[Arthalion]

German autobahns are as safe per vehicle mile as our Interstate highway system, tied for the two safest road systems on the planet. Don't believe all the nanny-state claptrap you hear about speed limits.

The Germans are some of the most courteous drivers on the planet, with excellent lane discipline (i.e. no cruising in the left lane) and an abhorrence to tailgating. Their freeways are also much better built that ours, using thicker, higher quality concrete, wider lanes, and more conservative grade and curve limits. Finally, the German's make it difficult and expensive to get licensed, and then impose steep fines and jailtimes on those who get stupid behind the wheel (a friend was pulled over doing about 95MPH through a construction zone outside of Stuttgart (he should have only been doing about 30MPH), and ended up with the equivalent of a $1,000 fine and a license suspension. Here, that would net you a $200 fine and a stern lecture.

The Autobahn system would never work here without spending billions to upgrade our roads, nationalising our licensing system, and dramatically reducing our tolerance of "violators". It'll never happen.

[Atlas Sneezed]

"The Autobahn system would never work here without spending billions to upgrade our roads"

Having driven on both (avoiding the worst of east coast freeze-thaw freeways), I would say that the engineering standards and drivability at speed is virtually identical. Most people are surprised on their first autobahn drive to see that these are just regular-looking limited access highways.

The dirty little secret is that our freeways were designed for essentially the same speeds.