Germans can drive fast as they want on motorways - so why don't they?

Germany is still home to one of the world's last series of motorways without speed limits. Research shows Germans want a limit to be imposed, and yet little is expected to change following the country's recent shift to the right. — Photo: Robert Michael/dpa

Motorists in Germany can drive fast and furious on the large stretches of the motorway, which have no fixed speed limit. And yet it seems the majority of them prefer to stay in the slow lane.

In most countries, cars have theoretical top speeds well in excess of legal limits, but in Germany most people don't use the rare opportunity to put the pedal to the metal and test these top speeds out, new research shows.