30 Oct
2003
30 Oct
'03
10:18 p.m.
On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Hans Franke wrote:
For one point, trafic is ever increasing and 12 years
is quite a
time. And then, what's hectic in going just 130 km/h (*1)? 170 km/h
is a nice travel speed for a family car ... if you can still travel
at that speed. Theoretical yes , theoretical even 200 km/h (125 mph)
Hans... last
time I got pulled over in California (for those who
know: I5 southbound to LA, about one-thirds through) they lasered
me at a whopping 109mph. Yes, thats about 175km/h. They had been
following me for a while already (so it turned out ;-) and they
finally got me. When I was in court (thats the good thing about
the US: you go, but so does the officer !) I asked the officer to
repeat what he told me- which was "sir, really need you to slow
down- A LOT. We didn't see you pull any dangerous stunts, so
we'll just give you a ticket which will result in a notice to
appear in court." So, even though I was speeding (100+mph in
considered attempted manslaughter in CA) they let me keep my
car, my license and I could continue. In court, a judge ended
up fining me (trust me, you dont want to know how much..) and
warning me: "this is not an Autobahn, son. I am aware of your
extra training in Europe for speeds like these, but never forget
our roads, and, more importantly, our drivers, cannot usually
handle them. Drive slower."
So.. on roads like I5 (similar to many Autobahns) they will
tolerate some degree of speeding (chp told me they usually dont
act on 80-90 if all is OK) but 100+ is a booboo there.
[erm, two months later, I got another one *blush* this time,
San Jose judge wasnt too pleased with me..]
is doable as sustained speed for almost every mid size
car, it it
wouldn't be for all these slow downs. It is no fun to accelerate
psitive and negative (aka break) all the time. I had to travel
between Munich and Konstanz (~200 km) for the last years about
once per month, due company policies I had to take rental cars,
and I had a wide variety between a Smart (mayimum speed 135 km/h
~85mph) average VW Golf or GM Astra (max. 210 km&h~130 mph) up
to Crysler 300 or Mercedes E-class (top speed cut at 250 km/h
~160 mph), guess what, even when I was partly going way above
200 km/h (~125 mph), the difference where less than 7 minutes for
a two hour drive.
That largely depends *when* you drive, Hans. I quite often go
to
the Frankfurt area, and have no problems "blasting through". I
travel at night, though- that helps a lot. 220-240 is no problem
then, if weather and sight (and state of mind) permit.
The fact that one is allowed to go as fast as possible
and may
even go that for a few minutes doesn't help at all. Now go ahead
and tell me again that our Autobahn is not crowded over the limit.
Its not, at
off-peak hours. Between 6-10 and 15-19, yes, its the
same as here (NL) or US. Ever tried Ca. Hwy. 101 at 4pm? *grin*
You see how inacceptable it has become, when even slow
busses are
made to slow further down. They have a speed limit of 100 km/h (but
most go 110 ~70 mph).
Buses can do 80 or 100 here, depdning on its size.
--fred