Tagged With "Autobahn"

It must be duck season in Europe! Moments after I posted the story above, I found an Italian weekend story, with video, of Rome police holding up traffic in the Italian capital. A passerby posted a video of the action, and now, perhaps, ducks will replace cats in internet popularity. Anyway, here's the story, with the video embedded near the bottom

When two moving Stagecoaches were facing each other on a narrow track the driver would crack the whip - using his right hand - and cause the Horses to shy to the left and away from the noise it made. So they passed each other without hindrance.

On September 3rd, 1967 Dagen H (or “H-Day”), short for Högertrafikomläggningen (“the right-hand traffic diversion”) millions of Swedes switched from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right. Looks like fun from a distance.

The Swedish experience is fascinating. Here's a link to more details. What makes it especially fascinating is that Sweden had always had cars with the driver and steering on the left, initially American imports, but had driven on the left. I would have expected a surge in minor accidents at the time of the change, but instead, the article says, the accident rate dropped sharply because drivers were now better placed to deal with oncoming traffic!

Last week was not the best for traffic on Germany's high-speed autobahns, as two major tie-ups were caused by totally unexpected events: a flock of orphaned ducks, and a disabled fighter plane.   On Friday, near Kiel in northern Germany, a...

And of course, if you're a kid...a fountain's a great way to beat the heat     (Ken Thomas / Wikimedia)   June weather that's hitting the mid-30s (mid-to upper 90sF) is worrying authorities in several European countries, where officials...

Ready for limits? Germans say maybe...                        Photo: Jochem Teufel / Wikimedia Germany has no overall speed limit, and is famous for allowing extremely high speeds on its...

Germany is building a new bridge on the Autobahn at Nuremberg which will use embedded sensors to provide maintenance and traffic information.

Germany has just opened the first 5km of a planned 100km bike route that will eventually connect 10 cities and four universities in the Ruhr area, and more are planned elsewhere. The wide route is aimed at commuters, with 2 million people living within 2km of the route, as well as reducing pollution and traffic congestion. Other routes under consideration include a 30km route from Frankfurt to Darmstadt. In some cases, the routes are able to take advantage of disused rail lines. For more...

Ever wonder why the difference exists? Samantha did, and she did the research to find some surprising history.