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I remember reading 15 or so years ago that per kms driven, the German fatality rate was much higher than that of the U.S. In any case, my experience in Germany was that they are horrible drivers, never leaving any margin of error. Driving on a public road should not be the same as driving in a race. Speed kills, anything above 100km/hr on a crowded highway is simply not safe.

You're pretty much wrong on everything you say.

Fatality rates (per vehicle mile) are about the same on US freeways and German autobahn, and have been for years.

Our fastest roads (and theirs) are the safest roads on the planet.

20 posted on 12/10/2003 8:06:40 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Police officials view armed citizens like teachers union bosses view homeschoolers.)

A big factor is also the way the roads are laid out. In Germany, the Autobahn is designed for high speed, and it is very straight. The reason you see the one-car accidents, is that very straight roads tend to lull drivers into a sleep-like state. When we started building interstates in the U.S., we decided to build them for lower speeds, and put in more curves to keep the drivers occupied and awake.