Der Geist is a ghost. Der Fahrer is a driver. Put them together, and you have a terrible phenomenon but the perfect word to describe it. Der Geisterfahrer drives the wrong way on a divided highway, usually at excessive speeds. In Austria, which has collected such statistics, eighty percent of these drivers are male, and the majority are drunk. In any case, der Geisterfahrer appears as a pair of bright white ghostly headlights where no headlights should be. And since the trip of a Geisterfahrer is likely to end in death, it seems appropriate to speak of him as if he’s a ghost already.
Clare B. Dunkle
