Driving in Germany- Learning New Signs, Navigating Narrow Roads and Dealing with Traffic Jams!

 

I have been driving since I was 15 years old in the US, when I learned to drive at my American high school in Palatine, Illinois.  I only learned to drive automatic in the US, in the 80s, and after many years later, I learned to drive stick shift with my brother.  He forced me to learn to drive manual and boy that was stressful!  But it was helpful looking back now...Then I leased my first car, a VW Jetta with a stick shift so I got used to it quickly.  

After moving to Germany, I was surprised that so many Germans drive stick shift cars.  It seems to be the default when you drive here.  Of course, when it was time to get a car, I insisted that our SEAT minivan was automatic because I had so much to learn with the new driving rules and navigate while running around with a car in Germany!  

Getting a German Drivers License- Because I had a Wisconsin drivers license from the US, I did not have to take a driving exam here.  Thank goodness. I heard horror stories from other international drivers about the expensive and difficult driving test. I had to pay around 40 euros for a translation of my drivers license into German and then paid another 30 to 40 euros at the city office to get a new German license.  Unfortunately they took my Wisconsin license away and told me that I can get it back when I travel back to the States.  Hmmmm....not sure if I will ever see my WI license again!

Narrow Roads and Lack of Parking- The roads are so narrow here compared to the US roads, especially when I am driving!  The roads are narrower in general and on top of this, many cars are parked on each side of the roads, and it just makes driving through neighborhood roads really scary and uncomfortable.  I feel like I am going to hit a parked car, or will hit the car from the oncoming traffic.  When I go to a new area or visit a new city, I always look for a parking lot or try to figure out where to park so I don't have to spend too much time and stress parking.

Some parking lots are extremely narrow, with tight spots and areas.  Whew, parking still stresses me out here, especially with our Minivan, so it has been interesting learning every day to be a better parker.  My favorite places to park are at the large train station parking areas and the larger supermarket lots, at Rewe or Aldi.

I think the biggest issue in Germany is that there are way more cars here, more people, crowded roads and just very few parking spots available.  So, it just makes everything more compact, narrow and crowded.  Even with a well connected public transportation system and  bike friendly lanes, driving is very popular here and there just seem to be more and more cars on the road, especially during Corona times.

Strange Signs and Stau!

Because I never learned to drive in Germany, I never knew about all the signs! There are lots of signs here!  Like no parking signs, yellow diamond signs, white arrows, signs with red borders, round blue signs, square signs, and arrow shaped signs, signs with designated hours where one is allowed to park, and exception signs and more exceptions to the rule signs....Mind boggling and confusing for a new drivers on the roads here.  I have been super confused numerous times and made turns when I was not allowed to and been honked at by other German drivers! The scariest part was driving into a one way road in the city center! Yikes....

What is Stau?  Well this is a very important word you need to know when driving here especially on the highways, or Autobahn.  Stau is a German traffic jam and it can get very congested and time consuming! I still remember driving from Erlangen to Munich when Nicolas' friend was visiting us from Wisconsin.  It took us 4 hours to drive to Munich when it should have only been about 2 hours. There was a tour bus that broke down on the autobahn at a construction zone, and of course, this totally backed up the lanes.  And I had to get out of the car to find the toilet on the highway! Now we know that you cannot always just drive with lots of speed on the highways here.  It can be quite frustrating with the awful traffic jams, especially during German holiday times.

Our family has two cars, and we tend to drive a lot here in our new village, Kraftshof, because  Nicolas drives and takes Kaya with the car to school in Erlangen, and we don't have stores or services in walking distance.  Nicolas could not drive for one year in Germany but after he turned 18 he got a used car and is driving again....driving as teens is quite different from the US! 

But we hope to bike more in good weather, use the buses and trams around us to get into the larger cities around us when it is convenient.  Like everything in Germany, I am learning and getting used to things...but still not crazy about driving here!  

Photos from Facebook....

From our first family autobahn driving experience when we drove to Hamburg which took way more than predicted 6 to 7 hours!  Yikes!  Facebook Post July 2019

On the autobahn to Hamburg for a family gathering! There are definitely lots more traffic here and cars drive way faster! I will definitely need some time to get used to driving in Germany! We hope it won’t take much longer but been on the road for almost 6 hours...