German here. It is true that yes, there are some parts of the German highway where there is no official speed limit. But often times, be it through traffic or speed limits, you can’t drive that fast.
I was there three months near the border close to Amsterdam and I found outside the city and outside of everyone heading home you pretty much average 125mph+ in any reasonable performance car. I was in an older 911 so I must have averaged 150 with it being a sports car. I would do a mild or two, slow down 125 to minimize the delta while passing, and then could quickly speed up again.
It might not be all the time but we never legally make it past 70mph despite wide open roads outside the city. Makes me sad.
You said Amsterdam, though. I know Arnhem, so I don’t have to look it up. Arnhem is less than 30 minutes from the border. Amsterdam is about 1.5 hours from the border, but doesn’t give any information about which part of the border, since it’s about as far to the west as you can be.
That being said, I meant it lightly, it wasn’t important for what you were saying.
Signs are quite visible. Around here (Munich) most of the Autobahn speed limits are electronic signs anyways, which can be turned off or on set to a limit between 60 and 120 due to traffic or weather conditions. *
“Normal” speed limits signs are being repeated every 30 seconds or so, google. maps also shows the limit while navigating and a lot of newer cars detect the signs as well and show the current limit on the speedometer.
Current cars must play a warning sound (by law) each time you exceed the limit. (You may turn the warning off for the current trip)
btw there’s one electronic sign per lane on a “bridge - like” construction and here in Bavaria they include mounting points for speed trap cameras.
Right, they are “end of speed limit”. So, if there’s speed limit signs you’ll find another speed limit or this “end of limits” sign afterwards. This doesn’t mean “go qs fast as you want”, it just means there’s no additional limit on top of what the road type says.
So if it’s a road where ongoing and incoming traffic is just divided by road markings, the limit is 100 (or below if there are speed limit signs), if the road has two halves with some barrier in the middle (“baulich getrennte Fahrbahnen”) and at least two lanes per direction the recommended speed is 130 with no hard limits. (But the insurance might get back to you if you were driving tooo fast)
Btw interestingly while we may drive really fast we have a law against racing your car (including racing to the next stop light), if you do that you might lose your driving license and not get it back for a looong time. (And that’s really expensive)
Last, if you do traffic violations which are more than a misdemeanor (for example tailgating) and they catch you, your license will be suspended for at least a month, but typically more.
Interestingly minor violations like being up to 20kph too fast outside of city limits is. among the cheapest all over Europe. But do something bad and you’ll ride a bike for a few months.
Edit: thank you autocorrect for correcting so if to son of… now everyone knows what a filthy mouth I am.
Right, so 2 lanes and a barrier means 130, unless I see an end of speed limit sign.
Tailgaiting will cost me my license? :O DAMN! No wonder you drive so well in germany. I had no idea. Also driving fast from stop light to stop light is also a shock to me. But I guess it also depends on the car. Like if you have a car that can really move fast, then that has to be worse than an ID4?
99% of the time it’s obvious, especially with modern cars that read the signs plus apps like google maps (though sometimes at least one of those is wrong). You can also look around and see how fast everybody is going, eg. when you enter the highway in an unknown area, and not sure about the speed limit for that section. If I’m uncertain, I just drive normally until I see a sign that comfirms the speed limit.
I am regularly going around 200 km/h, and the only ticket I got was going 99 at an 80 sign next to a closer and renovated lane. It was around midnight, I was already slowing down, but didn’t want to slam on the brakes harder.
And can you trust google maps complete? (and what does it say there?)
Sorry lots of questions, I really have no plan of driving like a mad man, but if the conditions, dry, high visiblity, good car spacing, good road, then I see no reason not to drive faster.
Usually I only see them at the beginning of no limit sections. Google is more often wrong than the dashboard info in my car that is reading the signs.
And sorry if I misread you, but based your questions you seem quite anxious about the autobahn. Maybe this is just your general careful personality, or maybe you’re young and not an experienced driver already. Regardless, I urge you to be careful about very high speeds, it is really a very different world and can be dangerous. You need to pay an insane amount of attention and react very quickly and confidently to the intentions and actions other cars.
Again, sorry if I misread you based on your comments, but if you don’t feel confident enough yet, try getting some more driving experience at regular highway speeds, maybe even test yourself on a closed racing track, or do some driving training.
Oh no, no need to apologise for looking out for your fellow man (person, etc.) :) I appreciate that.
I do have experience driving motorway here at home, but those are mostly 2x2 lanes. I also have taken a couple of trips to Germany and driven the Autobahn and that worked well.
It’s just this summer we’re going way south, so we’ll be driving many hours, so 150 could save us time at the end. Also the car I’m driving is much nicer. Though I dont like driving past 160, so its very unlikely I’ll do that.
So I want to be able to identify where there’s no speed limits so I can go 150 or whatever fits the conditions. Otherwise I’ll adhere to the speed limits.
German here. It is true that yes, there are some parts of the German highway where there is no official speed limit. But often times, be it through traffic or speed limits, you can’t drive that fast.
Drivers of Audi, Mercedes, BMW be like
I was there three months near the border close to Amsterdam and I found outside the city and outside of everyone heading home you pretty much average 125mph+ in any reasonable performance car. I was in an older 911 so I must have averaged 150 with it being a sports car. I would do a mild or two, slow down 125 to minimize the delta while passing, and then could quickly speed up again.
It might not be all the time but we never legally make it past 70mph despite wide open roads outside the city. Makes me sad.
Amsterdam is not close to any border. On the other hand, the Netherlands is very small, so in that sense you’re always close to a border :)
Since you want to be pedantic. Arrnhem is less than 1.5 hours to the border. This is pretty easy to look up before looking foolish.
You said Amsterdam, though. I know Arnhem, so I don’t have to look it up. Arnhem is less than 30 minutes from the border. Amsterdam is about 1.5 hours from the border, but doesn’t give any information about which part of the border, since it’s about as far to the west as you can be.
That being said, I meant it lightly, it wasn’t important for what you were saying.
Are the no limit zones shown on google maps?
Also how well/visible are the signs?
I fear thinking some section is no limits only to get a massive ticket.
Of course I would drive after the conditions
Signs are quite visible. Around here (Munich) most of the Autobahn speed limits are electronic signs anyways, which can be turned off or on set to a limit between 60 and 120 due to traffic or weather conditions. *
“Normal” speed limits signs are being repeated every 30 seconds or so, google. maps also shows the limit while navigating and a lot of newer cars detect the signs as well and show the current limit on the speedometer.
Current cars must play a warning sound (by law) each time you exceed the limit. (You may turn the warning off for the current trip)
Cool and what do the “no limit” signs say specifically? They just look like this?
Right, they are “end of speed limit”. So, if there’s speed limit signs you’ll find another speed limit or this “end of limits” sign afterwards. This doesn’t mean “go qs fast as you want”, it just means there’s no additional limit on top of what the road type says.
So if it’s a road where ongoing and incoming traffic is just divided by road markings, the limit is 100 (or below if there are speed limit signs), if the road has two halves with some barrier in the middle (“baulich getrennte Fahrbahnen”) and at least two lanes per direction the recommended speed is 130 with no hard limits. (But the insurance might get back to you if you were driving tooo fast)
Btw interestingly while we may drive really fast we have a law against racing your car (including racing to the next stop light), if you do that you might lose your driving license and not get it back for a looong time. (And that’s really expensive)
Last, if you do traffic violations which are more than a misdemeanor (for example tailgating) and they catch you, your license will be suspended for at least a month, but typically more.
Interestingly minor violations like being up to 20kph too fast outside of city limits is. among the cheapest all over Europe. But do something bad and you’ll ride a bike for a few months.
Edit: thank you autocorrect for correcting so if to son of… now everyone knows what a filthy mouth I am.
deleted by creator
Right, so 2 lanes and a barrier means 130, unless I see an end of speed limit sign.
Tailgaiting will cost me my license? :O DAMN! No wonder you drive so well in germany. I had no idea. Also driving fast from stop light to stop light is also a shock to me. But I guess it also depends on the car. Like if you have a car that can really move fast, then that has to be worse than an ID4?
99% of the time it’s obvious, especially with modern cars that read the signs plus apps like google maps (though sometimes at least one of those is wrong). You can also look around and see how fast everybody is going, eg. when you enter the highway in an unknown area, and not sure about the speed limit for that section. If I’m uncertain, I just drive normally until I see a sign that comfirms the speed limit.
I am regularly going around 200 km/h, and the only ticket I got was going 99 at an 80 sign next to a closer and renovated lane. It was around midnight, I was already slowing down, but didn’t want to slam on the brakes harder.
What does the signs say? “No Limit” in german?
Also how often are they spaced?
And can you trust google maps complete? (and what does it say there?)
Sorry lots of questions, I really have no plan of driving like a mad man, but if the conditions, dry, high visiblity, good car spacing, good road, then I see no reason not to drive faster.
This is the sign, hard to miss:
Usually I only see them at the beginning of no limit sections. Google is more often wrong than the dashboard info in my car that is reading the signs.
And sorry if I misread you, but based your questions you seem quite anxious about the autobahn. Maybe this is just your general careful personality, or maybe you’re young and not an experienced driver already. Regardless, I urge you to be careful about very high speeds, it is really a very different world and can be dangerous. You need to pay an insane amount of attention and react very quickly and confidently to the intentions and actions other cars.
Again, sorry if I misread you based on your comments, but if you don’t feel confident enough yet, try getting some more driving experience at regular highway speeds, maybe even test yourself on a closed racing track, or do some driving training.
Oh no, no need to apologise for looking out for your fellow man (person, etc.) :) I appreciate that.
I do have experience driving motorway here at home, but those are mostly 2x2 lanes. I also have taken a couple of trips to Germany and driven the Autobahn and that worked well.
It’s just this summer we’re going way south, so we’ll be driving many hours, so 150 could save us time at the end. Also the car I’m driving is much nicer. Though I dont like driving past 160, so its very unlikely I’ll do that.
So I want to be able to identify where there’s no speed limits so I can go 150 or whatever fits the conditions. Otherwise I’ll adhere to the speed limits.
Google was fine as well as road signs. The traffic around you is also a good indicator. You’ll catch up real quick when things slow down.