On that road, it's the Dutch going really, really fast (100MPH) that that you have to worry about - they pull out to pass trucks, without thinking that someone might be closing on them at 80 MPH faster. The A31 is a new, very flat & very straight autobahn, but it is only 2 lanes each way and it runs parallel to the Dutch border. They use it as a shortcut; pop into Germany, whizz up the unrestricted motorway and then pop back. But they aren't 'autobahn aware' like the Germans.

 

Put an 'autobahn' type road in the USA and the population control will enact itself.

 

I think that's probably true of most places where people aren't accustomed to unrestricted roads. You have to get your head around the fact that you need to look as far behind as you look in front before deciding what to do next.

Interestingly, the motorways here in the UK had no limit until 1965 - of course, at that time, few production cars could exceed 100 MPH anyway.

 

Great highway system. I recall (and laugh) at some of my business traveling experiences back in the day. One exceptional one was flying in to Stuttgart for a 10:00 meeting then driving to Munich for a 1:00 meeting and then down to Konstanz for a 5:00 meeting. Had to drive back up to Sindelfingen for a noon meeting and out to the Stuttgart airport later in the day for my trip home. The autobann was great and a lot of fun. Ended up with a MB rental and I beat the snot out of it. The only thing that scared me was running into a pop up rain storm when I'm at WOT. Just gotta keep that blinker on all of the time and when you see flashing lights in your rear view mirror pull over quickly.

 

You are right. Over the years, we have done the European delivery option for two MBs. While it's always nice to drive on the Autobahns, doing in my own car is a real treat. The only problem was having to wait through the "breakin" period. The German drivers are very predictable, always pulling back into the right lane unless they are running "lights on" in the left. But more and more of the roads now have speed limits, so when I see that no limit sign it's a joy.