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You can mow your Lawn on Sunday ;) but you are not allowed to use Gas or Elektric driven lawnmowers ;) therefore you can use a "Spindelmäher (Cylinder Mower)" or a "Scythe" which is driven by Musclepower :D
The anti-sandcastle laws actually have also another very serious reason for the Islands with those laws are mostly out of sand wich got eroded extremely fast in the last years. Many lose big amounts of their area to the sea. Building sandcastles causes this to happen Faster. You shift sand and are giving water and wind more attack area to erode the beaches. One or two sandcastles are no big deal but if hundreds of people do it almost all year around it adds up.
One little anektdote: There a some numberplates that are in some cases forbidden in Germany (de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kfz-Kennzeichen_%28Deutschland%29#Unerw.C3.BCnschte_Erkennungsnummern) while some are always forbidden, you can get others occaionally. For example LM-AA (Meaning: Lick my A..) used to be fobidden but you can get it nowadays. But although you can get it you are not allowed to point at a person and afterwards on your numberplate.
Technically, nobody prevents you from mowing your lawn on a Sunday in Germany - as long as you're doing it quietly by using a hand mower or a really silent electrical one. As long as the noise is not disturbing anybody, it's just fine. It's not about what you're doing but the noise you're creating.
Well not quite true, there are regulations which prevent you from just doing work visible even quietly can disturb the "Sunday quietness" and would be forbidden if your neighbors take offense. Though e.g. light (quiet) garden work is fine.
@@lal12 You are right. A grumpy neighbor can even report you if you hang out freshly washed laundry to dry in the garden on Sunday because it's work. Just silly.
@@bragiboddason4304 Yes, *those* laws are actually religiously motivated - which presumably means that they will get less over time as more Germans become non-religious.
@@KaiHenningsen Fortunately, the police (and the „Ordnungsamt“) have known such grumpy neighbors as complainers for a long time and treat such reports subordinate. Not to mention the annoyance with which judges react to such notorious complainers who clog the judiciary with their lawsuits. German courts really have better things to do than judge wet laundry (except maybe the courts in Catholic Bavaria ;)).
@@lal12 When we lived in Denmark in the eighties some neighbors complained at the yearly meeting that (some) we did not put our freshly washed underwear to dry discretely. They were laughed at and stopped complaining.
Nope. According to the German street traffic law (StVO) your vehicle must be able to run at least 60 kmh, not 80 kmh to be allowed on the Autobahn. This had been implemented to ban slow moving vehicles like tractors (or bikers etc) to enter the Autobahn. Tractors which are able to move with more than 59 kmh are allowed on the Autobahn. 😊
The term Sandburg has led you a bit onto slippery ice here. Sand castles do not mean decorative sculptures. Large sand walls are meant here, which are intended to serve as windbreaks. Similar to how German tourists get up at 5 a.m. on Mallorca to reserve a lounger by the pool with a towel, fathers of families dug deep ditches and round walls into the beach on the German beaches in order to find a sheltered place for the whole family. The private sand wall, often decorated with turrets, often lasted for several days. Nowadays, this form of Sand castle is mostly both forbidden and frowned upon, for ecological and economic reasons. From an ecological point of view, one fears beach path flooding. Sand, the most interesting thing such an island has to offer, is destroyed by the digging work of vacationers. In addition, however, the commercialization of the beach is limited by the occupancy rate. If everyone puts a wall around themselves, fewer people can be accommodated on a kilometer of beach. Decorative sand castles that are washed away by the next flood are not forbidden.
And also it is because of concerns about flood prevention. Most of the north sea islands don't have a dike, so the beach and the sand dunes protect the island in case of storm surges. So digging a hole on the beach can endanger the people living on the island.
@@haselmaus8054 exactly. The sand on Sylt is extra hard to preserve / the isle spends billions to just keep existing. Digging even a small sand castle might cause a loss of few square meters of sand beach because the current can eat the part that’s not as smooth as the rest.
@@haselmaus8054 Small correction: it's not really about whether the island has a dike. Those islands that don't have dikes (the "Halligen") generally don't have sand beaches or dunes either. But those islands that do have dikes usually don't have them at those parts of the coast where the sand beaches and dunes are, e.g. on Föhr, the beaches are along the south coast (and the southernmost parts of the west and east coast), but not at the rest of the coast which is where the dike is.
That's why many Germans come to the Netherlands in summer 😁. In general, making sandburgs is not forbidden here, although it is forbidden by some local authorities. It is really a German tradition and we love to make fun of our neighbours and their digging.
Hi, Black Forest Family! "Sand castles" usually don't refer to the small "model castles" made of sand that can be seen in your video, but ring walls made of sand in which whole families can stay. These "craters" dug into the beach are a real obstacle, e.g. for ambulances, they also loosen the structure of the beach, which increases the risk that it will be eroded by storm surges. Sand castles of this kind can even endanger flood protection. In addition, I think it's bad habit to mark off part of a public beach with a "castle" like this. It is somewhat similar, but worse than the much-ridiculed German bad habit of "reserving" beach loungers or deckchairs with a towel.
@@andreaheinrich2576 And you need to be careful walking on some beaches. I once did modelplane flying and went a step to the back while looking up and literally falling into one of these holes.
Each year, thousands of € are spent to put sand to the beach. And these excavation activities endanger the beach. The beach is the "frontline" against landloss caused by the sea
It's not really about the dangers to tourists directly. It's the indirect effect. Digging trenches that connect to the sea, especially on the North Sea coast, allows the water to erode the sand much, much quicker. Fehmarn, Amrum, Sylt, and the Halligen are under constant barrage by ocean currents. They loose land to the sea each year that often has to be shored back up artificially, and as you may have guessed, with huuuuge costs. Especially Sylt with its large crowds of tourists is dependent on not growing smaller. It seems that during each winter storm Sylt looses a not insignificant amount of land to the sea. However, the Wattenmeer, the large mudflats along the coast of the North Sea, are a protected world heritage site so there's a limit to how far out protective structures can be built. In essence, this reduces any wave-breakers right to the islands themselves and can't be placed a few hundred meters to a few kilometers ahead of the shore. Btw: a few kilometers in case of Amrum and Föhr would be on the other island, respectively. The more minor aspect is the stereotypical German 'saving a good spot at the beach' prevention. 😃🤣
The Germans are known for digging big holes at the beaches in the Netherlands... maybe the Dutch government should copy this law especially for the Germans and include digging restrictions😁
When I was living in Germany I was surprised by a German guy I knew who was a school science teacher. In his backyard was a headstone he told me was his fathers. I asked if his father was interred there but told no, he wasn't it was only the headstone. In his town when you bought a cemetery plot it was for only 20 years. After that if you didn't pay for another 20 years the plot would be dug up, any remains there disposed of, and the plot sold to someone else. After he declined to pay for another 20 years he was told to come and collect the headstone. He asked what happened to the bones and was told in that part of the cemetery the soil was quite highly alkali and after 20 years not much remained. But, the cemetery manager told him, in the other part after 20 years the bones were pretty much complete. He said he was a science teacher and a few bones could be useful to him teaching human biology. To his surprise he got a phone call a few weeks later saying the cemetery had a nice complete skeleton if he wanted it. A few months later his mother, who was living with him, said she would be happy if he called the cemetery and told them he had enough bones, she actually said, "I had to live with these people when they were alive, for most of them that was enough!"
You did not mention the law, which is propably the most important and most serious to know for US-Americans: "Unterlassene Hilfeleistung". NOT HELPING in an accute emergency to your best abilities is a crime here, that can easyly get you to prison. EDIT (07.04.23): To clarify some points, which came up in the comments: - No, I also do not think, that this law is weird or bad. I mentioned it, because it is very different than the US-situation. - By "accute emergency" I was refering to a serious situation which requires help immediately (which is close to a direct translation of the actual text of the law). That does not include any obligation for general charity. - "to your best ability" really means, what it says. You do not have to do stuff, which is impossible for you, but you are not completely on the save side, just because you did "something", if that "something" isn´t sufficient and you could have done more. Yes, in the situation of the emergency, only you can decide, what you can and can´t do. But that does not mean, that a judge has to accept that, if you take your responsibility lightly. - To add to that: Yes, there are exceptions and limitations to that law (which are characterized within the text of the law). Details about that can be tricky, but in general, it can be boiled down to: You need to have a quite strong case, that it is unreasonable to help (or to help more), otherwise you have to. Personal discomfort or minor risks will usually not be regarded as sufficient excuses from the duty.
Ah yeah great point!! They have passed quite a few "good Samaritan" laws in the US to try to encourage people to help in emergency situations (prior, people were afraid of being sued if they accidentally caused more harm than good in trying to help - such as breaking a rib while doing CPR). But I like that there is an obligation to your fellow citizen to help here.
However, it doesn't mean, that you are forced to help, without helping yourself first. That means: You must help yourself first, to be able to help others. It is also extended to civil parts, like genuine charity, what doesn't mean "big" donations or support of organisations, but contribution to your community. In the US context it is actually a hidden part of the constitution in the "pursuit of happiness" and being generally open, what extend that right to any American, while in Germany this was organized and enforced from "above".
@@TypeAshton Note that it is limited by your personal ability - if you have little to no understanding of the situation, simply notifying the relevant services and maybe alerting others so as to not make things worse can fill the requirement of Hilfeleistung. And of course, no needlessly endangering yourself.
@@Llortnerof Legally it's pretty much always enough to call emergency services, since you alone are the judge of your abilities. At least that's what I get told in first aid classes for first responders at the workplace.
In Scotland: If a stranger knock on your door and ask to use the toilet, you MUST offer up that 'service without any charge' with no regards to if the toilet is inside the home or outside in the yard, and you must let him or her wash their hands after in water 'supplied by the home owner or resident' but you do NOT need to supply any (toilet) tissue to that person. This is a law from 1849 and was created because people had a habit of stopping their horse drawn carriage and just sit down, leaning towards someones house and 'do their business!'. The law is still on the books, but no one has been taken to court for it since 1899 when a vagrant was turned away from Carberry Tower Mansion in Scotland, and then did his 'business' in the fountain as a revenge. The Laird (Lord) at the mansion took the vagrant to court but was himself fined for not offer 'convenience' to the vagrant in the first place. I LOVE SCOTLAND!
All these "up to" fines are for extreme cases. It most countries in Europe it's also illegal to remove your own large tree on your own land without permission. They want to protect old oak trees and such.
not only the protection of said trees. but more big trees form a risk when they are taken down. So you both need a permission and someone who is allowed to actually do the work. We have them here in the Netherlands as well It is much more about the second part. Not saying the first one does not apply
Even if I work 8 hours a day, one hour break and have two travel an hour to work and another back, I will have still 13 hours of the day and in Spring and Summer, when it is time to cut the lawn, there will be still time with day light to do so after or before the work. And probably there in not only one person in the household, that always work and has no time to do this, once a week oor every couple of weeks. There is no need to do it on a day of rest, like Sunday or Holidays. Overall it seems to me, that the Amercan way of "freedom" is very selfish and does not care about others at all, like disturbing the bird in the breeding season, no care about ground water or insulting others until it is hate speech.
Freedom of speech: Does it make sense that you are free to say or gesture whatever you want - but you have to beep or blurr it on media? Many videos on youtube sound like morsecode because of that. Therefore I prefer the german regulation, where you have to observe the rules of good behavior by law.
A lot of the times it has more to do with advertising requirements. In the case of this video - we beeped and "quacked" so that it passed RU-vid's rules for the display of ads.
@@dearseall Yes and no. Freedom of speech is with in a public setting. However RU-vid is not owned by the public it is owned by a private company. They and any private company/person can make rules for there property and how you can use it.
@@raudi42 it's more how that constitution has it worded. As in the letter of the law. In most cases it's about how a government has to act to it's people. A company is not a government. If you don't agree you can try and take a company to court over it. But until that point. It's up to said company how you can use there facilities.
I think Germany has a lot of pretty strict laws how to behave in and treat nature. If you look into hunting and fishing laws this becomes even more obvious. It is probably because of the high population density and the vast usage of the land for agriculture. There's hardly any wild nature left compared to the US, so the little there is has to be protected and its use regulated so everyone can enjoy some of it.
Iam a German living in Australia and remember a lot of those rules.some of them are new to me as well. My wife lived with me in Germany for 12 years it was very hard to get her out of the Kirchen Steuer she is a Buddhist. Thanks and had a laugh as well😂
I found out the hard way LOL. While stationed in Lahr Swartzwald I decided to wash my car in the driveway on a Sunday. Back then the act of washing the car was not an issue, but working outside on a Sunday was verbotten. I quickly learned that the Burgermiester's (Mayor's) secretary lived across the street and came over and gave me a stern lecture in true German form. I quickly came to appreciate nice quiet Sunday's without noise and to avoid the scorn of my neighbors. 😀
I would guess that the law about insults is due to the "first amendment" in the German General/basic Law: "Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar." (The dignity of the human is untachable) Therefore freedom of speach ends where the dinity of another human begins. In driving it is also to prevent road rage and aggressive driving which could be dangerous.
That is not completely right. Article 5 paragraph 2 of the Basic Law permits restrictions among other things through a legal reservation. In this case the limiting law is the Criminal Code and here specifically the offense of insulting. Today, this offense is a result of the general right of personality which also includes the personal honor. The general right of personality results from Article 1 Paragraph 1 and Article 2 Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law.
I was about to say something similar. In general, German basic law has its focus on human dignity, not on individual freedom (of expression). And along this line, @TheBlackForestFamily, are you sure that "hate speech" is not actually covered by the first amendment of the US constitution and therefore protected as free speech? As far as I know, "hate speech" is not an actual legal term in the first place, and can only be deemed illegal in particular circumstances, on a case by case basis.
"Therefore freedom of speach ends where the dinity of another human begins." I love this phrase, and more so when we apply it to any personal liberty. Unfortunately, speaking as an American, too many people in the USA do not realize or care when their own manifestations of personal liberty encroach on the liberty and dignity of others. "It's my right!" is as far as their brains go. :_( And trumpism has made it worse.
Actually, the roots of the legislation on insults go back to the nineteenth century and developing ideas on honor and defamation and a big wave of libel lawsuits, so they very much predate the Basic Law. If you are interested in more detail on the subject in English, check out the book Honor, Politics and the Law in Imperial Germany, 1871-1914 by Ann Goldberg (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
I didn't even know most of them! I hope next week you're making one about the equivalence in the US, there must be some weird ones too. For example child marriage still being legal in most states and 20 states don't even have a minimum age...I would be so great to get your insight on that because I don't understand it
About "sand castles": It is about the protection of the beaches and the sand. This is because coastal protection is intended to prevent wind and water from carrying away the sand and thus reducing the size of the island. In the past, vacationers used to dig deep holes around their beach chairs to protect them from the strong coastal winds. But with stronger winds and more water, more of the coast ended up being washed away, and the sandcastle ban is now intended to prevent that.
I can relate to your amusement about No. 8 (17:50): Places of work must have windows. Universities tend to ignore rules of this nature as they can usually get away with this. This is much more likely to be enforced in private enterprises. (Not just in Germany. I have seen similar things in the UK. I have seen some really atrocious things both at Cambridge University and Leeds University, and heard of similar things in France.) I even have a story from Freiburg related to this. Years ago, a friend of mine convinced the city to allow a subway that had been closed for a long time to be converted into a youth center. Obviously they wanted to have dance nights with disc jockeys there, but someone working for the city found a pretext to prevent this: According to them, the disc jockeys had their place of work their for the night, and needed a room with a window they can look out of for their breaks. This forced the youth center to build a little protraction at one of the exits, containing a completely unnecessary little room from which you would be able to look at pedestrians' feet.
People often do not realize that it is really, REALLY dangerous to stop on the Autobahn. People die every year on the "Standstreifen" (breakdown lane) because drivers are tired or do not pay attention and drift into that lane. Cars even slam into emergency vehicles with all sorts of flashing lights when they are stopped there. Therefore, it makes sense that stopping on the Autobahn is generally forbidden except in an emergency, and as you said, running out of gas does not count. Whenever people have to stop in case of an emergency, it is best to get out on the right side of the car if possible and get behind the guard rail, then call for assistance.
By sand castle, "Sandburg", Germans would not typically mean those sculptures shown in the video but circular walls of sand by which some people stake their territory on the beach.
True, many of those laws might seem strange, but protecting the environment, making sure cars are safe on the street and not having all the noise every time, is actually a good thing. Whilst growing up in Germany, I kind of never thought about these laws as they kind of make sense. However, living 20+ years in the US, I would want those laws here. It often happens that you want to stay in bed a bit longer on Sunday and you hear machine noise all over for the whole day to trim things.....in Las Vegas were nothing grows;-) Sometimes I have the feeling that the neighbors time it in a way that there is a constant noise level throughout the day.
As a German, I expect that most fines you listed are really only for extreme cases, like when you consciously violate this law repentantly, maybe even as part of your business. I would expect that the typical fines for individuals can be up to multiple orders of magnitude lower.
That's why the fines are mostly listed as "up to … €". As far as I know - if and when such cases are brought to court - judges usually construct an extreme model case to gauge the legislators intent for the maximum fine and then scale the fine down for the actual case (factoring in repeated offenses, etc.). Of course that also means there is much leeway for the court.
While it's true that they would be orders of magnitudes lower in most cases, these fines are also only guidelines for the upper end. If it end up infront of a court, the judge can in very extreme cases go far above these fines if the potential harm you caused justify it, or you keep doing it. So if you keep parking on handicaped only parking spots with your car f.e. the sky is the limit for the fine you will get even if the Busgeldkatalog only says 55€.
@@fdsfnicht6533 Ok. I am wondering if this cloud good depend on the source of the fine? Just an idea because some of the fines in the video seemed pretty high, while the fines from the Bußgeldkatalog (i.e. for traffic violations) seem reasonable. So I could imagine that for example that fines from the Bußgeldkatalog are only guidelines, while fines defined in some other materials are actual limits.
@@JojOatXGME You're completely right. The high fines mentioned in the video are written as "bis zu … €" ("up to … €") in the law. These can only be exceeded in some cases (e.g. § 17 (4) OWiG says that the fine may be increased if the economic benefit for the offender from the offense is higher than the fine). The fines in the Bußgeldkatalog for traffic violations are written as Regelsätze (recommended fine for the "usual" case) and § 24 StVG sets the upper limit for most offenses from the Bußgeldkatalog to 2000 € and for drunken driving to 3000 €.
Instead of summer and winter tires, you can just use "all year" tires. This is obviously only advantageous, if you live in mild region, where not much snow is expected. I have had them for years now and I like, that I don't need to switch that often.
Well winter tires are not just about snow, but also about temperature. The rubber mixture is different, so winter tires are still soft at low temperatures while summer tires are to hard. At the same time driving a winter tire in summer will lead to a lot of wear and probably a bit more fuel consumption. So a all year tire will always behave worse than dedicated tire. And while there are areas with much less snow, I am not aware of any areas where you don't really encounter winterly temperatures. That being said, there is always better/worse and there is good enough ^^.
@@lal12 of course. "all year" tires are a compromise for either season. But if you don't drive professionally and you don't need your car to get to work (because of public transport or bike or home office), this compromise is absolutely good enough.
Cutting down trees and bushes in the summer months after mid March is also not allowed in the UK for exactly the same bird related reasons. No idea what the fines are though.
You can cut down trees in the summer but you have to prove that there are no birds nesting or starting to nest. The person who confirms that there are no birds has to be qualified and don't come cheap. If you are willing to pay someone a few hundred pounds to watch a tree for hours so that they can sign off that no birds are nesting then you can do it. Large trees and woods would be prohibitively expensive to inspect, and you would most likely find birds, so are very unlikely to get cut down after March.
In Germany you can cut down trees in the summer as well, if there is a risk associated with them. One of the big trees in our backyard was ill and unstable and was cut down in the middle of summer, because it was a safety hazard.
@@tombrauey In that case two laws contradict each other and human life comes first. Even more: You have to take action if you must see that your property is a hazard for other people and their property ( a tree that got hit by lightning or got damaged in a storm and shows rot in the wood, lose roof tiles, a rotten balcony...) That comes under the horribly long word of "Verkehrssicherheitspflicht", meaning that you as the owner have the duty to see to it your property is safe. "Verkehr" in this context is not road traffic but all relation and interaction between people.
In Switzerland many mountain roads in Winter force you to at least carry snow chains and if the weather mandates it, also install them. Some, like the road leading up to Davos, will actually have police officers who send away any car that doesn't have them installed if the weather is bad. And for good reasons, as a single car getting stuck can lead to the road being blocked for hours.. Iirc the laws concerning winter tires (and snow chains) in Switzerland are pretty similar. No obligation to install them but if you're on the road in bad conditions without them it can get pretty expensive.
A really funny video, I didn't know some examples of laws either. It was really nice to hear the German terms said as well. Thank you and have a nice week.
This was SUCH a Fun vlog!👏 I have lived here 27yrs and a couple of these I didn't know!😅 The tree/bush law is true but trimming trees and hedges is allowed in Spring- Summer (just not cutting them down/back to an extreme). You just look up the date from which you can start trimming, which changes each year due to weather affecting the nesting season and which is different for each state. If you have/plant trees there is protection on them when their truck reaches a certain diameter..so always check and get permission if you want to cut a tree down. No washing car law is one ground water protection law that helps keep Germany drinking water the quantity of mineral water! In America I would never trust tap water when you read what industry and farming and people are allowed to do which causes major contamination etc. It took me years to get used to "no noise or noisy jobs with machinery on Sunday" eg no lawn cutting, hedge trimmers, DIY (with machines) or even using washing machines in appartmens. I do my hedge trimming by hand and see it as a work out if i do it on Sunday if that's the day I have time and/or it's not raining😂. Didn't know about the food photo law or the sandcastle law 😱.
The typical German mix of makes perfect sense - and guaranteed to make us all get frustrated. I love that you titled the flipping the bird one „free speech“, because that’s how I have always seen it. That poor guy. I instantly thought „ ja, but the Deich!“ when I saw „no sandcastles“! I notice, I‘m quite German these days…! Ashton, I haven’t been around much since October- lovely to see you both looking well in this fun video! Hugs and have a great Sunday 🤗
Well, it all goes back to article 1 of the german constitution: "Die würde des Menschen ist unantastbar. ..." (Human dignity is inviolable.) An insult goes against your human dignity and even free speech doesn't trump that.
Hi Lauren. To be honest, even if this constitutes to "freedom of speech" in the US, I for sure wouldn't flip the bird against an US cop or other official. Depending on the situation or just their mood, they might find other reasons to punish you and to let you regret your decision.
@@Opa_Andre no, I wouldn’t do that to a policeman, either. But I thought he made the gesture not to be seen, just in the direction of the speed control? And if you’re not speeding, no photo- that’s what I thought, I might have got it wrong!
@@andreasvogler1875 Yes, one might joke that Americans have the right of free speech with almost no limits but then the insulted person may draw a gun and pump you full of lead and go free.
Hello Ashton, hello Jonthan, happy Sunday! Yes, there are strange laws und regulations in Germany. It would be interesting to have such a Video for the USA, but I think this would need a complette evening to watch it. Best regards and happy easter Ralf
As an American running out of Gas is a thing for me and our family and we don’t want to run out of gas when we’re anywhere. Also my dad loves to wash his car at car washes and rarely at home idk it’s just him. We don’t usually show the special finger.
Thank you for this entertaining insight. I've lived in Germany for around ten years as well and the sand castle prohibition is the only one that caught me off-guard! Since your chapters mention freedom of speech, would you be interested in making a video about corresponding laws in the US compared to Germany's constitution? I find that my right to express myself is safer here in Germany than in the States but that is largely anecdotal. I suspect it's much easier to outright ban works of art or books in the US than it is in Germany. For example, the Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders rates Germany much higher than America. If you have any insight as to why and how, I'd love to hear it from you. Thank you so much!
@@TypeAshton I understand that in some places where they have brought in book banning laws to protect the children are now being forced to ban the bible. Not what they intended but they have to treat all books in accordance with their new laws.
Nice view again. And you even missed "Sonntagsruhe", "Mittagsruhe", "Tanzverbot" (coming up in a few days!). Really love your insights that often teach even me news - and I'm an "indigene". Have a nice time - looking out for the next video already!
The dataprotection laws we have in germany are good. I just thought about that when you mentioned the photographing of food. ^^ That made me think of an instance I witnessed on twitch where a woman was playing a game, streaming it and obviously talking with customers of a car insurance within her job at home at the same time. So you could hear her talking with customers and I could have also written down at one point the email address of that person if I was quick enough. As a german that almost gave me a heartattack. :D That is such a violation of dataprotection and privacy, I was baffled. I even reported it to twitch and they said "no violation". I could not believe it. We europeans value privacy and take this stuff very seriously.
Datenschutz could honestly almost be its own video someday... HUGE differences from the States to Germany, even not in a "legal" sense, but just in a cultural sense. I had to sign 10 different forms when I started Jack at Kita giving them permission to even take photos of him and that's just for their own internal purposes (like putting his picture on his cubby so he can find where his coat goes), these aren't shared publicly. In the States, I don't think they would ever permission for this and just do it anyway.
@@TypeAshton ...even the "big five" (Apple, Meta, Twitter, MS and Amazon) have mentioned they would prefer to see something like the GDPR in the US.... Not so sure about Twitter anymore with the new boss.
I would assume that this is at least partly stil because of the "DDR" (east germany before 1990), where a lot of the german population learned fist an even more second hand, what could happen if a you data gets used against you. And i would go so far to assume the "cash is still king in germany" is also , partly, related to that as well. A huge portion of the german population lived through that time frame, or heard it from parents, and I'm quite happy we take this topics relay serious here, and that out European friends are on board with it.
@@benslab8370 That's true, and another part is the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1971 that there is a right to "informational self-determination" (which also includes data protection), since otherwise the free development of personality is endangered. And this right is protected by Article 2 of the "Grundgesetz" / German Constitution.
When I moved into my previous flat, we only had the Whit weekend (2 publich holidays) to do so. So we bribed all the neighbours with gifts (my parents had self-made Schnaps), so they would allow us to be loud during these days. And I got to know my new neighbours right from the beginning.
Loving this channel and the info you share with us. Would love to know how learning German was for you guys and any fun/embarassing mistakes made along the way, should you wish to share those stories 😂 You guys take care!
I am not German but I agree with the prohibition to more the lawn on Sunday and public holidays. In fact I would go as far as to require everybody to have a quiet electric mower or even better an almost silent robot lawn mower.
The second weird law from the Netherlands is: If you ever get married make sure you get to know the mother in law because you will never get rid of her! Even after you divorced your wife and you both wanted passionately to end the relationship your mother in law will remain your mother in law by law.
That's actually pretty much the case in Germany as well. Even after divorce you have a "Zeugnisverweigerungsrecht", the right to refuse to testify against your then former in-laws.
For everyone coming to Austria for holiday, please remember, we have 4mm minimum profile depth for winter tyres (germany has 1,6mm) and for summer tyres it's 1,6mm (in germany 0,8mm).
Yepp, Germany has it's fair share of both ridiculous and only ridiculous sounding(!) laws. The maximum fines have to be included due the basic judicial system of Germany: the civil code law, in comparison to the English and American case law system. Judges and juries in the USA especially are given virtual law making powers in case no such case has ever been seen before by establishing precedent cases. In Germany the civil code system requires (!) a law to be present before (!) you are able to punish someone for such a crime, felony, or misdemeanor. In addition the span of fines and other punishment has to be codified into the law. That results in some very weird and ridiculous laws when read out loud for the first time. The conservation laws may sound incredibly ridiculous with its hefty fines, but those are rarely if ever enforced to the full extent. Only in cases of very rare plants under strict endangered listing would such a high fine be invoked. It usually boils down to the seriousness of the infraction as well as the malicious intent of the perpetrator. That applies to virtually all laws in Germany. If you are obviously not of malicious intent, your infraction was minor, you might get a more or less slap on the wrist, a stern warning not to do it again, and use both your brain and potentially google before ripping out a Blauer Enzian from your alpine rock surface mountain bordering on your backyard. However burning down the protected orchard of ancient trees on your own grounds for laughs and giggles WILL get you fined harshly. The same type of reasoning applies to nearly all laws. Honest mistakes = slap on the wrist; malicious intent or real dumb stupidity preventable by using your brain and endangering or harming others = pretty harsh penalties. Sure, in a bureaucratic convoluted mess like Germany's there may be some exceptions to that general rule of thumb, on both sides of the fence, so to speak.
you definitly have to include the Hamburg Law, were it is "strengstens verboten" to insult a Swan. (although not enforced) also killing a single wasp also costs up to 50k€ And yes, the Unterlassene Hilfeleistung has to come in a serious video as well
I remember a couple years back it had been raining all week and the Bio-Bin was due to be picked up Monday. I said screw it and mowed with our Electric Mower on Sunday. Not even 10 Minutes after I was done, I heard another Mower going then another one. Sometimes you just need to be the first to do it ;-)
About the topic with the Winter Tires. In the black forest, probably you need them. If you live in an urban area in the middle of germany, you could just keep the summer tires and that one day in year where you have snow, you just don't use the car. That's the idea of the law. Especially if you have two cars in the family, you could think of just not to use it on the few snow days.
Thats not fully correct. The idea of the law is to have full function tires. since the gum is effected by temperature, summer tires loosing grip below 7 degree celcius. And bout snow, yes we have not many days with snow in the north BUT we have lot more frosty ones with ice on the roads. Good luck with summer tires when u driving over a spot of ice
@@issel3276 I don't want to. I know that wiinter tires are better in winter but you won't get fined if you use summer tires at 6 degrees. And if you can afford to leave the car in the car park some days, I can understand you don't buy full blown winter tires. When we had 2 cars, we had one of them with all season tires. That's okay for most of the time.
@@andreaseufinger4422 No idea when u checked the last time the law but it changed. You can be fined ! since 2010. Also, all season( MS ) tires are only valid until 09/2024 IF produced by 31/12/2017. All after that must be winter tires. 60 € and 1 Point in Flensburg otherwise, for only driving at Black ice, slippery snow, slush, ice or hoar frost. What we always have some days in the winter, even in the north
winter tires are also required by law in part of Canada during winter months. Many Canadian cities also ban washing your car at home (up to $3,000 fine in some cities). I love the mowing the lawn regulation, we need this in America! Also for the leaf blowers (these things are so useless, and extremely annoying)
The winter tire law has a reason. Decades ago more and more drivers get stuck on the roads in winter only because they tried to drive with summer tires on snow. And they cause many unnecessary traffic jams.
Winter tires or alternatively so called M+S tires also refered to as allweather tires that one can use year-round especially in an area that isn't as mountainous and prone to snow & ice...
In the netherlands in the newer suburbs sewage and rain water have separate piping. Sewage is led to a sewage treatment plant, rainwater is almost directly dumped in surface water. That is why car washing on the street is prohibited.
@ 22:08. In German we call Wednesday “Mittwoch” meaning the mid week so like most everywhere else, Sunday is the 1st day of the week. And I am in America now, we do our gardens in a weekday usually just before rubbish day / garden waste. I don’t want that noise running through my garden on the weekends. Or we’re just not home.
11:12 In Norway you're *technically* only required to use tires with a minimum thread depth of 3 mm between the start of November and mid March (unless your vehicle is above 3,5 tons, then the laws are stricter and involves snow chains), but the *intention* is for those tires to be winter tires. But yes, you are *technically* permitted all year tires then too. Like Germany we're also required to have a good grip though, so in practice you essentially have to get winter tires.
Winter tires in the province of Québec are mandatory from December 1 to March 15 but most Quebeckers have them put on in November and off in April, just to be safe. And scraping the windshield? Haha that's an almost daily occurence here!
For the windows you could just cover them the day before with a blanket. you even have them made for windshields. they cost almost nothing but work like a charm. they only scraping i have to do is for the head and tail lights. (that is more for the other users of the road)
A similar law prohibits running out of gas on the highway in France. It will cost you from thirty-five to one hundred euros, but you will find gas stations at rest areas open 24 hours a day to fill up. Italy require winter tires from November to April on every roads. France has a similar law but it's only in mountain area from November to March. I've learned to drive in Germany, while in the French army and I'm pretty sure I've broken a few rules :D When I was a photographer, I learned that image rights and copyright laws are always against you. You can be sued for almost anything man-made in your photo, from license plates to products, humans and buildings, everything is a potential risk. Fortunately, you can mitigate some of this risk by asking for signed permissions and people rarely use these laws without some legitimate concern. But for videos, the blur filter is your friend :D That's why news channels in France blur faces, plates and all kind of things, even Google Earth had to blur people faces. Freedom of speech exists in Europe, and it stops (as does your First Amendment) where "hate speech" and "defamation" begin. There is just a little less tolerance for insults and hate speech. But in practice, you will be harassed on American social media for anything you say that could be interpreted as slightly inappropriate. In Europe, we don't yet have such a cancel culture.
Winter tires in winter is madatory in Quebec, for the rest of Canada certain roads might require it (put a sign saying winter tires or chains required beyond this point) such as on the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler, BC (host of alpline skiing in the 2010 Olympics). So requiring winter tires is very logical. I have seen cars unable to cross a bridge in snow (probably without winter tires) in Vancouver of course (Vancouver gets much less snow that eastern cities like Toronto and so are always made fun of). A pickup truck from the transport authority had to push the vehicles across the bridge.
Really ? Did you have to include the scene from "The Big Lebowski" (my all time favourite movie). I almost broke my chair by laughing 🤣 (... need to watch that movie from a sofa for safety reasons)
In Denmark we can legally beat a Swede with a stick. But only if they happen to be crossing from Sweden to Denmark over the ice in case Øresund freeze over.
The English up until frighteningly recently used to have the right to shoot me (Welsh 🏴) in a border town! Maybe this is a remnant of Danelaw…?! 😂
@@LaureninGermany Not sure about that, as far as I know only the middle eastern parts of the island was under Danelaw don't think it ever made it all the way to Wales and the southern parts paid Danegeld to keep the norsemen out of their areas. I could be wrong tho.
Black Forrest Family, thanks for all you do. My spouse is from Heidelberg (Baden-Württemberg) Germany, and I once posted a "review" picture of our meal 🍕 to compliment the restaurant food... but I wasn't aware that it's illegal. 😮 Thanks for the info. 😅👍
As mentioned in the video: as long as you're talking good about the food, it usually is seen as free advertising for the restaurant. Only a fool would prohibit it. But, as the law exists, it might be better to ask for permission, especially in top class restaurants.
The very big fines are usually not for the private persons, they are more for companies. A rich company would otherways ignore some laws and pay fines out of the petty cash.
Doing lounder work on a Sunday may be OK, if you clear it with all neighbours beforehand. Like, your moving into the flat and ask, if it would be OK for you and your helpers to put up furniture, pictures etc. Just abide by any requests they make, like not doing it between a certain time because the baby is sleeping. Some may even offer their help! Same with mowing etc. Even parties during quiet hours may be OK, if you talk to everyone first. Most people won't mind too much, because they can relate. Again, just abide by their requests. And if you're a trully nice person, just bring over leftover cake etc. and they'll be over the moon. (in a good neighbourhood, where people like each other, that is.) Just return the favour, if they come asking. - Oh, and if anyone comes over to ask, if you could be a little quieter, because, while they know you celebrate your huge birthday, it would be great if it could just be a notch quieter - just do it. And just turn it down a little more, because they might want to be polite and would enjoy a little more quiet. But really, with talking to each other, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.
2) You actually can trim your hedge in summertime - but only trim it, not cut it down. If some twigs impede users of an adjacent sidewalk you are even obliged to trim them. But you trim only the tips, you do not change the hair-do or form of your hedge. The height of the fine depends on the damage. A 50,000 Euro fine would be imposed only if you cut down e.g. a landmark tree or a centuries old, healthy tree without special permit or a big, healthy tree within a preserve area or protected landscape or holding the nest of a protected species. 3) Any stopped car at the Autobahn is considered to be a traffic hazard, including standing on the shoulder. You're only allowed to stop in case of an emergency, and running out of fuel is no emergency. 4) You are allowed to use all-season tires if you don't use your car to go skiing or to traverse the Alps in wintertime or generally do not drive in snowy conditions. Due to climate change that allows not only people around Frankfurt to do without winter tires, but also people in more and more other regions. 9) Freedom of speech does not include insulting someone, because freedom of speech is not the highest ranking fundamental right. In Germany human dignity is the first of all fundamental rights, and all your freedom rights end where they start to impend the fundamental right of others. Insulting somebody is however not in any case a criminal act in the narrower sense, only if you violate their rights of personality by false and defamatory statements in public (e.g. in TV, in public assemblies or in social media) or if you insult civil servants in the exercise of their duties. The extension to insults in traffic helps to prevent road rage. 10) Generally mowing time starts each weekend around 4pm (to 6pm or 7pm) at Friday and again at Saturday around 10 am until around 6pm. And still most people mow their lawns far too often.
Gday BFF, thanks for providing another interesting topic. I can’t even think of any bizarre laws here in Melbourne. I’m sure we must have some. I’ll have to investigate. A good topic for the coffee group 😂😂 thank you
There are 2 reasons you can stop at the Autobahn though. 1 You are in an accident, and 2) your car is broken down. In both cases you can not continue to drive, besause of something you could not foresee. (Fuel you can check.) WInter tires, are also required if you drive in Germany as tourist or foreign traveler and you can be fined if you don't.
The German Autobahn actually has a minimum speed limit. That is, a speed which you are not allowed to go below. The only exception is if there's a traffic jam or other obstruction preventing you from moving at the required speed.
It is understandable, that someone wants to mow the lawn on his one day off. But if you are working in a loud factory, it is great that your only quiet day is protected. Having to mow your lawn at an other time is an inconveniance. Having no time to rest is an health issue
Perhaps the idea is to prevent people from building anything along a beach which prevents others from enjoying the edge of the water & freedom to wander. That has become a big issue that restricts average taxpaying citizens from access as the very wealthy want to own everything natural and beautiful especially in non-abundant locations & resources.
2:00 I‘m glad you also showed the reason, why it is not allowed to keep an urn at your house. 😉 I also saw an American documentary about this. If I remember correctly it was called „Two and a Half Men“. 😄
I would be curious to know how the law works with some of the more modern technologies for turning loved ones ashes into other items - like the. company that will turn your ashes into a diamond, for example. I wonder if there is a way in which you could still take the ashes home with you, as long as you planned on doing *something* with them, in order to get around the hygienic concerns.
Switzerland does not know such restrictions for the urn. So some Germans now export it to a Swiss Funeral home, so it's no longer in the German records. The Swiss company then sends it back (or they pick it up) and they do with it as they want. Apparently the German customs does not consider such imports as its area of competence and just does not care.
My state was mentioned with the snow tire/chain law but I've never seen anyone other than out-of-towners who've had snow tires despite the fact that we have officially declared winter emergencies every year. We no longer have vehicle inspections so there are plenty of people driving around on bald tires in those winter emergencies. This is probably why everything basically shuts down entirely- schools, businesses and mail service included, when we have the slightest amount of snow.
I wonder how many cases were settled out of court by the Restaurant asking the instagrammer to add the details for the restaurant, so the customers added by that compensate for customers lots by recipe getting out (not always, but sometimes, a recipe can be pretty obvious from the look of the food).
We were visiting with our friends in Germany last year and he told us that it is "technically illegal" to kill a wasp in Germany. He said you could get between a 5,000-50,000 Euro fine. I looked it up and it is true
In many swiss locations it is also forbidden cut your lawn on sunday. Even if you use a manual (nearly silent) lawn cutter, or even if you do it while the church bells make so much noise that it would be impossible to hear an electrical lawn mower. Sadly some regulations have no logic.
It is not allowed in Sweden to have Urn or to spread out an urn without special permission. With bushes and trees, there are no restrictions. But do you own a forest and cut down trees. Then you must plant new ones within 3 years, otherwise you will be fined.
About the winter tires: Back then I had an accident, someone crashed into my car just because he couldn't stop fast enough. And that because he was late and had summer tires mounted whereas I already had my winter. He could have saved the costs following this. So TLDR: mounting winter tires can save a lot of money or maybe life. And after too many people did not think about it and too many accidents happened the government changed the law.
