Ron Paul had made it into government, we might not now have this ever increasing government, more and more pc world, more health and safety where none is required.

The ever expanding government departments, like that of health and safety have to make up more rules every year to self validate why they are needed, without ever increasing rules they know they will no longer be required, so they make people wear eye protection and ear protection in factories without flying debris and that are no louder than the average football match crowd, the last time I visited JCB engine manufacturing in Derbyshire I was told to wear glasses, I had been there a hundred times before and never had to, I asked if there was dangerous dust flying around, they got the joke, health and safety did not though.

Some people seem to think we need these self appointed people in government to keep the system running, the truth is the exact opposite, without them nothing changes, the people that have the skills to build roads/houses and every other trade do not disappear overnight, they are still there, eager as ever to work, though more flexible hours would probably suit most, this is a very complex subject that requires breaking down part by part, so that is the roads covered, less government next up!

Verdict = Yay I found my judge again.

Have a superb weekend, what ever you choose to do.

Image CC0 pixabay