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danielq

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I have been driving 8 years in Germany and then 9 years in the US.

In my experience, driving on US freeways requires less lane changes than on German autobahns. This is mostly due to the facts that in the US everybody is driving about the same speed; in Germany, as mentioned above, if you want to drive faster than the trucks but not fast enough to stay always left, you are constantly switching lanes to overtake people in the second lane. If you want to drive a speed that is lower than the 'general' second lane speed, you even need to go in and out from the truck-lane.

Furthermore, since it is OK to overtake on the right in the US you don't need to change lanes if your lane now goes a little faster than the lane on the left. Even though you shouldn't stay left for a prolonged time if you are [much] slower than the rest (even in the US), it is OK to be overtaken on the right.

Though, I am faster on German freeways (driving around 160-170km/h), I enjoy driving in the US more as it is generally more relaxed.

I somewhat doubt that the German autobahn rules are better with dealing with medium-high-traffic situations than US rules. Would be interesting to see actual data on this claim.

Interesting to see Germany with 4.9 below the US with 7.6. In Germany, long stretches of quite a few Autobahns do not have a speed-limit at all. There are, of course, other differences between driving in the US and in Germany.

source: I have been driving in both countries for more than 8 years; moved to the US little more than 8 years ago.