Endless traffic jams: the long way to Dusseldorf

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My endlessly long journey to Dusseldorf

Endless traffic jams: the long way to Dusseldorf-Bring minimum speed left lane

A sign on a motorway indicates a construction site

Source: dpa

Even for patient people, driving on the motorway through the north-west can quickly become a torture. Construction sites from Kiel to Dusseldorf – and where there is free passage, the speed limit is 120. A driver lets off steam.

A.What a wonderful feeling to have learned something new again. From the age of 30, as is well known, you slowly but surely become stupid. For the rest of your life, it is particularly important, after escaping the optionally borderline-dumb-happy or pseudo-clever-depressive culture of the twenty-year-olds, to no longer just surround yourself with the opinions of like-minded people on the Internet, but also to turn to new topics from time to time.

Today I would like to advance in an exemplary manner and announce that I have learned two useful things in the past few days: On the one hand, when you drive from the north to the west, you have to be extremely careful not to fall asleep because a construction site is starting shortly after Kiel, which in principle continues via Bremen to Dusseldorf.

The other finding: not all hotels, especially not in fine Dusseldorf, are ready to cancel bookings that helpful ladies have made for tired authors via the booking portal. I can assure you that there will be unpleasant discussions at reception.

Every fourth person has closed their eyes at the wheel

Anyone who drives a car despite being tired puts themselves and others at risk. According to a study, every fourth driver has nodded off at the wheel. Breaks, fresh air and exercise can help. Source: Die Welt / Dagmar Bohning

In the end, it remains to be said: in the future I would rather pay double or even triple the price and book directly at the hotel again. Old-fashioned, safe, but simply more pleasant in the long run.

The question remains, of course, why German hotels do not embrace customers who address them directly like old friends, but on the contrary try to drive them into the arms of the popular hotel booking portals with rather outrageous prices. But I don’t have to understand everything. Keep up the good work, at some point your noble hotels will only be discount store assistants, but then please don’t complain and ask me for more money, thank you.

In and around Hamburg – construction sites everywhere

Understanding the organization of German motorway construction sites is more difficult than the screwed-up minds of hotel managers in the Medienhafen to and from Dusseldorf. The delays are enormous and are so noticeable because the cities in the north are always practically exactly an hour away from each other on the motorway.

Even if you set up a small diesel car with 17 hp as a measure, the driver of which does not know what an accelerator pedal is. Flensburg, Kiel, Hamburg and finally Bremen (or optionally Hanover). Nice and simple, like the pearls on the chain.

At the moment, law-abiding drivers need a good 2.5 hours from Bremen to Kiel. The reason: in front of, behind and in Hamburg you simply cannot escape the construction sites. Although there is at least construction going on in Hamburg, on the so-called construction sites, in any case a few well-trained men are always standing around and talking to each other.

Bring the minimum speed in the left lane!

Quite different in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, where on the ride into the sunset with narrowed eyes you have to realize that there is no one to be seen far and wide. Except for those who wait for the speed cameras.

I think it was at Cloppenburg when my otherwise patient co-driver suddenly started ranting why you were on a perfect motorway may only drive at the speed of a defective covered wagon.

To lighten the mood, I patiently explained to her that the dead straight and well-developed sections of the route were probably known hot spots for accidents. Simply because the notorious 120 km / h drivers would all nod off at some point and then fuck each other.

That’s why I’ve been advocating a radar-monitored minimum speed in the left lane for a long time, but that’s another topic. Those responsible, traditionally enthusiastic about the prohibition, have found another solution, and it’s called "Tempo 100" – at least if a maximum speed of 80 km / h does not apply, which it almost always does.

Earned a golden nose at all the traffic lights

After this excruciatingly slow and never-ending journey across the country, I would like to apologize, especially to my readers from North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, and frankly admit: I really underestimated the traffic chaos, the frustrating viscosity and the never-ending construction sites in your beautiful federal states.

If, like me, you are mainly traveling in northern or eastern Germany, you quickly forget how miserable it is on the Rhine and Ruhr. Although the misery could at least be homemade, at least outside the autobahn, this thought came to my mind when I drove from Dusseldorf, where the traffic was actually pretty good, to a small town in the Rhineland, which basically consisted of beer-drinking youths and traffic lights duration.

Somebody must have earned a golden nose at all the traffic lights, maybe a competent non-Rhinelander should take a closer look. And then, let’s say 80 percent of all traffic lights, ship to distant countries as a development aid project – but only after he has given the marketing and booking experts at the Dusseldorf hotels a refreshing dip in Father Rhine.

And what does the smart co-driver do, back in the north, at the next appointment? Quite simply, she took a plane to Cologne this morning. I think that is what our climate-concerned and car-hating fellow citizens understand by “environmental protection in practice”.

This is the compromise for car tolls

There is a breakthrough in the dispute over the car toll. The EU Commission and the German government have agreed on a compromise. For Germany, however, this means significantly less tax revenue than planned. Source: Die Welt / Ole Kamper

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13 thoughts on “Endless traffic jams: the long way to Dusseldorf”

  1. My girlfriend lives 550 km away from Stuttgart. Up to the border of North Rhine-Westphalia it always runs relatively smoothly, but North Rhine-Westphalia is the horror. Since the Minister of the Interior also likes to play the role of senior educator – only not when it is necessary – I myself drive a maximum of 10 km / h over the senseless limit in the middle of the night, because I don’t give the gentleman a single cent for his "Scrap ripe Westphalia" grant. When I read again, what a HUGE amount of money "our" gift people are not available, but are definitely spent, one could become a little aggro. But wait, then you would be "Angry citizens".

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  4. If you are not able to stay lively at 120 km / h for a long time, you should sleep in before driving. If that does not help, he (she) is completely unsuitable for operating a dangerous machine, which certainly includes cars, and should surrender his driver’s license immediately for the benefit of all.
    The gossip about fatigue because you are only allowed to drive 120 is absolutely ridiculous and unworthy of a motor journalist.

    Greetings from a 120 driver who does this not for environmental reasons (but that wouldn’t be a bad thing), but because he simply has no desire to drive fast and enjoys low fuel consumption (saves money) as a pleasant side effect.
    Reply

  6. And if you don’t want that and instead of taking the car you want to take the train for the 350 km from North Rhine-Westphalia to a small town in Lower Saxony to visit the family, you will find that the new pricing policy of Bahn am We means that savings prices are no longer possible , despite a Bahncard – no matter how far in advance you book.
    It’s never been better for us! 🙁

    Reply

  7. If the train weren’t so ridiculously expensive, I would only use the train to get around the traffic jams. Next year I’ll try these long-distance buses. My impression is that mobility is undesirable in this country and that only politicians and trucks should move freely.

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  8. The first mistake is to go to Dusseldorf. Why should one do such a thing?

    Joking aside.
    As in most metropolitan areas, traveling by train between the Rhine and Ruhr is exceptionally less stressful than driving a car. Of course, less stress does not mean completely stress-free…

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  9. As one can see from the election results of the last state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, the majority of the residents there obviously want it exactly that way.
    The small rest either accept it fatalistically or move.
    They have meanwhile managed to make you happy when you’re allowed to drive at least 120.
    Most of the time it is 80 km / h.
    Something happens all time:
    – 3 weeks ago it was split split
    – 9 days ago someone lost a few drops of oil
    – The guardrail is slightly dented over a length of 5 m
    – A construction site where someone shows up every few months
    – Road damage (you could fix it too, but the speed limit is probably more sexy)
    – Noise protection (often in areas where no residential building can be seen far and wide)
    – "tunnel" (i.e. short underpasses)
    ….
    In terms of driving technology, I’m always happy when I’ve arrived in Bavaria. It’s a different world. Like a flashback to a better time.

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  12. Always stay relaxed, Mr. Bellberg. It took me 2 hours on the way home yesterday. 23 km. Between Rotterdam and The Hague. So never go on vacation in NL and drive to Dusseldorf in the evening rush hour. You never arrive there on the same day.
    P.S. You are only allowed to drive 130 km / h far beyond Rotterdam. If that works then.

    Reply

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