German drivers and signs

More about roads in Europe. Have I told you about the road users here?? In Germany, the drivers are generally good. But the do some things, which wouldn’t go down well back home.

On the stretches of non-speed limited Autobahn, you’d have to be quick if you want to overtake the vehicle in front. If you see nothing in the mirrors, you can go, but you may suddenly find a Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, *insert other big posh cars that are driven by businessmen; bank managers; egoists; people who are so far up themselves they think they own the road; etc. here* so far up behind you, it makes you feel rather uncomfortable in a few ways. You may even see his disgruntled face, or maybe the bronzed suntanned skin fading into his receding hairline, unless it’s covered by the unhealthy amounts of slick-back hair gel, or a wig. You may even be lucky to get blinded by his flashing headlights in the mirrors to tell you to get out of the way, because you’re holding him up as he’s late for a meeting, or his tailor is about to close.

Another feature back home, which isn’t on the Autobahn, is on the signposts. If you want to go London from Swansea, you know it’s East. So you go onto the M4 Eastbound, or M4 (E) as it’s signposted. The same for every other motorway, the direction of travel is posted on signs. However, if you want to do that here, you have to know where these places are in respect of your intended direction, even if these places are miles and miles away from your destination. Or sometimes they may not even be in that direction.

An example or two. If you want to head from Recklinghausen to Dortmund, you travel East on the A2. But, the directions aren’t posted, but instead a city. Dortmund isn’t posted on signs, but a place called Hannover. Hannover is a couple of hundred miles away in a different Bundesland, and it’s in a Northeast direction. Why don’t they put Dortmund on the signs? It’s only half an hour away. Or even easier, why not put a direction on it, too? What’s also confusing is, you travel South down on the A43, you may be around Hattingen (I’m not sure where exactly), when you see signs for Bremen (A1). Now, you may be approaching the A1, but this is Southbound. Bremen is a good few hours away, and it’s up on the coast. Why travel South and just about double back on yourself, when you can easily just go up? The A43 joins the A1 on both ends, anyway. And junction numbers aren’t very well advertised either, they’d rather go by name than by number.