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CDA
February 10, 2023
The absence of speed limits on the Autobahn is not touched and electric cars may be indirectly responsible.
It is popularly believed that German motorways do not have speed limits. But it is a half truth, the Autobahn, (the highway network that runs through the country) has speed limits like the Spanish road network; however, it is true that It has a series of sections in which these limits do not exist and you can drive at whatever speed you like (if the traffic is heavy or if it’s raining, the road limits apply again, which usually range between 80 and 130 km/h).
For a long time, these boundless stretches have been questioned from the point of view of road safety and from the ecological and energy approachrumored that they could be repealed by the German government.
A lot of people drive slower now.
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The general speed limit is politically controversial in Germany and has been discussed for many years. Both the Greens and the Social Democrats were in favor of introducing it, but the Free Democratic Party prevented its adoption in the government’s coalition treaty. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat (SPD), declared last year: “This government did not agree. And that is why it will not be introduced ».
In this sense, the German Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing, has just pronounced, who has made it clear that the imposition of speed limits on the “free sections” (which total more than 6,500 km in Germany) is far away, and that a recent study reveals that the measure could save almost three times more emissions than previously thought.
«Speed is the responsibility of the citizens, as long as others are not endangered. The State should contain itself here,” said the German FDP politician, who added that high energy prices “are already causing many people to drive slower.” People drive slower… and more in electric cars, which makes the ecological argument less weighty.
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Even so, the German environmental agency UBA has indicated in the aforementioned report that a highway speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour would reduce CO2 emissions by about 6.7 million tons per year. In an earlier 2020 report, which used a different methodology, the UBA had said that a speed limit would reduce emissions by 2.6 million tons.
Germany aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2045 and Wissing is under great pressure to finally launch a program to reduce emissions from transport, which have remained high for decades. For now, however, the absence of speed limits on the Autobahn is not touched.
