Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Japanese imports can go faster than domestic vehicles

There is an interesting post at Boing Boing about the mystery driver of an English car in Germany. German speed cameras on the autobahns photograph the licence and the driver's side of the car but not the passenger side. As a result, the driver of the right-hand-drive British car does not show up in photos. S/he is apparently aware of this and has a Muppet in the passenger seat to be photographed.

My understanding of the traffic cameras in Korea is that they only shoot the Driver's (left-hand) side. Drivers of imported Japanese cars would be invisible to the cameras, so they should be able to ignore the cameras and drive any speed they like.

I don't want the roads in Korea to be any more dangerous but I especially wonder about speeding in Germany. I said 'autobahn' above, but I'm not sure they have speed limits. If cars are already going 200km/hr, I wouldn't want anyone abusing whatever laws are in effect.

2 comments:

skindleshanks said...

I was photographed going 89 in an 80 zone (at night on the emptiest highway I have ever seen in Korea, near Hongcheon). The pictures included on the ticket included one of the full car, with my face and the license plate visible. I was busy talking to my wife and wasn't watching the speed (which on a divided 4-lane, really ought to be a bit higher, IMO). I was stopped at the the next security stop and they looked at my license and radioed the number to the office, but said nothing about the ticket, just sent me on my way.
I thought they gave a 10kph buffer, like in Canada, but apparently not.

Marcus Peddle said...

Only certain sections of the Autobahn have no speed limit. It isn't quite the free-for-all that most people imagine.