“They have something like four times the fatality rate per mile that U.S. highways do.”
Uh no they don’t.
Their roads are better maintained, their drivers go through a more extensive drivers ed than what’s found here in the states, and all their vehicles go through an annual inspection.
Per 1,000,000,000km traveled, their fatality rate is 1.74, compared to ours at 3.36.
I was quoting older statistics, back when they didn’t even require seat belts in cars! And I believe that in Germany, if the victim is not pronounced dead on the roadside, but dies in hospital, it does not count as a traffic death. Believe me, in 1970’s it was amazing how common accidents were on das Autobahn.