Germany’s Autobahns have long been free, or nearly free of speed limits. Over the years many proposals to set a limit have died in a flurry of controversy, but now the topic is hot again, this time with an environmental twist added to the traditional safety argument.
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke touched it off with a call to impose limits to help the country meet its climate targets. While pushing hard for switching Germany over to electric vehicles, she said “But that alone will not be enough to achieve the climate targets in transport. And if one climate protection measure cannot be implemented quickly enough, this inevitably increases the pressure on other sectors. You can’t negotiate with the climate crisis.”
For her proposal to go anywhere, however, will require negotiations among the parties in Germany’s current three-party coalition. Lemke’s Green Party and the Social Democrats have both supported limits and stricter pollution controls, but the right-of-center Free Democrats made dropping the call for speed limits one of their demands before joining the government in 2021.
A July 2022 national poll showed a vast majority of Germans in favor of a speed limit; the current proposal is for 100km/h on the Autobahn and 80km/h on rural roads. Even the Autobahn has speed limits where it passes through cities and denser suburban areas. It’s estimated that the 100/80 limit would save over 11 million tonnes of CO2 each year.
