I've been driving to / from Germany for the best part of 20 years and lived there for 8 years.
Driving standards on motorways / Autobahns is vastly better than in the UK. They still have very poor roads in places that can't deal with rain and visibility reduces very quickly, but most people are generally more aware of what's going on. Lane disipline is vastly better and people are clearly paying more attention. The German driving test is much more difficult than the UK one (I explained what our was to some people there and they laughed). Of course winter tyres / all weather are required for winter months and if you have an accident without having them and you are found at fault you are in a world of pain. You'll of course get idiots who insist on doing 180km/h even when it's chucking it down but it's not normal. You get used to driving on them quite quickly.. you have to be much more aware of your surroundings and get out of the way of anyone coming up fast behind. You have to break a lot earlier than you are used to and honestly after a while it is more tiring than driving in the UK if it's busy. If it's not busy, it's incredibly easy and you get places quickly. Lots of people of course don't drive over 130/ 140 even when it is derestricted.
Generally though German Autobahns are built very differently to UK motorways - the lanes are wider, curves are banked, they are almost spotlessly clear of debris. Most of the Autobahns don't have a limit for km after km, there are tons of roadworks, tons of very steep hills, busy junctions etc that there are limits in force for. There are a few exceptions of course and there are some stretches that are around 50-100km long with no limits at all other than tunnels - those are quite good fun where you can just sit at 170km/h (or more) and really make good progress. Germany is of course a much bigger country than the UK so saving 20mins or so does make a difference. Anything more than 170 and you're burning huge amounts of fuel, but the main people who do speed above that are company car owners who don't pay for the fuel themselves. The other thing is that a lot of Autobahns are still only 2 lanes - there is traffic and a ton of lorries (vastly more than the UK) so your opportunity to go fast is actually quite limited on occasion. The big , main Autobahns are 3 or 4 lanes and when not busy obviously its easier to get some speed up.
I've seen many different stats on fatality rates on Autobahns compared to UK motorways but generally it seems to be between a third and double as many. They probably have less accidents, but those that do happen are much more serious because of the speed. Car insurance (actually all insurance) is vastly more expensive in Germany.
The main thing though is you hardly see any people sitting in the wrong lanes.. if they did a) it's illegal and there are Police on the Autobahns b) you'd get driven off the road c) everyone would beep you and make you aware you are doing something wrong - German's love telling you when you've screwed up. Other things as well in terms of driving standards are much better.. EVERYONE merges in turn at road works, or if it goes from 2 to 1 lanes, if there is a queue on a motorway you are required to move to the side so emergency vehicles can come down the middle.. this again is a legal requirement and everyone does it - once again German's love rules (it's not efficiency, don't mistake the two things
)France and Belgium by the way with their slightly higher motorway limits (in dry weather) - Generally French drivers are ok, but they'll pull out into gaps that aren't there, will one minute do 120 the next for no reason 140. Belgiums are awful drivers.. sit in your boot when there is nowhere to go, cut you up etc and they have more traffic than we do.
Back to the UK - no way can they increase the speed limit beyond 70. Most roads are not built for it, people are too bad at driving (even a tougher test won't provide results for years / decades in the future), and too many people will just ignore all rules because UK folks hate being told what to do by anyone.
I never do more than 80 on a motorway.. i'll often sit at 75 just to make a bit more progress and get away from people mucking around in the wrong lane or lorries. What I can't stand is those doing 90> 100 because you are relying on other people complying and not doing something stupid.. and you can't do that here.
We desperately need to do something about the quality of driving on UK motorways that will have an effect quickly. It is SO poor compared to 15 years ago and compared to many other countries. And don't get me started on smart motorways.
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