The roads are full of people who should be banned from getting closer than 50m from a car, let alone drive it. And while it’s true that the amount of idiots driving around is far smaller here than on the romanian roads, we have our fair share of them. Unfortunately.
I was driving on this 2-lane national road, a “Bundesstraße” how they call them. I was on the speed lane and I was driving at some distance behind a Smart 4Four, everything was fine. Ahead of both of us, there was a slow driving truck on the right lane and behind it, a Mercedes A-Klasse. The speed limit on this road as 120km/h, them two were driving at most 100km/h, if not slower.
As the guy in front of me approaches them, the A-Klasse suddenly pulls out, cuts the guy off and starts to overpass the truck. I personally didn’t see any signaling. The 4Four had to break rather hard in order not to smash into the A-Klasse. I was some way back so I didn’t have to break that hard.
The guy in the 4Four got very pissed, and with good reason. He honked the idiot in the A-Klasse, flashed him too I think. After the A-Klasse finally passed the truck, with less than 120km/h, the 4Four pulled next to him and the driver started to wave his hands at the idiot, his screams being probably less than kind. I guess he could not let it go ’cause he went on the right lane in front of the A-Klasse and hit his breaks. By now I was also next to the A-Klasse and I looked inside. There I could see one of those old retards who should’ve been banned from driving like 15 years ago. He was just showing the finger to the guy in the 4Four .
I do not really condone what the 4Four’s driver did, getting in front of the other guy and breaking, but I can certainly understand him. I would’ve been probably just as pissed. I imaging this is how most accidents happen, not so much because of high-speed driving but because some people are just idiots and endanger everyone else. I really think that after a certain age, people should be called and re-tested, to see if then can continue to drive or if they should be put into an asylum and fed intravenously.
I have to say though that this is the first time I saw such violent behavior since I am in Germany. As opposed to Romania, where my blood pressure starts rising already 30km after passing the border.
As I was hoping, saturday when I got home from shopping I had on my desk a letter from Landratsamt (the office which, among other things, deal with traffic violations, suspended driving licenses, etc). They took the opportunity to remind me, again, that under no circumstances should I drive before monday, even if I got my driving license back earlier.
But how did all this start ? The whole thing happened sometimes end of may. I had to leave my car in the workshop for the periodical service and since it would last at least half a day and I needed to do some errands, they gave me a replacement car. An automatic 170HP Audi A3 Sportback 8-O What can I say, it’s a bolid. I would say it’s a sin not to give it a little gas. Which is exactly what I was doing on my way back to the dealership, on a national road with a 120km/h speed limit. I had a lot of bad luck too. It just happened that I cought up with another car a little bit to fast precisely when on the right lane an unmarked police BMW was cruising along (I had no idea it was a police car at the time, of course). And all this only 2 minutes away from my exit.
Of course, the blue-eyed boys with let me pass, then they got my speed and the distance to the car in front of me. Next thing I knew, they were behind me, siren screaming and I got pulled over in the next parking. I knew I was screwed and here there is no way you can bargain with them. On top of that, it’s a very bad idea to even mention money or other methods that still work in Romania. They were quite polite, they explained what the problem was and what I did (driving too fast and not keeping my distance). They offered to show me the video but there was no point. They measured the width of the car (they need that to calculate the distance between cars), they had me sign and then they just wished me a nice day.
Needless to say, I was down in the dumps the whole day. 3 weeks after that I received a letter: 3 points, an expensive fine and one month driving ban. They informed me that I have 4 months to decide when I want to take the ban and that I should mail them my driving license. Considering that this is my first traffic violation, I probably would’ve gotten away just with the fine if I had traffic insurance, Verkehrsrechtsschutz as they call it (please note the typical long-ass german word). But of course, I had none. Great Stefan, good job!
So I guess that’s about it. Well, in the future I will try and be more careful when I drive. I hope I can do that ;-) Bottom line:
- Pay attention to the cars around you.
- Keep your distance.
- Get a traffic insurance!
- When/if I get a new car, it’s gonna be an automatic.
I am sick :-( Or I got a virus from someone, most likely. It kinda sucks, my nose hurts from all this blowing, I am coughing and I really don’t feel like being at work. I bought yesterday some sort of drops for my throat. Freya says I should kinda keep it in the back of my mouth but that’s not so easy, I tend to choke myself with the stupid drop :-) The only effect so far is that my tongue gets numb. Oh well.
The day is not a total failure though. Today is a short day, I am leaving for home at 12:30h. And what’s more important, today is my last day in this God forsaken town. Since I didn’t have my driving license for the past month, I decided to go together with a guy from work. He’s in the same project as me but in another town. The train connections to München, where I normally commute, are really not that great. Better driving with someone else.
But what’s most important, today my driving license should be delivered, I am hoping I will find it at home when I get there in the evening. The driving ban is until monday but they said I should get it 2-3 days earlier. We’ll see.
Song of the day:
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February 21, 2010 8:59 pm | 