Just one data point from Germany: The legal situation currently makes it illegal to use arbitrary lightning signals in motorized traffic. This has many clear reasons, such as reducing stress and distraction and reserving blue warning lights to emergency vehicles, for instance.
Given how traditional and cautious Germany is when it comes to new technology, I could imagine that projecting cars have a long way until getting recognized. On the other hand, Germany thinks of itself as a automotive country. Car manufactures have a lot of influence in politics.
Apart from weather, a big issue outside the USA is also car infrastructure. The US is extremely car centric with large, straight, easy-to-maneuver roads everywhere. Here in Germany, it's different. We have rather narrow, chaotic roads, unclear signage, "right car has right of way" traffic rules which sometimes get resolved via hand signs, no jaywalking laws, etc.
I am still hoping for fewer cars on the road overall. The car itself is inefficient and hopefully on its way out.
There is also automated enforcement outside the vehicles. It seems like this works to great effect in Europe although they seem to have political systems that don't result in, say, quietly changing yellow light timings to get more revenue.
Germany is not a good example, the highways are saturated, always under construction, speed limits are not respected and when you do not have speed limits, you have crazy people driving 190km/h+ thinking they can control their car and are driving safely.
Really, cars and speed limits are very particular in Germany, if Germans are normally very rational in the way they manage their life, they keep all their irrationality for their behaviour with respect to their cars.
One has to understand/learn/remember that Germany doesn't have the same speed limit laws like we do in other countries/cities.
In other words, the more people respect "zebra crossings", the less drivers have to worry about driving 15 bloody mph in some residential area cause the folks there see no problem in just jumping across the street.
What the German example shows us is that: if we all abide by the rules -- with no exceptions -- we can all have nice things.
(like driving your Porsche @150mph on the freeway cause we are actually adults)
Some might call that an environment for progress and innovation :)
It's in fact one of my least favorite things about living in Germany (not the pristine-ness, but the holiness GP mentioned). Cars are absolutely holy, many drivers absolutely freak out when you dare touching their car or take up precious road space with your unworthy bicycle. Traffic rules for cars are often mere recommendations, and breaking them goes unsanctioned. Prioritizing motorized traffic is a borderline religion (e.g. the eternal discussion about a speed limit on the Autobahn), and other means of traffic are only very slowly awakening. What a waste of space, resources and quality of life.
German road police bullies Czech and Polish drivers a lot. 'Random' road control means that entire content of car ends up on the road. And while German society is relatively open, you need fluent German language with NO ACCENT to be fully accepted, it is very far from US or UK.
I'm from Germany and I actually do have issues every once in a while. Like traffic lights, or buses, are mostly fine, but in some cases, I wasn't sure and chose the wrong images. Is that a truck or a bus? Is that a street lamp or a traffic light? I did feel that it would have been easier for me if I was American.
Our German au pair was astounded that every project that requires shutting down a lane on a road has two guys waving people through the remaining lane. Apparently in Germany they just use portable traffic signals.
Personally I see a big difference in the philosophy of lawmaking in the US vs Germany. Take driving, for instance. In the US, almost anyone who can physically climb behind the driver's seat of a car can get a drivers' license, and indeed having a drivers' license in the US is almost a fundamental right. Speed limits are then set, to first order, to accommodate the fact that you have marginal drivers behind the wheel. In addition, the police can - and do - selectively enforce driving laws. Ideally that power would be used to keep truly bad drivers off the roads, although the current civil unrest in America shows that that selective enforcement is, to put it mildly, abused.
In Germany, the barrier to getting a drivers' license is much higher. More training, more stringent tests. But the effect of that is that drivers are (mostly) assumed to be able to adapt their driving to road conditions; as a consequence, you get unlimited legal driving speeds on part of the German road system. In good weather, traffic permitting.
Of course, there are confounding facts: in my experience the average physical state of a car is much better in Germany than the US, and highways are better maintained. But still, the contrast is interesting. In the US, lifting speed limits on even straight roads through the desert would have poor outcomes.
I cycle a lot in Berlin. My observation is that EVs are far safer to be around because the car will hit the breaks before the driver gets into any trouble. Big ICE cars on the other hand are the worst. SUVs are the worst. I constantly get cut off by obnoxious drivers aggressively driving from traffic light to traffic light, cutting off people, breaking the speed limit, running red lights, double parking, or slamming their door in your face because they can't bothered to look around then. German traffic rule enforcement is very hands off so there is a lot of this going on. I deal with this on a daily basis.
German drivers generally do a good job of getting out of the way of emergency vehicles, but they're also incredibly aggressive drivers (rushing up to red lights, making turns within inches of pedestrians) who also routinely break the rules.
Like I don't think I've ever seen people driving on the sidewalk in an American city, but it's a constant in Berlin. During a recent fair (Neuköllner Maientage) we had tons of people driving into the park and just parking on trails, including right in front of benches. Even coming from another country with an aggressive, entitled car culture, that was breathtaking behavior.
I mean, Germany does this on the autobahn. I can't really find any mortality data for the autobahn though. Also, German driving laws are fairly more strict than in the US.
Thanks. I did not read your main comment for being mainly road related. In non-road related areas I am pretty confident Germany has more safety measures than UK. The non-existing speed limit and the German love for car(lobbies) appear to be quite similar to the love of weapons in the US. I am not comparing weapons with cars here. Just their lobbies and public relationship with them.
Driving in Northern Europe or Germany is a completely different experience than in almost anywhere else in the world or specially in the Americas.
People actually follow the laws for the most part, they drive defensively, which usually boils down to breaking instead of honking in anger to avoid accidents. In general, compared to the US and South America you get the impression that people are actually paying attention to what they are doing behind the wheels. Of course, as a tourist maybe I looked at things with rose-tinted glasses, YMMV
Given how traditional and cautious Germany is when it comes to new technology, I could imagine that projecting cars have a long way until getting recognized. On the other hand, Germany thinks of itself as a automotive country. Car manufactures have a lot of influence in politics.
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