Protection on the Autobahn

We began the new year by thanking God that we're still alive. On New Year's Eve we drove to Claudia's sister's home in Neustadt an der Weinstraße. At about 6 pm, we were really cruising down the Autobahn since there was very little traffic on the road.

Now, when I say cruising down the Autobahn, I mean I was driving German style. There are many sections of the German Autobahn that still has no speed limit. So I was driving conservatively at 85-90 mph. Fortunately, I saw blinking lights ahead of me early enough that could easily slow down without any stress.

As it turns out, that section of the highway had received some drizzle that in 30 F (-1 C) temps and turned into black ice. Within a stretch of 70 meters (about 200 feet), there were three accidents. Although a few cars only had some dents, others were totaled. While we were in the middle lane trying to merge into one lane (to the right), the car right to our left was rear-ended by another car that had lost control and spun out on the ice. Our car and our family could have easily been in the last accident.