tomassocroccante

Sadly, people on vacation, like others who are away from familiar territory, will always come upon unfamiliar situations. (IN Sanibel FL, for instance, where my sister lives, many the large number of tourists operate their cars without much thought about the also large number of folks out on rented bikes and mopeds, the blind driveways, the numbers of people who have been "celebrating" at any given moment ...)

Add to that a language barrier when abroad, that means slower reading of signs, etc ... we all have to be more careful. That said, if I saw a flashing red light, I'd stop. If I saw a flashing yellow light, I'd be cautious and/or yield right of way. That might not be the rule in Germany, but it would probably suffice.

BTW, we don't have right turn on red in NYC. I've never seen a sign stating that (!) in 30 years here, but it's a violation. Whenever we see someone doing it (frequent) we know immediately that they're from out of town - but then the majority of cars on Manhattan streets at any moment don't belong to anyone living on the idland (maybe from no further than across the river, though). There are just too many pedestrians in the city to make RT on Red practical or safe. Drivers here do push the yellow-to-red to the limit, as far as squeezing through the intersection as the light changes. Most seem to believe that the SECOND car or truck to pass through on red can still get away with it ... considering this, the # of drivers talking on phones -including illegally using handsets - and the general aggressiveness on our streets, it's actually remakable our traffic fatalities aren't higher than they are.

Here's a peculiar statistic: in the city of New York, the record for pedestrian traffic fatalities was set in 1930: 950 deaths. One of the lowest on record was 2003: 180 deaths.

susnobie

For country by country requirements go to http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...bycountry.html

I have driven in several countries in Europe and was not aware of some of the requirements.

PalenQ

Like in Spain if you wear eyeglasses required on your license then you must carry a spare pair in your car or you could be ticketed.

I was surprised when posting this before a local said police do indeed check at roadside stops and ticket for this.

L84SKY

Was she a pedetrian at a zebra marked crossing? A Pedestrian would have the right of way.
In a car, yield right away to traffic coming from the right.

L84SKY

Here's a useful website for driving in Germany:

http://gettingaroundgermany.home.att

logos999

The report was on WDR german TV. The other driver was hitting her car from the side. I wrote this at the moment it was reported, while sitting and watching TV in a hotel room in Pilsen.