For years, the Greens have wanted a speed limit of 130 km / h for the Autobahne. The new German government will start in the next few days, but the hope was already stalled in the early stages of government negotiations.
Sometimes it is interesting what does not happen.
This category includes speed limits on German motorways. Now there is no general restriction, ie the Autobahn can be roasted as hard as the soul can tolerate.
No change is known.
New German government, Social Democrat Olaf Scholzin the coalition led by the coalition will take office next Wednesday, and in a 177-page vote approved in late November government program acknowledged briefly and concisely: “There will be no general speed limit.”
In the coalition are, in addition to the demarches, the Greens and the Liberal Party FDP.
The Greens would have liked the roof speed on the motorways to be in the order of 130 kilometers per hour. The rationale is climate policy (fewer emissions) and road safety (fewer accidents).
For the Liberals, this did not happen because the restriction of motorists fought against the ideals of freedom. One of Germany’s most clichéd slogans is ‘Freie Fahrt für Freie Bürger’, meaning ‘free pace for free citizens’.
A climate demonstration in Munich in September called for a speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour on motorways.
Thought the general restriction was already buried in the early stages of government negotiations in October. The Greens gave up to get their other goals through.
The end of that rhyme, then?
Definitely not. The speed limit debate is sure to make another comeback. This has always happened before.
Speed limits on motorways have been disputed in Germany for about as long as Autobahns have existed at all. Depending on the definition, they have been around for almost a hundred years, at the latest since the early 1930s.
In the early 1970s, the debate in West Germany reached a whole new level. In the winter of 1973–1974, the country even applied a 100 km / h limit, according to a German news site Motor1.com. However, this was not a line solution but a temporary measure due to the oil crisis.
Today There are 13,200 kilometers of autobahn in Germany. In Finland, which has the same area, there are 933 kilometers of motorways. However, the comparison must take into account that the population of Germany is about 15 times.
If the road section has special conditions, local speed limits can be set on the Autobahn. It is not known how many kilometers there are such restrictions.
In any case, the starting point is that the throttle is not shackled.
The debate over speed limits is so heated and tearful that the mighty interest group of German motorists ADAC appealed last May for a substantive debate.
The ADAC itself does not dare to take a stand, which is purely wise. According to ADAC’s own surveys, the scores of supporters and opponents of speed limits are more or less equal. ADAC has been inquiring about the views of its membership since the mid-1980s.
Speed limit there is an interesting argument among supporters that there are only three countries in the world whose motorways are allowed to be driven as hard as they want.
The paint range varies slightly.
German newspaper Auto Motor und Sport told reporters in the early fall that a well-known green politician Cem Özdemir has spoken of “Afghanistan, North Korea and Germany”.
Another green politician Omid Nouripour was in early October Der Spiegel magazine interviewee.
“We definitely need to get out of these three clubs whose members have no speed limits,” Nouripour said. “And these countries are Germany, North Korea and Syria.”
Sometimes Somalia, sometimes Mauretania, sometimes Nepal are on the list.
Message however, it is clear: Germany belongs to a small group that is far from its usual reference group.
The parallels can be considered – and have been considered in the German debate – tasteless. Afghans, for example, have far more serious problems than speed limits.
After all, the truthfulness of the parallels is at least questionable.
Auto Motor und Sport took over to find out if there was a stern in the finish line. It turned out that under the Afghan Road Traffic Act 1982, the maximum speed allowed for passenger cars is 90 kilometers per hour.
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