The German Autobahn Trivia Quiz

Answer: 100 kph

Speed limits posted along the Autobahn are, with very few exceptions, posted in multiples of 20 kph - 120, 100 and 80 are the most commonly seen numbers with 60 and sometimes 40 showing up in exits and construction zones. Speed limits above 130 kph are never posted due to the so-called "Richtgeschwindigkeit" (speed guideline) of 130 kph.

A few German states (primarily Hessen) have Autobahn segments with a posted 130 kph limit, usually to increase traffic flow in a zone that is deemed too dangerous for having no limit but does not merit a 120 or lower limit either.

Answer: road and traffic conditions must permit the higher speed

Any driver is allowed to choose any speed not in violation of general regulations or locally posted limits. General regulations exist for specific road types, vehicle types and weather conditions. Regardless of the hard limit, however, article 3 of the German road code states that a driver always has to choose a speed that is safe for the condition of the road, his skills, the amount of traffic and the visibility conditions.

Answer: fog with less than 50 m visibility - 50 kph

The fog limit is a relatively recent development and has been imposed due to the high rate of fatal accidents occurring in foggy conditions. It is an absolute limit and can be enforced by radar like any other limit. While several European countries do have special nationwide speed limits for rainy conditions, this does not apply to Germany.

Instead, permissible speeds for wet weather rely on article 3 of the German road code and locally posted "when wet" limits.

Answer: a technical problem interfering with car safety

While a lack of fuel will obviously force a driver to stop and the driver must then use the emergency lane to do so, it is actually illegal to run out of fuel on the Autobahn and you will get a ticket if it happens to you. Using the emergency lane to answer a pressing call of nature in a nearby thicket is forbidden as well; drivers are required to make it to the nearest exit or parking area.

The only legally safe reasons for an emergency lane stop are technical problems re car safety, and accidents.

Answer: clover leaf interchange

The clover leaf interchange is the most compact interchange that does not involve any lanes crossing each other (on ethe same level) and necessitating traffic lights. It also involves only a single bridge and is thus cheap to build. Its main disadvantage is that the left turn is executed as a 270° right turn with a very narrow radius that only allows rather slow speeds (50-60 kph for cars, 30-40 kph for trucks).

Turbine interchanges allow high speeds but need nine bridges. They are common in the United Kingdom. A diamond interchange is not free of level crossings for traffic turning left; it is one of the most common types of Autobahn exit, however, controlled by traffic lights on the non-Autobahn road.

Answer: an Autobahndreieck is a T-shaped interchange while an Autobahnkreuz is X-shaped

While the Autobahnkreuz is quite intuitively labeled - two Autobahn routes cross each other in a generalized X shape - the term "Autobahndreieck" is a misleading name for a T-shaped interchange where one Autobahn ends at another one continuing through. Even more confusing is the fact that some of the T-shaped intersections are labeled as full crosses, this happens when it is or once was planned to continue building the ending road across the other in order to avoid a later relabeling of the interchange.

In some of these cases, the cross-style interchange is actually fully built and the unused spurs are blocked and often slowly deteriorating.

Answer: all of these

The A8 was originally intended to be a continuous segment from Luxembourg (Perl border station) to the Austrian border at Piding. However, as the roads were built, it became apparent that it was impractical to have a major road cross directly through the center of München (Munich).

The A8 was thus interrupted in Munich and a ring road named A99 was built around the city. Another interruption exists in the west of Germany where the relatively low traffic on the route Pirmasens to Karlsruhe is already well covered via other Autobahn lines and an existing route that partially uses the A65 and several non-Autobahn federal highways. Neither gap will be closed/joined in the foreseeable future, leaving the A8 as three distinct but identically numbered roadways.

Answer: it is the first complete ring road Autobahn in Germany

Germany is unusually short on ring road segments around the major cities owing to the fact that the Autobahn network is so dense that most cities are already well connected by simply building exits from the multiple Autobahns passing nearby without needing a dedicated ring. The only two cities having a ring road Autobahn are Munich (A99) and Berlin (A10), but the Berlin ring was completed first..

Having a strict "drive to the right, pass on the left only" rule in Germany, a left-side exit would involve exiting from the fastest lane and possibly force slow vehicles into that lane. Still, northbound Exit 27 on the A81, leading to the town of Gärtringen, is a left exit, using fragments of a partially built and never finished interchange (the exit uses what was supposed to be the straight lane while the continued roadway uses the original right-turn spur).
A photo of this unique exit can be seen at www.autobahn-online.de/images/gaertringen.jpg

Answer: urgent traffic radio announcements when a wrong-way driver is spotted

It is hardly believable that in spite of the many investments made to improve Autobahn safety, no significant advancement has been made in the last 50 years to catch and stop wrong-way drivers at the point of entry. Apart from standard "keep right" and "wrong way" signage, the only specific defence against wrong-way drivers is the urgent radio announcement warning other motorists. Still, at best, these come several minutes after the wrong-way driver has entered the main roadway - sometimes too late for an accident to be prevented.

Over the last years, there have also been some field trials with putting the wrong way signs on highly reflective yellow backings to make them more visible.

Answer: 302 meters

You need a total 302 meters - 52 meters while you react and another 250 while the brakes stop you. If you are "missing" a quarter of this distance, you will slam into a stationary obstacle at approximately 130 kph, where even safety belts, airbags and other top-notch passive safety will not ensure your survival, much less prevent severe, permanently debilitating injuries.

So, if you are itching to try out high speeds on public roads, be warned: To do so safely, you need to have an excellent eye for the traffic, you need to be able to predict actions of others on the road with you, you need to be able to accurately estimate the speeds of other cars and, most of all, you need to be alert and able to see and react to everything going on in the next 500 to 800 meters in front of you. These are not skills you develop overnight, so take it softly and gradually, increasing speeds only when you are absolutely comfortable at a given level. There are (still) about 500 people being killed on the Autobahn every year, no need for you to become one of them.