The problem with having the traffic lights across the intersection would be that not every intersection in germany is at a 90° angle; so sometimes there would be no useful place to put it
Or for example in cities you have traffic lights in curved streets around a building or something. There you would simply not see the traffic light, if it would be on the other side.
For me the traffic lights on the opposite side of the intersection are confusing. I turn to the left on the intersection and I will see a red light. On huge streets this can happen on right turns too. And I don‘t have to stop on it 🤔
Smaller streets, buildings a lot closer to the lanes etc. that are the main reasons. Regarding the traffic lights, accordi g to how the should be set up they should be about 3.5 meters in front of the stop line and not above a certain height, so it is visible from a vehicle. But to me it seems, this worked better with older cars and with every newer generation of cars, the cars are no longer built matching this geometry.
In Germany, pedestrians don't have priority. So-called "Verkehrsteilnehmer" have way of right, which includes bicycles but not pedestrians, going straight, so when you want to turn left or right, you have to watch for bicycles. Pedestrians have priority in two situations: pedestrian crossings ("Zebrastreifen") or green pedestrian traffic lights. There are pedestrian areas as well, where they have priority, usually near schools, kindergardens or in low-density residential areas.
Right on red works in the us, where roads are wide and nobody walks. In europe most streets are narrow and hard to see into from an intersection, and it's much more likely for pedestrians to be in your blindspot because there's a lot more of them.
@@zaldarion "right on red" sometimes is usefull, but depending on many factors like width of roads and whether there may be pedestrians or bicycles, it makes sense that the default(!) is different in both countries, and that the opposite may be allowed (germany: sign with a green arrow, not a light with arrows) or forbidden (usa: "no right on red") by signs at the traffic light
Almost nobody walks or drives a bicycle on these enormous US stroads. That's why right on red is a absolute no no in the Netherlands. There are almost always bikes and pedestrians and this kind of accidents can be horrific, especially with trucks/lorries going right.
also there are intersections here in germany that don't have traffic lights but the street you turn into does have a pedastrian light. In america you would be allowed to pass in spite of the red light in front of you. So there are more reasons why passing on red and even the placement of traffic lights wouldn't work in countries where pedastrians and bicycles cross on a regular basis. You would violate the rule that you can't pass red at any times with the american way of light placement even turning left and then it would be confusing that you have to stop in front of it while turning at other times.
Often, with the traffic light on the other side of the road, people actually cut the stop line. With the traffic light closer to the stop line, people have to actually stop before the line in order to see the traffic light.
Also our road system ist not on an ungly grid. Look at the US Road it probably continues for miles in a straight line, while the German road ends or turns immediately. So for europeans to adapt that system you would need to cut into the City structures.
1:50 He waits so long to move back into the right-hand lane because he has to build up a safe distance from the vehicle being overtaken. The safety distance is large enough if you can see the overtaken vehicle in the (inside) rear-view mirror.
I'd probably not have gone back to the right lane in this case as changing lanes also might pose unnecessary dangers. But without knowing what was coming up behind them or if there was a speed limit, that's just speculation. Maybe also the car in front accelerated or the camera angle was misleading.
@@dirkvornholt2507 There is a difference between German and American drivers. If you look at dashcam channels from the USA, it is very common to pull in very close to other vehicles. The safety distances are also hardly ever observed, and it is even recommended there to keep a safety distance of 3 seconds. This is probably due to the poor condition of the vehicles/brakes.
@alidemirbas6566 Actually, if they were overtaking at a much higher speed than yours, that's probably not a problem as long as they don't decelerate hard in front of you. But feel free to make your claims and report the outcome here.
„You kind of have to be in spy mode all the time looking for cop cars, seeing if they’re doing any radar shooting“ 10:51 Or you know you could just follow the speed limit instead. 😮
4:30 What if there is fog, heavy rain or snow? Are you still able to see the lights on the other side of the road? Or the sun is right behind the lights and shines directly in your face?
There's also the problem of the width of American stroads. Often a single direction has three lanes, plus turning lanes left and/or right, plus a center lane, plus a center divider. The width of each lane is also much wider than here in Germany in cities. This leads to the whole stroad being between 8-10 lanes wide at the widest I have seen. With an average of 3.5 meters per lane this is 35 meters width. Unfortunately the human eye is unable to focus on two different objects with clarity if they are that distance apart. We only see one of them clearly, the other is often a blur, and even shift color as the color receptors in our eyes don't recieve enough input to differentiate. If you are on one of those stroads many of them have a 55 mph speed limit... going straight through a city. Meaning cars are whizzing by at more than 24 yards per second (around 23 meters per second). If you focus on the stop line which is on YOUR side of the street, you can't focus on the street signal on the OTHER side of the road. This leads to easy misinterpretation of turning signals being taken for straight lines, and vice versa. Meaning you make faulty assumptions about the traffic leading to rear-enders. If you focus on the street lights on the other side, you can't see exactly where the stop line is. This means at 24 yards per second that you will be driving a full 8 yards before your eyes are even able to focus (roughly 3/10's a second) on the stop line again, even assuming that you actually try to refocus on the stop line instead of gunning it. This means that people often run red lights because they were already far too close to the stop line to even to begin to react to brake. The whole setup with street signals on the other side is only for convenience's sake, but not for safety reasons. I would definitely consider this a loss from a safety perspective, but at best a very minor win for convenience's sake.
It's never been a problem for me. In my German village there is one stop light that apparently is so antiquated that when the sun shines directly on it, I cannot tell if it's red, yellow, or green. I just sit there like an idiot trying to figure it out. There is a section of Autobahn near us (Ronsdorf) that on certain times of the year, the sunlight shines directly into your face so you are blinded for a few moments. So many accidents occur there that during that month/season (?) the speed limit drops.
That's not entirely true. There are green arrows even if there are pedestrian crossings. I guess that depends on the amount of pedestrian usually crossing.
And then there are special turn lanes. On some intersections, especially at a street that has an interstate (Bundesstraße) off ramp feeding it, you tend to get lanes without traffic lights, but a yield sign, making it effectively the same as an american 'turn right on red' intersection, although safer in my oppinion
That's not correct. In my neighboring village there is a green arrow for right-on-red despite crossing a pedestrian line that is also for bicycle use. And it's right in front of a police station.
I live in a German city southwest of Cologne. We have many intersections, even busy ones, with traffic lights and a green arrow sign->, which means you may go right on red light after carefully checking the intersection. And there are both pedestrian traffic and bicycle traffic in every direction on these intersections. 👋🏻👴🏼
Yepp, the data is conclusive: turning right on red as a GENERAL rule makes far too many drivers ignore the stop line. Which even exists in the USA. For a good reason. They see the stop line come up, slow down, watch to their left, then cross the stop line while still rolling, and beginning their turning. Without wasting a single glance at the potential pedestrian green, as it may have just switched during the time they were glancing LEFT and still rolling forward. Or they roll into pedestrian crossing without even being able to fully see it yet, while they have a standard green, and a bicyclist crosses at much greater speed, yet they couldn't see them due to the big-a$$ mofos of trucks and SUVs blocking their line of sight. In Germany there are no-lit green arrow signs at some street lights that allow you to turn on red. But they are the exception, not the rule, meaning drivers have to actively look for them, making them slow down automatically. In addition, the rarity makes drivers follow the rules of their use much more strictly. STOP COMPLETELY before the stop line, check for pedestrians/bicyclists, watch for traffic from EITHER side, check your right shoulder for upcoming pedestrians/cyclists, only then turn with heightened care and awareness.
Traffic lights are predominantly _on the side_ of the road. That's the main signal. So you don't look up or ahead if you are standing in the front line... you look to the side. Very often, there are additional lights _over_ the lane. These are primarily for the drivers further back, whose line of sight to the main lights might be blocked by larger vehicles in front of them.
yes, and with roads that have only 1-2 lanes, it is very usefull to have the lights besides the stop line. in the usa with so many wide roads of 4++ lanes it might make sense to not have them directly overhead, but otoh it feels stupid to have a "right turn light" on a non existing lane on the other side, and it can be difficult to clearly see arrows on the lights when you have several turning and several straight lanes. maybe sometimes some binoculars are needed on extra wide roads with 2x6 or more lanes. but most importantly, it is easier to watch for pedestrians and bicycles which have the right of way when you look towards them at the sides instead of mostly looking at a light that is up and far away.
2:50 Now that I've seen a few dashcam channels from the USA, I'm firmly convinced that it's better if the traffic light is in front of the intersection. You see too many drivers going into the "yellow trap", accelerating sharply and then entering the junction on red.
The traffic lights in germany are very visible and easy to look at. You just need to look at the right light... The Lights above the streets are not for the cars in first lane, these are just additional lights to help cars in the back of the line to see whats going on. These are also not allways present. There is allways a traffic light on the right and if there is a left line they have one on the left you can just easily see without moving out of your seat.
I might have to crane my neck maybe at one out of ten traffic lights if I am the first in line. But my car also has a fairly low roof. With my previous car, this might have been one in twenty. It is also my impression that the solid line on the ground indicating where to stop has moved a bit further back from the actual light on newer intersections.
Right on red makes sense in the USA but not in Germany. When you want to turn right on red in the US, you only have to consider cars coming from the left. In Germany however, you have not only to consider cars coming from the left but also pedestrians coming from 4 possible directions and bicycles coming from 3 possible directions.
The frak are you talking? If you are stoping for red then pedestrian can cross in front of you, but those behind the turn on right have also the red light on their crossing. That makes only 2 directions for pedestrians and cyclists to cross your path.
@@AlexGys9 ... In that case there should be a lot of pedestrians on such crossing, and there shoul be obligatory 4 way red light for cars with no right turn available at all, if I understand what you try to depict. Those are only in strict town centers with huge pedestrian traffic, and not that common.
@@DiveylIn my country at a four way intersection the light is green at same time for both cars and pedestrians moving eg. horizontal direction (so parallel to each other). So if a car would come to a red light and turn right, they would have to look left to see if there are any cars coming and also look left and right to see the pedestrians and cyclists, because they can use the sidewalk to go any direction they want. That creates a risk because it's natural to look left where the potential cars would come but looking right would be equally important. Also if there is a bigger car on the left lane, that could easily block the view to see the pedestrians or cyclists that can drive pretty fast. We do have intersections where there can be a red light for going straight but green light to turn either left or right. But when you have a green arrow light, it means that you have the right of way and everyone else has a red light. These days the lights are very intuitive compared to the past. They have sensors for cars and cyclists and a button for pedestrians, so that no one needs to sit on reds for no reason. My city priorities bicycles which is great because a full stop is more laborious for a cyclists than it is for for a car.
The traffic light problem isn't a real problem. You just stop a little farther from the stopping line. This also gives you room to maneuver when e.g. an emergency vehicle needs to pass.
you do NOT ... the driving rules state clearly u have to stop AT the line -- any many traffic lights have induction coils which need you to be close or u and EVERYONE behind you can wait until their asses fall off for it to turn green
@eyeofthasky Usually, when there are induction lines, there is a sign telling you to please pull up to the stopping line or the traffic lights are on the sides and low enough to be seen without leaning forward. Even the induction lines are pretty much ahead the stopping lines, so it's not really necessary to pull up to the line. But if you want to strain your and others' necks, keep stating BS.
@@eyeofthasky You are correct, but still it isn't a problem. Usually you have traffic lights on lower level right or left next to you. Google for: 4 E Houston St New York City, New York There is a green light between Houston St. and Broadway. The traffic lights are right above your head, which is not for you, but for the drivers on the crossroad behind you. It just makes no sense. It's confusing in a logical aspect. Humans learn to stop at red lights. Here, it doesn't matter. There is a reason why even in the US, you have red lights in front of a railway crossing and not behind it. Because it makes sense for safety reasons. US-Americans don't think about safety, but about convenience. That's why they have that traffic light system.
@@eyeofthasky Exactly... AT THE F*CKING LINE! B*tch! I also hate people who keep a car-length distance at a traffic light. Because fewer cars can make it through the green phase. And in some busy areas, green phases sometimes only last 3 seconds.
@@dirkvornholt2507 You're actually noit supposed to ever look at the traffic lights on top / over your car, if you're the first one at the stop line. You're supposed to look at the traffic lights to your right (or to your left, in case it's a left turn lane or some different lane like this). The lights on top are for all of the cars behind you or for cars approaching the intersection from afar.
Sorry, but point goes to Europe with the traffic lights that are directly next to the vehicle because this ensures that you check whether they are red or green! With the Americans you often don't see the lights in fog and you often even accelerate extra hard when approaching to get through the intersection. I would say it's more dangerous than better, and just for the convenience of not having to move around in the vehicle, I think it's more of a disadvantage. You often see that Americans don't look over their shoulders in both directions when changing lanes Just like in Europe where you don't rely on the mirrors because there is a blind spot. Especially since there are also cyclists and pedestrians at intersections, having the traffic lights where they are is actually ideal in Europe.
In europe a lot of interesections are also more "messy" because of denser cities and more turn lanes etc. which makes traffic lights on the "opposite" side absolutely impossible to make work. Just imagine a more angled intersection and it all falls apart
Me too, and I live at the end of small town with about 11.000 People. For example ALDI, Lidl, Edeka, Penny, Rossmann, Apotheke (german drug store), Gas Station, Bakery, Shop for Petfood and so on are only about 1.5 Kilometer away frome my home. I could reach all of them by bike or just walk. Welcome to Germany
The thing with the traffic lights is, if they are on your side of the intersection you are less likely to drive to far and by that blocking the pedestrian crossing. Also you should move your body in your car a lot so you dont get blindspots, I dont know where this "oh its so hard to see" comes from, I never had that issue. Traffic lights on the otherside also only realy make sense if your streets come to the intersection at predictable angles. And right turn on red is just a messure to inflate road deaths.
Very good comment! Yes, this "turn right thing" seems a good thing (and is sometimes implemented in Germany with a sign). But like you said, it will create more road deaths since it impacts the weaker participants: Biker and pedestrians. We can even see it in the video where told: "There are no cars coming from the left so it is totally safe to go right!" Yes, since you are not used to check your right side for bikes that you are going to kill with this little maneuver.
We don't really start learning how to drive at the same age as we go to college. You can start taking theoretical lesson at 16 1/2 and start doing driving lessons at 17. When you're done with that you're allowed to drive with someone over 30 who's had their license for at least 5 years. And then when you turn 18 you are allowed to drive on your own :) Then also a lot of kids don't even move out to "go to university" because the university is just in your city or at least close enough to get there by bus or train. This is also the reason why we don't necessarily need a car that early (I personally only got my license in my 20s). We just drive around by bus and so on. And last but not least, in my time we finished high school at the age of 19 because we had 13 years of "gymnasium" to go to university. This was changed to 12 years for a while but most states in Germany are going back to 13 years again. So it also doesn't happen when you're 18.
I went to driving school the summer after gymnasium before university. I got my licence some weeks after starting university because of age. And I didn't think of getting a car because it was too expensive. On some occasions I could get my mothers car for some transports from home. For years I used bicycle and public transport which was fine. Even when I had a car I didn't use it all the time because the alternatives are more convenient. And I'm still using the bike a lot.
Rechts vor links: 1. If two vehicles are across from each other at a 4-way-crossing, it depends on which way they want to turn in order to decide who gets to go first. Generally, if both want to go straight, both can go at the same time. If one vehicle is turning left and the other right, the one turning right goes first. 2. If there are 3 people at a 4-way-crossing, the one to the „furthest“ right, goes first. Which means, if you have someone to your right, you have to wait. If your‘re the furthest right and don‘t have anyone to your right, you go first. 3. If there are 4 people at a 4-way-crossing, one of them has to give right of way and therefore is the last to go.
27:25 If you are ever going to germany, please ask a "Fahrschule" if they could let you do a "mock" theoretical and practical exam. Would be so fun to watch.
Ashton is absolutely amazing. She produced one well researched video every week for over two years. How she did it while she finished her doctorate and a mom is beyond me. You could watch her whole set of videos without being disappointed once. She really is THAT good. Highly recommend.
Well researched? Well, this wasn't well researched. They should understand pretty fast, why here in Europe you can't just cross the street to the right! We got pedestrians and cyclists! Someone smart who would live 1-2 weeks here, understands it pretty quick. It's kinda strange they didn't take that into account!
"I live 8 miles (13 km) to the closest grocery store"... What! here in Germany it is super common to have a grocery store within 10 min. walking distance.
@@edgar929 that is wrong. In Germany the distances are usually much shorter. Every small city has at least one grocery store and as a result of that even houses away from the cities usually do not require much time to get there, but in the US everything is simply far away because they have all the space in the world
yes, and when looking "up and far away" to see american traffic lights, you would be very likely to miss the exact stop lines and thus also miss (or rather hit! :-) pedestrians or bicyles who are crossing right behind your stop line and who may come from both sides. exactly this is also the problem with "turn right on red" where cars would not stop before the pedestrian crossing but right ON it (if they stop at all, which they should do, but mostly don't do) another fact about road width and traffic lights: with narrower roads, crossing an intersection is much quicker and cycles of traffic lights (from one green through red to the next green) mostly is only a minute or less so that you usually have to wait only 30 seconds or less, and half of that time you wouldn't be able to go anyway when crossing pedestrians start walking after they get green lights. thus it makes no sense to sacrifice their safety to gain only 5-15 seconds less waiting time at a traffic light if you could "turn right on red *(after stopping and making sure that it is safe)* !".
In my scool when i was young , there was a cop in one of our lessons , he told us a little about how life is going. The one thing still in my mind is : A Car is a weapon , the Führerschein ( driving öicense ) is a weapon license , so when you are old enough to drive your own car , think about the car as weapoin , and handle with care. And Weapons are OF COURSE sold only to adults.
4:25 The U.S. have mostly rectangular crossings, which actually have a clear opposite site you could put traffic lights on. But if you have very irregularly shaped crossings, it is no longer clear which traffic light on the opposite site is actually yours. That's also the reason why traffic lights hanging in the center of the road have been removed, which existed until the 1950es in Germany - too much confusion which traffic light is actually yours.
There is pretty simple way to look at 4-way stops. If you turn to right, you have the right of way always and you only look out for crosswalks and possible bike lane next to you. If you go straight, you have to give way to the person on your right and crosswalks. If you turn to left, you will have to give way to anyone and everyone except to the person on your left. Now if 4 people come to this intercection and everyone want's to turn left. It is customary that you all leave your cars and go to the middle to do rock, paper, scissors contest to see who goes first.
22:02 then the one who want to turn left has to wait. you dont cross paths when going right or straight, so it doesnt matter who goes first. and when both want to go left, they turn in front of each other, so their paths also dont meet every car arriving at the same time at an intersection isnt really happening in real life. and if it were to actually happen, then either hand signals are used to give the other driver priority, or one of the drivers just goes first, or the car that want to go left waits a bit and the car going right goes first
4:17 Placing traffic lights behind the intersection encourages passing the stopline and encroaching on the crosswalk (which occurs a lot in the US). It's a much more car-centric design. It also doesn't accommodate intersections with awkward angles (people may mix up their light). Generally I think it's much more logical - if you pass the light, you're entering the intersection.
For me as a German traffic light's in front make more sense. They act like a bouncer for the intersection and the bouncer stands before the club and not at the bar
@@Winona493 This is because it can't be just copied from East Germany traffic rules. It was assumed it leads to dangerous situations when you do not stop when checking the crossing lanes.
@@Winona493 That's because this was relatively "new" for west Germany AND because there are much less of those signs. I'm East German and in driving school we pretty much hit 3...5 of them every time we went somewhere. So impossible to miss this "knowledge" regarding this specific traffic sign over here. But there are areas in NRW (and all of west Germany), where they're so rare, that you might never encounter them during driving lessons. Sorry for your fine, but now you know... (spead the word though - you might prevent others to make this mistake)
Right on red would be a big problem here due to many, many pedestrians and bicycle riders. It's just not safe. We usually don't have as many lanes as in the US either. In most cases, there would not be enough space to turn right on red anyway.
There's no priority when you have traffic lights. Police instructions before everything else, traffic lights before signs, signs before common rules like "cars coming from your right have priority". Red light is just red light for everyone, period 😄
3:45 : From my perspective as a German driver for 36 years: The traffic light is exactly where you have to stop. It is only seen by those who are supposed to see it. In Denmark, about only 10 minutes away from me, the traffic lights are exactly the same as in the USA on the other side and also like in Germany. Out of habit, I always look at the traffic light that is closer because I know it is meant for ME. I'm not too sure about the other one on the other side of the intersection... It's certainly like that because I'm so used to looking where the traffic lights are in Germany. The only important thing is that you still drive to the stop line, because some traffic lights have contacts in the ground that tell the traffic light: There is a car here and wants to get the green light. If you stop your car too far from the stop line to get a better view of the German traffic light, you may have to wait a long time for the traffic light to turn green. Or someone gets out behind you and, with German friendliness, tells you to move 2-3 meters ahead. Already experienced everything. Because the signs that read: “Contact loop - drive to the stop line” (Kontaktschleife - bis zur Halteline fahren) are often overlooked by drivers who are not local. Greetings from Northern Germany ♥️
In my experience (UK), there was no point having a car at university. I lived on campus, most things I needed were within walking distance, and cars were expensive to run. I got my PhD before I passed my driving test (on the first attempt).
We have a sort of "right on red" in germany. It's the green arrow sign on a red light. It is placed on intersections that are save enough to turn right when the other street has green. It allows you to use the intersection as if you had a stop sign if you have a red light and want to go right. Most intesections don't have it though because it increases the amount of accidents slightly.
22:13 This is actually a very good question. But it is so rare that I only saw it once in years of driving. Because streets with lots of traffic do have give way signs. But if it actually happens that four cars arrive at a crossing with no give way signs at the same time, all four of them will come to a stop at first. The only way to solve this issue is that the first person who realized what just happened just gives up his way to the next person on the left with a hand sign. After that the issue will solve itself. But like I said, it's so rare, that it should never happen.
Right on Red is a thing in Germany too, but its only allowed on specific Traffic Lights which have a Green Arrow on Black Background Sign. Then you have to come to a full stop, make sure NO pedestrian/cyclist are crossing (because they have right of way), then you're allowed to creep forward into the intersection, halt again to make sure no car is coming from the left, then you can make a right turn. So we do have this but not on every intersection
Guys, the streets in many German cities and towns are tight since these cities existed looooong before the car was even invented (by Germans)! Also, our streets are by far less rectangular than in the big cities in the US since the German cities mostly weren't planned but just grew "naturally" (e.g. around the church or a castle). One exception are, of course, the perfect roads the Romans built here more than 2.000 years ago. (Do I try to show off with our history? Yes, I do.😂 Sorry!❤)
6:55 it is safe until the moment where you have to take pedestrians into consideration. So basically nowhere in the US but everywhere in germany. We have a green arrow sign (not to be confused with the green arrow !light!) that allows exactly that. Turning right on red if there is nobody coming. But not everywhere.
My guess on trafic lights: I'm here in a medium sized city in Germany, but right outside my house is a crossroad where 5 streets meet. You just can't built traffic light on "the over side". Cities here are just hundred or even thousand years old and the streets are too.
1. We find it necessary, to keep the drivers active, which also involves some movement like shifting or turning head or sometimes even bending forward. 2. The light is at that point, you are not allowed to pass. That is the place where logic puts it, and where it belongs. 3. there is always on your right side passing traffic, we call that pedestrians and bicyclists, they have the right of way, if you want to turn. and they have no protection. They always have priority. 4 We have better ways to keep traffic fluent over cross sections . In most cases we do not even need to stop traffic wherever a stop light might stand. There is without the need for any sign or light the rule right before left. Always. 5. Next step to avoid stop lights is a yield sign and a right of way sign, so you can coast bi,t no braking or stopping needed to merge in and over. 6.Wherever there is enough space , we use roundabouts, you just match your speed with the speed in the circle, merge in, choose your direction and then move out. There are always vessels from all participating roads or streets fluently passing at the same time . Very seldomly you have to stop for entering the circle. 7 .So, the a traffic light is unavoidable, the we put it, and we put it where you have to stop. And there is always one or two at your right or left side also, so you just turn your head, if you are too lazy to bend forward. 8 At the end, you with your "lazy" traffic lights have to stop ant every crossroad, then have a lazy lookout, while you have to wait, you do not drive at all. At the same time we mostly only have to match our speed to the upcoming or crossing traffic and merge in. 9. When you see all that situations, i find that way more easy and fluent, and foremost is not only for cars, it integrates and protects bicycles and pedestrians and does not ignore everything, that happens to be not a car. And only comparing the more lazy lookout is just short thinking.
in the USA the streets are wide when most are under 70 years old in Europe you have streets that are over 500 years old and were designed for horses and carts, not for SUVs
7:00 We don't pick up the right turn thing, because we don't have 6 lanes on every road. Even if the first car could turn right safely, most likely they want to go streight or turn left. If any car farther back wanted to turn right, they couldn't because there's cars in front of them.
If you take off the second it's green, that means you are not paying attention to any pedestrians who might still be crossing. There is a four-lane street near my house where the green for pedestrians is too short for a lot of, maybe most of, people. You have to make sure that cross-traffic has cleared, which also refers to bikes and cars. It is common for blankety-blank drivers to run yellow lights(make the light)though yellow means stop unless you are too close and fast to safely stop. I once got rear-ended by a driver because I stopped for a yellow and the jerk-off thought I was going to go through. If I had time to stop, he obviously did too.
...also a german friend of mine made his driver's licence with 16 in tennessee and all he had to do was get in the car, drive straight from the parking lot, make 4 right turns and park the car again. that. was. all. and with his american driver's licence he was able to drive an automatic car in germany in the age of 16! that was crazy! and we loved him for that...
I think when the traffic light is across the street, it's harder to judge when to stop if the stop line isn't well marked. I think it's best to have two small traffic lights on the left and right side of the street with the car and the big arch with the one traffic light on the other side. But from a fifth intersection onwards I think the European traffic lights are better.
The narrow roads are one of many factors that lead to far fewer road deaths (per million drivers) in Germany; in the U.S., according to my very limited experience, you often find streets that seem wide enough for a 727 to land on, combined with a 30mph (or even 20mph) speed limit, and the speed limit loses. In my area in Germany, in the past 10 years or so, more and more streets which had been "strictly no psrking" have been marked with designated parking spaces for one to two cars on alternating sides of the street to automatically slow cars down; where there are no houses and no need for parking, either massive concrete tubs full of flowers, or in one case trees(!) are used to slow down traffic.
The traffic lights on the other side of an intersection works well if you have mostly right angle T and X intersections. But it gets rally confusing if have an Y. Do you put the lights on the right road or the left? It gets really complicated with intersections that has narrow angles and more that two streets crossing. So because of the often not for cars build road systems, putting the lights close to the driver was the best solution to have an unified placement.
you could get pulled over for speeding if the police is there with a speed gun but then they will stand at the side of the road and signal with their hand to stop. they will never get into the car and follow you with flashing lights and siren just for speeding...
When you see a stop sign in Germany, that means that this specific intersection is especially dangerous. Normal intersections have the more permissive yield signs to keep traffic flowing, inconvenient stop signs are only used when extra caution is neccessary.
It's not especially dangerous. Maybe it's just difficult to see the other traffic or the other road has a higher priority and traffic frequency. Then you need to really stop and evaluate the situation.
I think I agree with this. I just realized that in my village, where the residential streets meet the main thru-street (70kph) there are yield signs! But everyone stops. Now they've dropped the speed limit to 50 and soon we'll have a traffic circle there cuz so many accidents occur. Maybe a stop sign would have helped.
the position of the traffic lights, in Europe many roads do not meet at a 90° angle, so the signal guidance would not be clear in many places if the traffic lights were on the opposite side of the road. As far as turning right on red is concerned, this is a measure to protect pedestrians and cyclists, who are often overlooked. There is a green arrow where they are not exposed
Well, in Germany you could start to learn "Begleitetes Fahren" since you're 16,5 years old. Then you finish at 17 and could drive if a adult, who has a drivers license for some time and mets the requirements, sits next to you.
And this ‘learning’ probably has to be done with a licensed driving instructor in a car with dual controls. Otherwise you could just start driving with your parents in the passenger seat at 16.5 and claim you were ‘learning’.
driving on red lights to the right, there is a possibility in germany too, called green arrow on a metal plate, if you can see such a thing in germany you can turn to the right
Oh, please don't phrase it like this. You're right, but you are supposed to tread this like a stop sign. Stop for a couple of seconds, check if you're clear to go and then go. I believe the American "right on red" - rule does not require you to stop your car. The German "green arrow" does.
In Denmark, when drunk drivers are in, they cannot say no to blowing an alcohol meter to see what their blood alcohol level is, and if it is above 0.5, everyone gets a blood test, get the exact blood alcohol level. If it is completely above 2.0, the car is confiscated and sold, the money goes to the state and you lose your driver's license for at least 5 years plus a fine equivalent to a month's salary before tax, then you are a director or company owner it can get really really expensive.
In the Netherlands 95% of tickets are given on your license plate. No photo's needed of the driver behind the wheel as in Germany. The car owner get the ticket in the post. You let somebody else drive the car? Too bad, your problem. Try to get the money back from that person, but the responsibility is at the car owner to pay on time. You can go to the court, but only after you have paid the fine.
@@HolgerNestmann Yes that can be also the case. If you can proof somebody else was driving your car, you can get out of punishment, but then you have to give the name of the real driver. And the DA will have to believe your story. But this Dutch system has made the whole process so much more simple and it reduced the millions of unpaid fines enormously. Fines trough speed and red light camera's are the norm. Even camera's that can automatically see if you use a phone in your hand are now getting regular. But what not goes well in the Netherlands is that you see almost no police on the main roads. Until 15 years ago we had specialized traffic police who were all over the place. Now getting pulled over is so rare that many people think they can do almost everything on the road. Dash cam video's show there are a lot aggressive idiots on the very busy Dutch roads.
In Latvia too people get tickets to mail. Funniest part that ALL places are with signs (not all signs has working camera - they rotate them time to time) so if one gets penalty - I have zero idea what they are doing but they definitely are not driving or just wants to donate money to government 🤣
@@ce17ec yeah I can see it working. But it doesn't feel right from a legal standpoint. The enforcement agency has no proof which person did the felony. If someone takes a knife out of my drawer and stabs somebody, I am on the hook? And so lending the car becomes a high risk even if it's shared just in the family. No private car sharing and the like means more metal boxes on the roads. No wonder dutchies rather cycle
In Switzerland, as much as I remember all fines I got have come without a photo. The authorities still might have photos but unless there is a contest as to who was driving, they don’t bother with showing you the image. But all fines have a form on the back where you can fill in a name and address if you weren’t the driver. I actually rent out my car ‘commercially’ to perfect strangers. I have gotten a good number of fines from points in time when the car was rented out. I just send a photo of the fine to the person who had rented the car and they then pay it directly to the authorities. Meaning I don’t even bother with informing the authorities as to the identity of the driver. Always has worked like a charm.
22:17 If there are 4 vehicles at a right-before-left intersection, the drivers use hand signals to communicate who will drive first, the others then drive according to the right-before-left rule. This doesn't take more than a few seconds.
with US trafficlights they look as they will break and fall onto the streets. and they are very far away so the size-difference may not be such difference. So you may get used to it that its on the near side. Sometimes with the sun in a difficuilt position, there is mostly more than one traffic light, so either you drive to the front and look on the side-light or if you are further behind only you look on the top lights. Trafficlights on the left/right are not very high (just check if it is for your direction). We have the green right arrow in germany too at traffic lights. These "replace" the trafficlight by a stop-sign. so you may drive on red but you need to stop once. You get speeding tickets by mail, you see the flash of the camera so if you keep speeding you might as well keep speeding after the police pulled you over. And a) the installed cameras use a measure in the street to detect the carspeed. your Radargun wont help against. And in rare cases you get measured by another driving undercover-car. They might only catch people going 15mph+ over the speedlimit where it start's to hurt by loosing the driving licence or at least gets more expencive (>100$)
those unmarked cars also mostly watch for violations of safety distances, high speed often being combined with flashing their lights and trying to force people off their lane, which is not only a small infraction but a felony.
@@Anson_AKBviolations of safety distance rules and speed limits are also checked with mobile cameras on bridges in Germany. But yes, as long as you’re not driving dangerously, you’re pretty safe from the unmarked cop cars in Germany.
Right on red only works without bikes or pedestrians. With them around it severely increases road accidents and deaths. Pedestrians and bikes also have right of way over cars going right anyway.
Australia has cops that will pull you over for speeding, but they can’t be everywhere, while speed cameras can. If you have the habit of speeding, you will get multiple fines in the mail, otherwise you’ll be in an accident that is worse punishment. Australia also has “Left tuen permitted after stopping” on certain intersections, otherwise you have to atop and wait for the traffic lights. One thing I’m noticing about this guy, he drives with one hand on the steering wheel. In Australia, he would cop a heavy fine for that, because he does not have proper control of the vehicle, so it would cost him around $500!
Having the traffic lights on the oposite side of the intersection simply doesn't work on many intersections due to available space to put them and general complexity of it, so it wouldn't be clear which light is for who... When you have a intersection in a old town with like six narrow 1000yo roads just meeting at random angles you know the traffic light for you is the one right next to your road. To not confuse anyone futher it's just the same everywhere...
I got my driver's license when I was 27. I didn't have a need for it, thus there was no pressure on me to get one. My son is close to turn 23, and he has not even started to think about getting a driver's license. No pressure either. In general, the amount of people owning a car in Germany is dropping, 60% of all new cars are company cars, and people start to get driver's licenses later and later in life.(Ironically, at the same time, the amount of cars in Germany is rising, which means that fewer people own more cars, while more rely either on company cars or don't drive cars at all.)
I got my driver's license at 26. I was in no hurry to learn to drive, especially in Southern California. I took public transportation for 13 years prior.
@Ryan Wass the reason why traffic lights are not on the opposite side is : Becaus in germany we have a lot of crossings where more tha 4 streets meet. Especially in lage citys and so you can only see the correct traffic light, yours.
If the traffic light is at the far side, you get used to driving through a red “line”. 3:43 illustrates my point The RV goes right and passes through a red light to his right, to his left and above and right above him. That seems wrong to me. Also, what other people already said, in Europe there are LOTS and LOTS more intersections at various angles, from 10° to 120°, 3 roads, 4 roads, 5 roads getting together, always differently. The american system would be pretty confusing here. Not so, if everything’s a grid.
The funniest thing for me, as a German, in these kinds of reactions is, that Americans are so happy and amazed at how we "keep to the right lane", "we create an emergency lane in a traffic jam", "we always look for the cyclists"... I always only see how many people DON'T adhere to these rules. How people speed thought a town at 100 km per hour or how often I get cut off on my bike, or taken over by a car, that I get rly scared - there is a rule that a car has to keep a distance of at least 1.5m to a cyclist in town. I am so used to all these rules, I only see the people who don't care. Americans come here and mainly see those, who DO care - who actually are most of the drivers. It's nice to hear their positive perspective from time to time :D And btw, I usually have no issues at all seeing the traffic lights XD
6:47 "It seems perfectly safe to me" Running a red light is safe...? If you don't care about vulnerable road users: "at intersections allowing right-on-red, crashes jump 23%, pedestrian crashes increase by 60%, and cyclist crashes double."
About the narrow streets, they're residential streets, where people walk, cycle, kids play, they're made so you you cannot bomb down the street at 50+ km/h, they are narrow and alternante parking on each side so you have to slow down and weave and pay attention to your surroundings.
what the video doesn't say is that germans drive very aggressively and tailgate on the highway. i'm on the road a lot and that's not the case in any other european country.
They once had a show on TV called “Job Swap”. An Austrian police officer swapped jobs with a US police officer for a week. The US cop ran the first red light on his first turn. Then the Austrian said: "Red light, longer than a second and with intent. Actually, according to the law, I should take your driving license away now."
I think the traffic light thing has to do with the fact that all traffic rules that aren't innate (signs, lights, etc) reset after crossing a road or train tracks, so a red light on the other side of a crossing would just mean the very first rule of that road would be "stop in the middle of this intersection on red".
Turning right at a red light is only possible where there are no pedestrians or cyclists. The traffic lights are in front of the intersection for the same reason, as there are usually pedestrian and cyclist crossings.
Who gets the right of way in Germany: If there are traffic lights, it should be clear. No traffic lights? Then roadsigns apply. They are also at intersections with traffic lights and are valid whenever the lights aren't working, either malfunctioning or switched off during the night. The roadsign tells you if you have to yield or if you're on the priority road. Attention! The priority road may not always go straight across an intersection. It may turn right or left. But that would be a more advanced lesson and would of course also be indicated by roadsigns. If there are no traffic lights and no roadsigns (i.e. there is no priority road) you have to yield to anyone coming from your right. Police may use speed guns from time to time and pull you over. No chasing though. If you're too fast they'll just stop you right there.
When a traffic light is red it's a problem if you stay some meters away (when you you are the first in the row). It could be that it won't get green because in the street right before the traffic light often is an induction loop or at the traffic light an infrared sensor which switches the light to green.
green arrow (turn right on red) exists in germany in two types. one is a metal green arrow sign on the traffic light that acts as a stop sign for turning right. if the light is red, you approach the intersection, stop like at a stop sign, and if it's clear to go, you can drive. there are also extra green arrow signals that light up, like the one in the video, that means you're free to go to turn right.
Usually if you have the "pole position", you use the lower traffic light on the right and the light above you is for the cars behind you. The stationary and mobile "Blitzer" (hidden in a station wagon, a trashcan, ect) are operated by the city, not the police. The police uses radar or laser pistols (stationary) and video cameras in their "undercover" cars and motorbikes (they follow and record you) and if they catch you speeding, they pull you out. Also the use of radar detectors and even radar warning apps for the GPS is illegal in Germany
Ryan the use of technology in Europe for speeding offences is more effective. Ryan speed kills your sarcastic comment who sticks to the speed limit. As part of my job is attending motorway accidents and let tell you most accidents are caused by speed .
If there are 3 or 4 People on an Intersection, the right of way for the drivers on the right still applies. If you're across from each other, than the one that doesn't cross the lane of the other one to turn or cross the road has the right of way. And if both have to turn, the one that does a right turn has the right of way, if i remember correctly. As you can see, it is pretty simple.
Traffic lights on the opposite end of the crossing wouldn't work as easily in Germany or Europe in general - some city street layouts are centuries old, meaning its not all 90°, crossings can be really close to each other, there are 5-way crossings and so on, so putting them on the opposite end of the road wouldn't work on all crossings - which would then require to mix both versions if you wanted the US-solution, which would really carry the risk of people ignoring lights because they think they aren't for the crossing they are at... Turning right on red is a catastrophe for pedestrians - you have to look to the left to see if traffic is coming, while crossing through the pedestrians path on the right...
Rechts vor Links is actually the consequence of a much more simple rule: Vehicles going straight have priority over vehicles that turn. Now, as a matter of definition, where does the "turn" end and "going straight" begin? After all, after turning, you are going straight, right? So if you were to turn left, the traffic that was previously coming straight ahead is now coming from your right. There is also a lot of weirdly shaped crossings (5 way, weird wishbones, crossings with an offset between the crossing roads, etc.) regardless, no matter how you interpret the situation, be it as a vehicle that turns and one that goes straight, or two vehicles going straight, one just happened to have turned some meters before, it will always be the same vehicle that has right of way.
3:38 So is every American intersection orthogonal only? How would you place traffic lights for more than 3 options to turn e.g. left-left, left-right, straight, right-left and right-right? It's sometimes already confusing the way it is in Europe but I really can't picture in my head how that would look on the other side of the road in the US.
On the topic of right on red: In Germany (and most of Europe) most traffic lights have pedestrian lights that don't have their own phase. The pedestrian lights are green when the parallel trafic has a green light. So the hypothetical car turning on left has to take care for pedestrians on which the view might be blocked by a (cab-over) truck in the lane going straight. Furthermore, many roads don't have a right turn lane, so even if there is a sign allowing right on red if you aren't first in line, you can't go on red
I live in the center of a smallish town in Germany (about 30000 inhabitants) and I haven't even had a car in 6 years. I walk to the mall (less than 10 minutes) with a hand pulled trolley for groceries and that's not exactly an uncommon sight here. And it's even closer for me to walk to Woolworth, clothes shops, bars, restaurants or the cinema 😅
"Turning right on red" only works in car-centric societies in which hardly anyone has to watch out for pedestrians or cyclists crossing the street especially from your right (as a driver, you only pay attention to the oncoming traffic on your left).
Speed tickets are sent through mail and depending on how much above the speed you go it increases the fine, points taken from your license and it can even revoke it. It's rare to see police pursuits in Europe because with narrow streets, pedestrians and ciclists it can escalate a situation very quickly and put more people in danger. They will have a picture of the car and who is inside and they can eventually catch them, even if they don't they rather not put more people in danger.
Concerning narrow roads in European towns and cities, remember that many of these were laid out before the motor car was invented. They were laid out for pedestrians, horse drawn carts etc. Look up the video Molli-Bahn: The Steam Train That Thinks It's A Pedestrian and you can see a steam train running through this sort of narrow street in northern Germany.
The often narrow roads in residential areas are actually a means of speed control. By allowing the people to park on the left and/or the right side of the tight roads speeding is practically impossible.
German cities grew naturally. We don't have many 90 degree angles at crossings. Sometimes you have 4-6 streets you can take. Sometimes the traffic light would be hidden behind a building. Streets are curved, bendy and it wouldn't work. Furthermore, you know EXACTLY if you crossed a red light. When the light is on the other side of the road you can get caught in trying to pass while yellow, having it turn red.
4:40 here in Belgium, on large intersections, you have lights above and lights on the other side of the intersection. You'll alway have something visible 10:00 many camera's are fixed camera's. It's a tad difficult for a camera on a pole to pull over a speeding driver
The red light on the other side of the intersection is a legal problem. There are cases where streets after an intersection are in different jurisdictions. Also the line of the red light itself is legally the stop line when there is no white line on the road.
7:19 As you can clearly see here, there is a bus on the left, and you can't see if anyone is coming from the left. That's why it's dangerous to simply turn right. To be honest, there are also traffic lights in Germany that (very rarely) allow you to turn right. There is an extra traffic light with a green arrow for this.
The reason to bend over and check the traffic light is that you also have a better view of what is coming left or right. This way you are always sure if there is no sort of traffic coming left or right. We are even taught to check right and then left and right again! when you are driving/walking on green light. Is it that difficult to understand what safety means?
Having the stop lights before the intersection is less comfortable for drivers but safer for pedestrians. Drivers actually have to stop before the stop line, keeping the pedestrian crossing free. They are also concentrating on the traffic light that's placed right where pedestrians are crossing, so they are more likely to see them. Right on red is terrible for pedestrian safety.
The problem with having the traffic lights across the intersection would be that not every intersection in germany is at a 90° angle; so sometimes there would be no useful place to put it
Or for example in cities you have traffic lights in curved streets around a building or something.
There you would simply not see the traffic light, if it would be on the other side.
Yess it would be very confusing with non conventional intersections. Espcially those with an odd Nummer of streets.
For me the traffic lights on the opposite side of the intersection are confusing. I turn to the left on the intersection and I will see a red light. On huge streets this can happen on right turns too. And I don‘t have to stop on it 🤔
Smaller streets, buildings a lot closer to the lanes etc. that are the main reasons.
Regarding the traffic lights, accordi g to how the should be set up they should be about 3.5 meters in front of the stop line and not above a certain height, so it is visible from a vehicle.
But to me it seems, this worked better with older cars and with every newer generation of cars, the cars are no longer built matching this geometry.
Do you think all intersections in the US are 90°?
Don't forget, in Europe, pedestrians have priority, and there are a lot of pedestrians, here we were not born with wheels under our asses!
i would rather say cars have priority in Germany...
and a lot of older streets where intersections aren't all T or X shaped
In Germany, pedestrians don't have priority. So-called "Verkehrsteilnehmer" have way of right, which includes bicycles but not pedestrians, going straight, so when you want to turn left or right, you have to watch for bicycles. Pedestrians have priority in two situations: pedestrian crossings ("Zebrastreifen") or green pedestrian traffic lights. There are pedestrian areas as well, where they have priority, usually near schools, kindergardens or in low-density residential areas.
@@tim_bublitzthat bullshit, when you turn right and a pedestrian crosses the street you turn in you have to wait.
The weaker you are, the more priority you have in German traffic.
Right on red works in the us, where roads are wide and nobody walks. In europe most streets are narrow and hard to see into from an intersection, and it's much more likely for pedestrians to be in your blindspot because there's a lot more of them.
we also have right on red, the little green arrow beside a light on white backround, but it's rare
@@zaldarion in east germany it is a very common sign XD and it works if you can handle it XD
@@zaldarion "right on red" sometimes is usefull, but depending on many factors like width of roads and whether there may be pedestrians or bicycles, it makes sense that the default(!) is different in both countries, and that the opposite may be allowed (germany: sign with a green arrow, not a light with arrows) or forbidden (usa: "no right on red") by signs at the traffic light
Almost nobody walks or drives a bicycle on these enormous US stroads. That's why right on red is a absolute no no in the Netherlands. There are almost always bikes and pedestrians and this kind of accidents can be horrific, especially with trucks/lorries going right.
also there are intersections here in germany that don't have traffic lights but the street you turn into does have a pedastrian light. In america you would be allowed to pass in spite of the red light in front of you. So there are more reasons why passing on red and even the placement of traffic lights wouldn't work in countries where pedastrians and bicycles cross on a regular basis. You would violate the rule that you can't pass red at any times with the american way of light placement even turning left and then it would be confusing that you have to stop in front of it while turning at other times.
Often, with the traffic light on the other side of the road, people actually cut the stop line. With the traffic light closer to the stop line, people have to actually stop before the line in order to see the traffic light.
It also doesn't really work with some of the wonky intersections we have here in Germany
Also our road system ist not on an ungly grid. Look at the US Road it probably continues for miles in a straight line, while the German road ends or turns immediately.
So for europeans to adapt that system you would need to cut into the City structures.
1:50 He waits so long to move back into the right-hand lane because he has to build up a safe distance from the vehicle being overtaken. The safety distance is large enough if you can see the overtaken vehicle in the (inside) rear-view mirror.
I'd probably not have gone back to the right lane in this case as changing lanes also might pose unnecessary dangers. But without knowing what was coming up behind them or if there was a speed limit, that's just speculation. Maybe also the car in front accelerated or the camera angle was misleading.
@@dirkvornholt2507 There is a difference between German and American drivers. If you look at dashcam channels from the USA, it is very common to pull in very close to other vehicles. The safety distances are also hardly ever observed, and it is even recommended there to keep a safety distance of 3 seconds. This is probably due to the poor condition of the vehicles/brakes.
@alidemirbas6566 Actually, if they were overtaking at a much higher speed than yours, that's probably not a problem as long as they don't decelerate hard in front of you. But feel free to make your claims and report the outcome here.
„You kind of have to be in spy mode all the time looking for cop cars, seeing if they’re doing any radar shooting“ 10:51
Or you know you could just follow the speed limit instead. 😮
What an idea...
that would be to easy ;)
4:30 What if there is fog, heavy rain or snow? Are you still able to see the lights on the other side of the road? Or the sun is right behind the lights and shines directly in your face?
There's also the problem of the width of American stroads. Often a single direction has three lanes, plus turning lanes left and/or right, plus a center lane, plus a center divider. The width of each lane is also much wider than here in Germany in cities. This leads to the whole stroad being between 8-10 lanes wide at the widest I have seen. With an average of 3.5 meters per lane this is 35 meters width.
Unfortunately the human eye is unable to focus on two different objects with clarity if they are that distance apart. We only see one of them clearly, the other is often a blur, and even shift color as the color receptors in our eyes don't recieve enough input to differentiate.
If you are on one of those stroads many of them have a 55 mph speed limit... going straight through a city. Meaning cars are whizzing by at more than 24 yards per second (around 23 meters per second). If you focus on the stop line which is on YOUR side of the street, you can't focus on the street signal on the OTHER side of the road. This leads to easy misinterpretation of turning signals being taken for straight lines, and vice versa. Meaning you make faulty assumptions about the traffic leading to rear-enders.
If you focus on the street lights on the other side, you can't see exactly where the stop line is. This means at 24 yards per second that you will be driving a full 8 yards before your eyes are even able to focus (roughly 3/10's a second) on the stop line again, even assuming that you actually try to refocus on the stop line instead of gunning it.
This means that people often run red lights because they were already far too close to the stop line to even to begin to react to brake.
The whole setup with street signals on the other side is only for convenience's sake, but not for safety reasons.
I would definitely consider this a loss from a safety perspective, but at best a very minor win for convenience's sake.
Well written, thx 😊
Yes, you can
It's never been a problem for me. In my German village there is one stop light that apparently is so antiquated that when the sun shines directly on it, I cannot tell if it's red, yellow, or green. I just sit there like an idiot trying to figure it out. There is a section of Autobahn near us (Ronsdorf) that on certain times of the year, the sunlight shines directly into your face so you are blinded for a few moments. So many accidents occur there that during that month/season (?) the speed limit drops.
Right on Red kills pedestrians! So in Germany you get it only at intersections where there is no foot or bicycle traffic.
exactly right. Black forest family should have get this by now. They live here for a long time now
That's not entirely true. There are green arrows even if there are pedestrian crossings. I guess that depends on the amount of pedestrian usually crossing.
And then there are special turn lanes. On some intersections, especially at a street that has an interstate (Bundesstraße) off ramp feeding it, you tend to get lanes without traffic lights, but a yield sign, making it effectively the same as an american 'turn right on red' intersection, although safer in my oppinion
That's not correct.
In my neighboring village there is a green arrow for right-on-red despite crossing a pedestrian line that is also for bicycle use.
And it's right in front of a police station.
I live in a German city southwest of Cologne. We have many intersections, even busy ones, with traffic lights and a green arrow sign->, which means you may go right on red light after carefully checking the intersection. And there are both pedestrian traffic and bicycle traffic in every direction on these intersections.
👋🏻👴🏼
tuning right on red is a clear loos for US.
Yepp, the data is conclusive: turning right on red as a GENERAL rule makes far too many drivers ignore the stop line. Which even exists in the USA. For a good reason.
They see the stop line come up, slow down, watch to their left, then cross the stop line while still rolling, and beginning their turning. Without wasting a single glance at the potential pedestrian green, as it may have just switched during the time they were glancing LEFT and still rolling forward. Or they roll into pedestrian crossing without even being able to fully see it yet, while they have a standard green, and a bicyclist crosses at much greater speed, yet they couldn't see them due to the big-a$$ mofos of trucks and SUVs blocking their line of sight.
In Germany there are no-lit green arrow signs at some street lights that allow you to turn on red. But they are the exception, not the rule, meaning drivers have to actively look for them, making them slow down automatically. In addition, the rarity makes drivers follow the rules of their use much more strictly. STOP COMPLETELY before the stop line, check for pedestrians/bicyclists, watch for traffic from EITHER side, check your right shoulder for upcoming pedestrians/cyclists, only then turn with heightened care and awareness.
There are no pedestrians in the US.
@@ja_ma well that is an other loose.
@@ja_ma They aren't quite extinct yet, but definitely on the endangered species list. You might see them in the northeast occasionally.
Traffic lights are predominantly _on the side_ of the road. That's the main signal. So you don't look up or ahead if you are standing in the front line... you look to the side.
Very often, there are additional lights _over_ the lane. These are primarily for the drivers further back, whose line of sight to the main lights might be blocked by larger vehicles in front of them.
yes, and with roads that have only 1-2 lanes, it is very usefull to have the lights besides the stop line.
in the usa with so many wide roads of 4++ lanes it might make sense to not have them directly overhead, but otoh it feels stupid to have a "right turn light" on a non existing lane on the other side, and it can be difficult to clearly see arrows on the lights when you have several turning and several straight lanes. maybe sometimes some binoculars are needed on extra wide roads with 2x6 or more lanes.
but most importantly, it is easier to watch for pedestrians and bicycles which have the right of way when you look towards them at the sides instead of mostly looking at a light that is up and far away.
It's just cheaper to not have to build the overhead structure
OMG you just need to stop the car at the point where you can see the traffic lights clearly! MAGIC 😱
2:50 Now that I've seen a few dashcam channels from the USA, I'm firmly convinced that it's better if the traffic light is in front of the intersection. You see too many drivers going into the "yellow trap", accelerating sharply and then entering the junction on red.
The traffic lights in germany are very visible and easy to look at. You just need to look at the right light... The Lights above the streets are not for the cars in first lane, these are just additional lights to help cars in the back of the line to see whats going on. These are also not allways present. There is allways a traffic light on the right and if there is a left line they have one on the left you can just easily see without moving out of your seat.
I might have to crane my neck maybe at one out of ten traffic lights if I am the first in line. But my car also has a fairly low roof. With my previous car, this might have been one in twenty.
It is also my impression that the solid line on the ground indicating where to stop has moved a bit further back from the actual light on newer intersections.
Right on red makes sense in the USA but not in Germany. When you want to turn right on red in the US, you only have to consider cars coming from the left. In Germany however, you have not only to consider cars coming from the left but also pedestrians coming from 4 possible directions and bicycles coming from 3 possible directions.
The frak are you talking? If you are stoping for red then pedestrian can cross in front of you, but those behind the turn on right have also the red light on their crossing. That makes only 2 directions for pedestrians and cyclists to cross your path.
Plus cars/bikes from the front turning left.
@@Diveyl Your point is not valid for crossing with a 4-way green for pedestrians and cyclists
@@AlexGys9 ... In that case there should be a lot of pedestrians on such crossing, and there shoul be obligatory 4 way red light for cars with no right turn available at all, if I understand what you try to depict. Those are only in strict town centers with huge pedestrian traffic, and not that common.
@@DiveylIn my country at a four way intersection the light is green at same time for both cars and pedestrians moving eg. horizontal direction (so parallel to each other). So if a car would come to a red light and turn right, they would have to look left to see if there are any cars coming and also look left and right to see the pedestrians and cyclists, because they can use the sidewalk to go any direction they want. That creates a risk because it's natural to look left where the potential cars would come but looking right would be equally important. Also if there is a bigger car on the left lane, that could easily block the view to see the pedestrians or cyclists that can drive pretty fast.
We do have intersections where there can be a red light for going straight but green light to turn either left or right. But when you have a green arrow light, it means that you have the right of way and everyone else has a red light. These days the lights are very intuitive compared to the past. They have sensors for cars and cyclists and a button for pedestrians, so that no one needs to sit on reds for no reason. My city priorities bicycles which is great because a full stop is more laborious for a cyclists than it is for for a car.
The traffic light problem isn't a real problem. You just stop a little farther from the stopping line. This also gives you room to maneuver when e.g. an emergency vehicle needs to pass.
you do NOT ... the driving rules state clearly u have to stop AT the line -- any many traffic lights have induction coils which need you to be close or u and EVERYONE behind you can wait until their asses fall off for it to turn green
@eyeofthasky Usually, when there are induction lines, there is a sign telling you to please pull up to the stopping line or the traffic lights are on the sides and low enough to be seen without leaning forward. Even the induction lines are pretty much ahead the stopping lines, so it's not really necessary to pull up to the line. But if you want to strain your and others' necks, keep stating BS.
@@eyeofthasky You are correct, but still it isn't a problem. Usually you have traffic lights on lower level right or left next to you.
Google for:
4 E Houston St
New York City, New York
There is a green light between Houston St. and Broadway. The traffic lights are right above your head, which is not for you, but for the drivers on the crossroad behind you. It just makes no sense. It's confusing in a logical aspect. Humans learn to stop at red lights. Here, it doesn't matter.
There is a reason why even in the US, you have red lights in front of a railway crossing and not behind it. Because it makes sense for safety reasons.
US-Americans don't think about safety, but about convenience. That's why they have that traffic light system.
@@eyeofthasky
Exactly... AT THE F*CKING LINE! B*tch! I also hate people who keep a car-length distance at a traffic light. Because fewer cars can make it through the green phase.
And in some busy areas, green phases sometimes only last 3 seconds.
@@dirkvornholt2507 You're actually noit supposed to ever look at the traffic lights on top / over your car, if you're the first one at the stop line. You're supposed to look at the traffic lights to your right (or to your left, in case it's a left turn lane or some different lane like this). The lights on top are for all of the cars behind you or for cars approaching the intersection from afar.
Sorry, but point goes to Europe with the traffic lights that are directly next to the vehicle because this ensures that you check whether they are red or green! With the Americans you often don't see the lights in fog and you often even accelerate extra hard when approaching to get through the intersection. I would say it's more dangerous than better, and just for the convenience of not having to move around in the vehicle, I think it's more of a disadvantage. You often see that Americans don't look over their shoulders in both directions when changing lanes Just like in Europe where you don't rely on the mirrors because there is a blind spot. Especially since there are also cyclists and pedestrians at intersections, having the traffic lights where they are is actually ideal in Europe.
In europe a lot of interesections are also more "messy" because of denser cities and more turn lanes etc. which makes traffic lights on the "opposite" side absolutely impossible to make work.
Just imagine a more angled intersection and it all falls apart
19:50 Within 1 mile, I have five grocery stores from five different chains.
Me too, and I live at the end of small town with about 11.000 People. For example ALDI, Lidl, Edeka, Penny, Rossmann, Apotheke (german drug store), Gas Station, Bakery, Shop for Petfood and so on are only about 1.5 Kilometer away frome my home. I could reach all of them by bike or just walk.
Welcome to Germany
@@LemmyD_from_Germany Americans are just lazy
Sounds like my place but instand of a Penny its a Netto
The thing with the traffic lights is, if they are on your side of the intersection you are less likely to drive to far and by that blocking the pedestrian crossing. Also you should move your body in your car a lot so you dont get blindspots, I dont know where this "oh its so hard to see" comes from, I never had that issue.
Traffic lights on the otherside also only realy make sense if your streets come to the intersection at predictable angles.
And right turn on red is just a messure to inflate road deaths.
Very good comment! Yes, this "turn right thing" seems a good thing (and is sometimes implemented in Germany with a sign). But like you said, it will create more road deaths since it impacts the weaker participants: Biker and pedestrians. We can even see it in the video where told: "There are no cars coming from the left so it is totally safe to go right!" Yes, since you are not used to check your right side for bikes that you are going to kill with this little maneuver.
We don't really start learning how to drive at the same age as we go to college. You can start taking theoretical lesson at 16 1/2 and start doing driving lessons at 17. When you're done with that you're allowed to drive with someone over 30 who's had their license for at least 5 years. And then when you turn 18 you are allowed to drive on your own :)
Then also a lot of kids don't even move out to "go to university" because the university is just in your city or at least close enough to get there by bus or train. This is also the reason why we don't necessarily need a car that early (I personally only got my license in my 20s). We just drive around by bus and so on.
And last but not least, in my time we finished high school at the age of 19 because we had 13 years of "gymnasium" to go to university. This was changed to 12 years for a while but most states in Germany are going back to 13 years again. So it also doesn't happen when you're 18.
I went to driving school the summer after gymnasium before university. I got my licence some weeks after starting university because of age. And I didn't think of getting a car because it was too expensive. On some occasions I could get my mothers car for some transports from home. For years I used bicycle and public transport which was fine. Even when I had a car I didn't use it all the time because the alternatives are more convenient. And I'm still using the bike a lot.
Rechts vor links:
1. If two vehicles are across from each other at a 4-way-crossing, it depends on which way they want to turn in order to decide who gets to go first. Generally, if both want to go straight, both can go at the same time. If one vehicle is turning left and the other right, the one turning right goes first.
2. If there are 3 people at a 4-way-crossing, the one to the „furthest“ right, goes first. Which means, if you have someone to your right, you have to wait. If your‘re the furthest right and don‘t have anyone to your right, you go first.
3. If there are 4 people at a 4-way-crossing, one of them has to give right of way and therefore is the last to go.
27:25 If you are ever going to germany, please ask a "Fahrschule" if they could let you do a "mock" theoretical and practical exam. Would be so fun to watch.
That video would easily get 100.000.000 views! 😅
"Fahrschule" (sorry)
@@schnelma605Congratulations, you caught the typo!
Ashton is absolutely amazing. She produced one well researched video every week for over two years. How she did it while she finished her doctorate and a mom is beyond me. You could watch her whole set of videos without being disappointed once. She really is THAT good.
Highly recommend.
Well researched? Well, this wasn't well researched. They should understand pretty fast, why here in Europe you can't just cross the street to the right! We got pedestrians and cyclists!
Someone smart who would live 1-2 weeks here, understands it pretty quick. It's kinda strange they didn't take that into account!
@@Anno_Nymouse This is one of her older videos. You should watch more recent ones. They go really deep in the subjects.
"I live 8 miles (13 km) to the closest grocery store"... What! here in Germany it is super common to have a grocery store within 10 min. walking distance.
I would say it is the opposite, if you're not living in a big city, you need way more time
@@edgar929 that is wrong. In Germany the distances are usually much shorter. Every small city has at least one grocery store and as a result of that even houses away from the cities usually do not require much time to get there, but in the US everything is simply far away because they have all the space in the world
right on red is quite dangerous to pedestrians.
at most traffic lights there is also a pedestrian crossing that usually is green when cars have red.
yes, and when looking "up and far away" to see american traffic lights, you would be very likely to miss the exact stop lines and thus also miss (or rather hit! :-) pedestrians or bicyles who are crossing right behind your stop line and who may come from both sides.
exactly this is also the problem with "turn right on red" where cars would not stop before the pedestrian crossing but right ON it (if they stop at all, which they should do, but mostly don't do)
another fact about road width and traffic lights: with narrower roads, crossing an intersection is much quicker and cycles of traffic lights (from one green through red to the next green) mostly is only a minute or less so that you usually have to wait only 30 seconds or less, and half of that time you wouldn't be able to go anyway when crossing pedestrians start walking after they get green lights. thus it makes no sense to sacrifice their safety to gain only 5-15 seconds less waiting time at a traffic light if you could "turn right on red *(after stopping and making sure that it is safe)* !".
In my scool when i was young , there was a cop in one of our lessons , he told us a little about how life is going. The one thing still in my mind is : A Car is a weapon , the Führerschein ( driving öicense ) is a weapon license , so when you are old enough to drive your own car , think about the car as weapoin , and handle with care. And Weapons are OF COURSE sold only to adults.
4:25 The U.S. have mostly rectangular crossings, which actually have a clear opposite site you could put traffic lights on. But if you have very irregularly shaped crossings, it is no longer clear which traffic light on the opposite site is actually yours. That's also the reason why traffic lights hanging in the center of the road have been removed, which existed until the 1950es in Germany - too much confusion which traffic light is actually yours.
There is pretty simple way to look at 4-way stops. If you turn to right, you have the right of way always and you only look out for crosswalks and possible bike lane next to you. If you go straight, you have to give way to the person on your right and crosswalks. If you turn to left, you will have to give way to anyone and everyone except to the person on your left. Now if 4 people come to this intercection and everyone want's to turn left. It is customary that you all leave your cars and go to the middle to do rock, paper, scissors contest to see who goes first.
22:02 then the one who want to turn left has to wait. you dont cross paths when going right or straight, so it doesnt matter who goes first.
and when both want to go left, they turn in front of each other, so their paths also dont meet
every car arriving at the same time at an intersection isnt really happening in real life. and if it were to actually happen, then either hand signals are used to give the other driver priority, or one of the drivers just goes first, or the car that want to go left waits a bit and the car going right goes first
4:17 Placing traffic lights behind the intersection encourages passing the stopline and encroaching on the crosswalk (which occurs a lot in the US). It's a much more car-centric design. It also doesn't accommodate intersections with awkward angles (people may mix up their light). Generally I think it's much more logical - if you pass the light, you're entering the intersection.
For me as a German traffic light's in front make more sense. They act like a bouncer for the intersection and the bouncer stands before the club and not at the bar
Right on red is allowed when there is a green arrow sign on the traffic light.
BUT you have to stop first, don't you forget that. I got fined a few weeks ago because I didn't know this. I drove for 35 years and I didn't know!!! 🙈
@@Winona493 This is because it can't be just copied from East Germany traffic rules. It was assumed it leads to dangerous situations when you do not stop when checking the crossing lanes.
And in Germany we have this rule too
@@BlenderMonster But I am from NRW!!!🥺
@@Winona493 That's because this was relatively "new" for west Germany AND because there are much less of those signs. I'm East German and in driving school we pretty much hit 3...5 of them every time we went somewhere. So impossible to miss this "knowledge" regarding this specific traffic sign over here. But there are areas in NRW (and all of west Germany), where they're so rare, that you might never encounter them during driving lessons. Sorry for your fine, but now you know... (spead the word though - you might prevent others to make this mistake)
Right on red would be a big problem here due to many, many pedestrians and bicycle riders.
It's just not safe.
We usually don't have as many lanes as in the US either. In most cases, there would not be enough space to turn right on red anyway.
There's no priority when you have traffic lights.
Police instructions before everything else, traffic lights before signs, signs before common rules like "cars coming from your right have priority".
Red light is just red light for everyone, period 😄
3:45 : From my perspective as a German driver for 36 years:
The traffic light is exactly where you have to stop. It is only seen by those who are supposed to see it.
In Denmark, about only 10 minutes away from me, the traffic lights are exactly the same as in the USA on the other side and also like in Germany. Out of habit, I always look at the traffic light that is closer because I know it is meant for ME. I'm not too sure about the other one on the other side of the intersection...
It's certainly like that because I'm so used to looking where the traffic lights are in Germany. The only important thing is that you still drive to the stop line, because some traffic lights have contacts in the ground that tell the traffic light: There is a car here and wants to get the green light. If you stop your car too far from the stop line to get a better view of the German traffic light, you may have to wait a long time for the traffic light to turn green. Or someone gets out behind you and, with German friendliness, tells you to move 2-3 meters ahead. Already experienced everything. Because the signs that read: “Contact loop - drive to the stop line” (Kontaktschleife - bis zur Halteline fahren) are often overlooked by drivers who are not local.
Greetings from Northern Germany ♥️
In my experience (UK), there was no point having a car at university. I lived on campus, most things I needed were within walking distance, and cars were expensive to run. I got my PhD before I passed my driving test (on the first attempt).
We have a sort of "right on red" in germany.
It's the green arrow sign on a red light.
It is placed on intersections that are save enough to turn right when the other street has green.
It allows you to use the intersection as if you had a stop sign if you have a red light and want to go right.
Most intesections don't have it though because it increases the amount of accidents slightly.
9:33 I am a bridge repairer. I renovated this bridge in Freiburg im Breisgau in 2023.
22:13 This is actually a very good question. But it is so rare that I only saw it once in years of driving. Because streets with lots of traffic do have give way signs. But if it actually happens that four cars arrive at a crossing with no give way signs at the same time, all four of them will come to a stop at first. The only way to solve this issue is that the first person who realized what just happened just gives up his way to the next person on the left with a hand sign. After that the issue will solve itself.
But like I said, it's so rare, that it should never happen.
Right on Red is a thing in Germany too, but its only allowed on specific Traffic Lights which have a Green Arrow on Black Background Sign. Then you have to come to a full stop, make sure NO pedestrian/cyclist are crossing (because they have right of way), then you're allowed to creep forward into the intersection, halt again to make sure no car is coming from the left, then you can make a right turn.
So we do have this but not on every intersection
Guys, the streets in many German cities and towns are tight since these cities existed looooong before the car was even invented (by Germans)!
Also, our streets are by far less rectangular than in the big cities in the US since the German cities mostly weren't planned but just grew "naturally" (e.g. around the church or a castle). One exception are, of course, the perfect roads the Romans built here more than 2.000 years ago. (Do I try to show off with our history? Yes, I do.😂 Sorry!❤)
6:55 it is safe until the moment where you have to take pedestrians into consideration. So basically nowhere in the US but everywhere in germany.
We have a green arrow sign (not to be confused with the green arrow !light!) that allows exactly that. Turning right on red if there is nobody coming.
But not everywhere.
My guess on trafic lights: I'm here in a medium sized city in Germany, but right outside my house is a crossroad where 5 streets meet. You just can't built traffic light on "the over side". Cities here are just hundred or even thousand years old and the streets are too.
1. We find it necessary, to keep the drivers active, which also involves some movement like shifting or turning head or sometimes even bending forward.
2. The light is at that point, you are not allowed to pass. That is the place where logic puts it, and where it belongs.
3. there is always on your right side passing traffic, we call that pedestrians and bicyclists, they have the right of way, if you want to turn. and they have no protection. They always have priority.
4 We have better ways to keep traffic fluent over cross sections . In most cases we do not even need to stop traffic wherever a stop light might stand.
There is without the need for any sign or light the rule right before left. Always.
5. Next step to avoid stop lights is a yield sign and a right of way sign, so you can coast bi,t no braking or stopping needed to merge in and over.
6.Wherever there is enough space , we use roundabouts, you just match your speed with the speed in the circle, merge in, choose your direction and then move out. There are always vessels from all participating roads or streets fluently passing at the same time . Very seldomly you have to stop for entering the circle.
7 .So, the a traffic light is unavoidable, the we put it, and we put it where you have to stop. And there is always one or two at your right or left side also, so you just turn your head, if you are too lazy to bend forward.
8 At the end, you with your "lazy" traffic lights have to stop ant every crossroad, then have a lazy lookout, while you have to wait, you do not drive at all.
At the same time we mostly only have to match our speed to the upcoming or crossing traffic and merge in.
9. When you see all that situations, i find that way more easy and fluent, and foremost is not only for cars, it integrates and protects bicycles and pedestrians and does not ignore everything, that happens to be not a car. And only comparing the more lazy lookout is just short thinking.
in the USA the streets are wide when most are under 70 years old
in Europe you have streets that are over 500 years old and were designed for horses and carts, not for SUVs
7:00 We don't pick up the right turn thing, because we don't have 6 lanes on every road. Even if the first car could turn right safely, most likely they want to go streight or turn left. If any car farther back wanted to turn right, they couldn't because there's cars in front of them.
If you take off the second it's green, that means you are not paying attention to any pedestrians who might still be crossing. There is a four-lane street near my house where the green for pedestrians is too short for a lot of, maybe most of, people.
You have to make sure that cross-traffic has cleared, which also refers to bikes and cars. It is common for blankety-blank drivers to run yellow lights(make the light)though yellow means stop unless you are too close and fast to safely stop. I once got rear-ended by a driver because I stopped for a yellow and the jerk-off thought I was going to go through. If I had time to stop, he obviously did too.
...also a german friend of mine made his driver's licence with 16 in tennessee and all he had to do was get in the car, drive straight from the parking lot, make 4 right turns and park the car again. that. was. all. and with his american driver's licence he was able to drive an automatic car in germany in the age of 16! that was crazy! and we loved him for that...
I think when the traffic light is across the street, it's harder to judge when to stop if the stop line isn't well marked. I think it's best to have two small traffic lights on the left and right side of the street with the car and the big arch with the one traffic light on the other side. But from a fifth intersection onwards I think the European traffic lights are better.
The narrow roads are one of many factors that lead to far fewer road deaths (per million drivers) in Germany; in the U.S., according to my very limited experience, you often find streets that seem wide enough for a 727 to land on, combined with a 30mph (or even 20mph) speed limit, and the speed limit loses.
In my area in Germany, in the past 10 years or so, more and more streets which had been "strictly no psrking" have been marked with designated parking spaces for one to two cars on alternating sides of the street to automatically slow cars down; where there are no houses and no need for parking, either massive concrete tubs full of flowers, or in one case trees(!) are used to slow down traffic.
Right on red is less safe for pedestrians
Drivers license in america = you are allowed to drive, drivers license in germany = you can drive propperly :-)
,.😊😊
Nah, you can almost drive and probably won’t crash right away for Germany
The traffic lights on the other side of an intersection works well if you have mostly right angle T and X intersections. But it gets rally confusing if have an Y. Do you put the lights on the right road or the left? It gets really complicated with intersections that has narrow angles and more that two streets crossing.
So because of the often not for cars build road systems, putting the lights close to the driver was the best solution to have an unified placement.
you could get pulled over for speeding if the police is there with a speed gun but then they will stand at the side of the road and signal with their hand to stop. they will never get into the car and follow you with flashing lights and siren just for speeding...
When you see a stop sign in Germany, that means that this specific intersection is especially dangerous. Normal intersections have the more permissive yield signs to keep traffic flowing, inconvenient stop signs are only used when extra caution is neccessary.
It's not especially dangerous. Maybe it's just difficult to see the other traffic or the other road has a higher priority and traffic frequency. Then you need to really stop and evaluate the situation.
I think I agree with this. I just realized that in my village, where the residential streets meet the main thru-street (70kph) there are yield signs! But everyone stops. Now they've dropped the speed limit to 50 and soon we'll have a traffic circle there cuz so many accidents occur. Maybe a stop sign would have helped.
the position of the traffic lights, in Europe many roads do not meet at a 90° angle, so the signal guidance would not be clear in many places if the traffic lights were on the opposite side of the road.
As far as turning right on red is concerned, this is a measure to protect pedestrians and cyclists, who are often overlooked. There is a green arrow where they are not exposed
Well, in Germany you could start to learn "Begleitetes Fahren" since you're 16,5 years old. Then you finish at 17 and could drive if a adult, who has a drivers license for some time and mets the requirements, sits next to you.
Learn. But age 17 is the legal age for driving with passanger who has a drivers license
@@kingofmontechristo Yes
And this ‘learning’ probably has to be done with a licensed driving instructor in a car with dual controls. Otherwise you could just start driving with your parents in the passenger seat at 16.5 and claim you were ‘learning’.
@@aphextwin5712 No, first you need to learn the theory and pass the exam. Then you could do stuff with a certified instructor.
driving on red lights to the right, there is a possibility in germany too, called green arrow on a metal plate, if you can see such a thing in germany you can turn to the right
Oh, please don't phrase it like this. You're right, but you are supposed to tread this like a stop sign. Stop for a couple of seconds, check if you're clear to go and then go. I believe the American "right on red" - rule does not require you to stop your car. The German "green arrow" does.
@@dnocturn84 you are right i was lazy XD
@@dnocturn84In America you still have to stop at the red light, but then you make a decision whether it's safe to turn.
In Denmark, when drunk drivers are in, they cannot say no to blowing an alcohol meter to see what their blood alcohol level is, and if it is above 0.5, everyone gets a blood test, get the exact blood alcohol level. If it is completely above 2.0, the car is confiscated and sold, the money goes to the state and you lose your driver's license for at least 5 years plus a fine equivalent to a month's salary before tax, then you are a director or company owner it can get really really expensive.
In the Netherlands 95% of tickets are given on your license plate. No photo's needed of the driver behind the wheel as in Germany. The car owner get the ticket in the post. You let somebody else drive the car? Too bad, your problem. Try to get the money back from that person, but the responsibility is at the car owner to pay on time. You can go to the court, but only after you have paid the fine.
Is that the case for non financial sanctions, such as getting the license suspended?
@@HolgerNestmann Yes that can be also the case. If you can proof somebody else was driving your car, you can get out of punishment, but then you have to give the name of the real driver. And the DA will have to believe your story.
But this Dutch system has made the whole process so much more simple and it reduced the millions of unpaid fines enormously. Fines trough speed and red light camera's are the norm. Even camera's that can automatically see if you use a phone in your hand are now getting regular.
But what not goes well in the Netherlands is that you see almost no police on the main roads. Until 15 years ago we had specialized traffic police who were all over the place. Now getting pulled over is so rare that many people think they can do almost everything on the road. Dash cam video's show there are a lot aggressive idiots on the very busy Dutch roads.
In Latvia too people get tickets to mail. Funniest part that ALL places are with signs (not all signs has working camera - they rotate them time to time) so if one gets penalty - I have zero idea what they are doing but they definitely are not driving or just wants to donate money to government 🤣
@@ce17ec yeah I can see it working. But it doesn't feel right from a legal standpoint. The enforcement agency has no proof which person did the felony. If someone takes a knife out of my drawer and stabs somebody, I am on the hook?
And so lending the car becomes a high risk even if it's shared just in the family. No private car sharing and the like means more metal boxes on the roads. No wonder dutchies rather cycle
In Switzerland, as much as I remember all fines I got have come without a photo. The authorities still might have photos but unless there is a contest as to who was driving, they don’t bother with showing you the image. But all fines have a form on the back where you can fill in a name and address if you weren’t the driver.
I actually rent out my car ‘commercially’ to perfect strangers. I have gotten a good number of fines from points in time when the car was rented out. I just send a photo of the fine to the person who had rented the car and they then pay it directly to the authorities. Meaning I don’t even bother with informing the authorities as to the identity of the driver. Always has worked like a charm.
22:17 If there are 4 vehicles at a right-before-left intersection, the drivers use hand signals to communicate who will drive first, the others then drive according to the right-before-left rule. This doesn't take more than a few seconds.
with US trafficlights they look as they will break and fall onto the streets. and they are very far away so the size-difference may not be such difference. So you may get used to it that its on the near side. Sometimes with the sun in a difficuilt position, there is mostly more than one traffic light, so either you drive to the front and look on the side-light or if you are further behind only you look on the top lights. Trafficlights on the left/right are not very high (just check if it is for your direction).
We have the green right arrow in germany too at traffic lights. These "replace" the trafficlight by a stop-sign. so you may drive on red but you need to stop once.
You get speeding tickets by mail, you see the flash of the camera so if you keep speeding you might as well keep speeding after the police pulled you over. And a) the installed cameras use a measure in the street to detect the carspeed. your Radargun wont help against. And in rare cases you get measured by another driving undercover-car. They might only catch people going 15mph+ over the speedlimit where it start's to hurt by loosing the driving licence or at least gets more expencive (>100$)
those unmarked cars also mostly watch for violations of safety distances, high speed often being combined with flashing their lights and trying to force people off their lane, which is not only a small infraction but a felony.
@@Anson_AKBviolations of safety distance rules and speed limits are also checked with mobile cameras on bridges in Germany.
But yes, as long as you’re not driving dangerously, you’re pretty safe from the unmarked cop cars in Germany.
Right on red only works without bikes or pedestrians. With them around it severely increases road accidents and deaths.
Pedestrians and bikes also have right of way over cars going right anyway.
Pedestrians have the right of way when crossing a side street that itself doesn’t have the right of way.
Australia has cops that will pull you over for speeding, but they can’t be everywhere, while speed cameras can. If you have the habit of speeding, you will get multiple fines in the mail, otherwise you’ll be in an accident that is worse punishment. Australia also has “Left tuen permitted after stopping” on certain intersections, otherwise you have to atop and wait for the traffic lights.
One thing I’m noticing about this guy, he drives with one hand on the steering wheel. In Australia, he would cop a heavy fine for that, because he does not have proper control of the vehicle, so it would cost him around $500!
Having the traffic lights on the oposite side of the intersection simply doesn't work on many intersections due to available space to put them and general complexity of it, so it wouldn't be clear which light is for who...
When you have a intersection in a old town with like six narrow 1000yo roads just meeting at random angles you know the traffic light for you is the one right next to your road.
To not confuse anyone futher it's just the same everywhere...
Right on red would turn the Netherlands into IRL carmageddon because almost all roads have bike and pedestrian lanes
Your bike lanes are enviable! 😍🚲👏 Greetings from an admiring German
I got my driver's license when I was 27. I didn't have a need for it, thus there was no pressure on me to get one. My son is close to turn 23, and he has not even started to think about getting a driver's license. No pressure either. In general, the amount of people owning a car in Germany is dropping, 60% of all new cars are company cars, and people start to get driver's licenses later and later in life.(Ironically, at the same time, the amount of cars in Germany is rising, which means that fewer people own more cars, while more rely either on company cars or don't drive cars at all.)
I got my driver's license at 26. I was in no hurry to learn to drive, especially in Southern California. I took public transportation for 13 years prior.
@Ryan Wass the reason why traffic lights are not on the opposite side is : Becaus in germany we have a lot of crossings where more tha 4 streets meet. Especially in lage citys and so you can only see the correct traffic light, yours.
Stoplights, in Sweden we often have both in front and besides and we can turn our heads if its needs 😂😂😂
If the traffic light is at the far side, you get used to driving through a red “line”.
3:43 illustrates my point
The RV goes right and passes through a red light to his right, to his left and above and right above him.
That seems wrong to me.
Also, what other people already said, in Europe there are LOTS and LOTS more intersections at various angles, from 10° to 120°, 3 roads, 4 roads, 5 roads getting together, always differently. The american system would be pretty confusing here. Not so, if everything’s a grid.
The funniest thing for me, as a German, in these kinds of reactions is, that Americans are so happy and amazed at how we "keep to the right lane", "we create an emergency lane in a traffic jam", "we always look for the cyclists"... I always only see how many people DON'T adhere to these rules. How people speed thought a town at 100 km per hour or how often I get cut off on my bike, or taken over by a car, that I get rly scared - there is a rule that a car has to keep a distance of at least 1.5m to a cyclist in town. I am so used to all these rules, I only see the people who don't care. Americans come here and mainly see those, who DO care - who actually are most of the drivers. It's nice to hear their positive perspective from time to time :D
And btw, I usually have no issues at all seeing the traffic lights XD
6:47 "It seems perfectly safe to me"
Running a red light is safe...? If you don't care about vulnerable road users: "at intersections allowing right-on-red, crashes jump 23%, pedestrian crashes increase by 60%, and cyclist crashes double."
About the narrow streets, they're residential streets, where people walk, cycle, kids play, they're made so you you cannot bomb down the street at 50+ km/h, they are narrow and alternante parking on each side so you have to slow down and weave and pay attention to your surroundings.
what the video doesn't say is that germans drive very aggressively and tailgate on the highway. i'm on the road a lot and that's not the case in any other european country.
They once had a show on TV called “Job Swap”. An Austrian police officer swapped jobs with a US police officer for a week. The US cop ran the first red light on his first turn. Then the Austrian said: "Red light, longer than a second and with intent. Actually, according to the law, I should take your driving license away now."
I think the traffic light thing has to do with the fact that all traffic rules that aren't innate (signs, lights, etc) reset after crossing a road or train tracks, so a red light on the other side of a crossing would just mean the very first rule of that road would be "stop in the middle of this intersection on red".
Turning right at a red light is only possible where there are no pedestrians or cyclists. The traffic lights are in front of the intersection for the same reason, as there are usually pedestrian and cyclist crossings.
Who gets the right of way in Germany:
If there are traffic lights, it should be clear.
No traffic lights? Then roadsigns apply. They are also at intersections with traffic lights and are valid whenever the lights aren't working, either malfunctioning or switched off during the night. The roadsign tells you if you have to yield or if you're on the priority road. Attention! The priority road may not always go straight across an intersection. It may turn right or left. But that would be a more advanced lesson and would of course also be indicated by roadsigns.
If there are no traffic lights and no roadsigns (i.e. there is no priority road) you have to yield to anyone coming from your right.
Police may use speed guns from time to time and pull you over. No chasing though. If you're too fast they'll just stop you right there.
When a traffic light is red it's a problem if you stay some meters away (when you you are the first in the row). It could be that it won't get green because in the street right before the traffic light often is an induction loop or at the traffic light an infrared sensor which switches the light to green.
green arrow (turn right on red) exists in germany in two types. one is a metal green arrow sign on the traffic light that acts as a stop sign for turning right. if the light is red, you approach the intersection, stop like at a stop sign, and if it's clear to go, you can drive. there are also extra green arrow signals that light up, like the one in the video, that means you're free to go to turn right.
nope you didn`t pass the driving test, you just did a stupid quiz 😂
Usually if you have the "pole position", you use the lower traffic light on the right and the light above you is for the cars behind you.
The stationary and mobile "Blitzer" (hidden in a station wagon, a trashcan, ect) are operated by the city, not the police. The police uses radar or laser pistols (stationary) and video cameras in their "undercover" cars and motorbikes (they follow and record you) and if they catch you speeding, they pull you out.
Also the use of radar detectors and even radar warning apps for the GPS is illegal in Germany
Ryan the use of technology in Europe for speeding offences is more effective. Ryan speed kills your sarcastic comment who sticks to the speed limit. As part of my job is attending motorway accidents and let tell you most accidents are caused by speed .
If there are 3 or 4 People on an Intersection, the right of way for the drivers on the right still applies.
If you're across from each other, than the one that doesn't cross the lane of the other one to turn or cross the road has the right of way. And if both have to turn, the one that does a right turn has the right of way, if i remember correctly. As you can see, it is pretty simple.
Traffic lights on the opposite end of the crossing wouldn't work as easily in Germany or Europe in general - some city street layouts are centuries old, meaning its not all 90°, crossings can be really close to each other, there are 5-way crossings and so on, so putting them on the opposite end of the road wouldn't work on all crossings - which would then require to mix both versions if you wanted the US-solution, which would really carry the risk of people ignoring lights because they think they aren't for the crossing they are at...
Turning right on red is a catastrophe for pedestrians - you have to look to the left to see if traffic is coming, while crossing through the pedestrians path on the right...
Rechts vor Links is actually the consequence of a much more simple rule:
Vehicles going straight have priority over vehicles that turn.
Now, as a matter of definition, where does the "turn" end and "going straight" begin? After all, after turning, you are going straight, right? So if you were to turn left, the traffic that was previously coming straight ahead is now coming from your right. There is also a lot of weirdly shaped crossings (5 way, weird wishbones, crossings with an offset between the crossing roads, etc.) regardless, no matter how you interpret the situation, be it as a vehicle that turns and one that goes straight, or two vehicles going straight, one just happened to have turned some meters before, it will always be the same vehicle that has right of way.
3:38 So is every American intersection orthogonal only? How would you place traffic lights for more than 3 options to turn e.g. left-left, left-right, straight, right-left and right-right? It's sometimes already confusing the way it is in Europe but I really can't picture in my head how that would look on the other side of the road in the US.
Because you are not used to it. Same as many Americans cannot imagine what it is like to drive like this in Europe
We have always to look out for pedestrians and bikes when we are turning right or left here.
On the topic of right on red: In Germany (and most of Europe) most traffic lights have pedestrian lights that don't have their own phase. The pedestrian lights are green when the parallel trafic has a green light. So the hypothetical car turning on left has to take care for pedestrians on which the view might be blocked by a (cab-over) truck in the lane going straight.
Furthermore, many roads don't have a right turn lane, so even if there is a sign allowing right on red if you aren't first in line, you can't go on red
I live in the center of a smallish town in Germany (about 30000 inhabitants) and I haven't even had a car in 6 years. I walk to the mall (less than 10 minutes) with a hand pulled trolley for groceries and that's not exactly an uncommon sight here.
And it's even closer for me to walk to Woolworth, clothes shops, bars, restaurants or the cinema 😅
"Turning right on red" only works in car-centric societies in which hardly anyone has to watch out for pedestrians or cyclists crossing the street especially from your right (as a driver, you only pay attention to the oncoming traffic on your left).
Speed tickets are sent through mail and depending on how much above the speed you go it increases the fine, points taken from your license and it can even revoke it. It's rare to see police pursuits in Europe because with narrow streets, pedestrians and ciclists it can escalate a situation very quickly and put more people in danger. They will have a picture of the car and who is inside and they can eventually catch them, even if they don't they rather not put more people in danger.
Concerning narrow roads in European towns and cities, remember that many of these were laid out before the motor car was invented. They were laid out for pedestrians, horse drawn carts etc.
Look up the video Molli-Bahn: The Steam Train That Thinks It's A Pedestrian and you can see a steam train running through this sort of narrow street in northern Germany.
The often narrow roads in residential areas are actually a means of speed control. By allowing the people to park on the left and/or the right side of the tight roads speeding is practically impossible.
German cities grew naturally. We don't have many 90 degree angles at crossings.
Sometimes you have 4-6 streets you can take. Sometimes the traffic light would be hidden behind a building. Streets are curved, bendy and it wouldn't work.
Furthermore, you know EXACTLY if you crossed a red light. When the light is on the other side of the road you can get caught in trying to pass while yellow, having it turn red.
4:40 here in Belgium, on large intersections, you have lights above and lights on the other side of the intersection. You'll alway have something visible
10:00 many camera's are fixed camera's. It's a tad difficult for a camera on a pole to pull over a speeding driver
The red light on the other side of the intersection is a legal problem. There are cases where streets after an intersection are in different jurisdictions. Also the line of the red light itself is legally the stop line when there is no white line on the road.
Noone needs pnoramic roofs because they rattle and need maintenance.
7:19 As you can clearly see here, there is a bus on the left, and you can't see if anyone is coming from the left. That's why it's dangerous to simply turn right. To be honest, there are also traffic lights in Germany that (very rarely) allow you to turn right. There is an extra traffic light with a green arrow for this.
The reason to bend over and check the traffic light is that you also have a better view of what is coming left or right. This way you are always sure if there is no sort of traffic coming left or right. We are even taught to check right and then left and right again! when you are driving/walking on green light. Is it that difficult to understand what safety means?
Having the stop lights before the intersection is less comfortable for drivers but safer for pedestrians. Drivers actually have to stop before the stop line, keeping the pedestrian crossing free. They are also concentrating on the traffic light that's placed right where pedestrians are crossing, so they are more likely to see them.
Right on red is terrible for pedestrian safety.