Speed limits in Germany
In urban areas, driving merely 3 km/h (2 mph) or faster above the posted or implied speed limit is considered a punishable infraction in Germany.
However, rising traffic fatalities led to a partial reversal: an urban speed limit of 50 km/h (31 mph) became effective 1 September 1957, despite resistance by the German Auto Club.
[13] An extensive program of the four Es (enforcement, education, engineering, and emergency response) brought the number of traffic deaths back to pre-unification levels after ten years while traffic regulations were conformed to western standards (e.g. 130 km/h (81 mph) Autobahn advisory limit, 100 km/h (62 mph) on other rural roads, and 0.5 milligrams[clarification needed] BAC).
An additional 9% are equipped with motorway control systems that can show variable speed limits depending on time, weather or traffic.
[19][20][21] The introduction of a national speed limit for motorways and similar roads has been on the agenda of various political and environmentalist groups for decades, but at present, there are no plans on behalf of the federal government regarding the matter.
[22][23][24][25] In May 2020, the Deutscher Verkehrssicherheitsrat [de] made a tight decision in favor of a general speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour on autobahns.
[26] The annual general meeting of the Auto Club Europa [de] (ACE) also voted for a speed limit of 130 km/h on the autobahn in November 2019.
[32] The Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland is in favour of a general speed limit, claiming it "would solve several problems at the same time" and "all rational reasons speak for it".
[33] The Gewerkschaft der Polizei also advocates a general speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour on German motorways and argued: "Wir könnten [damit] Menschenleben retten und schwer Verletzte verhindern" ("We could save lives and prevent seriously injured people [with that]").
[37] The Bayerische Landesärztekammer [de] calls for the introduction of a speed limit to save energy and reduce direct and indirect health hazards of road traffic.
[40] According to a survey which should primarily focus on bans and the respondents' subjective feeling of freedom associated with them conducted by the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research, which belongs to the conservative political spectrum, approval of a 130 km/h speed limit on highways was 22% in 2021.
[43] According to a representative poll conducted by YouGov in April 2022, 57% of the 2054 German respondents were in favor of a general speed limit of 130 km/h on autobahns, while 33% were against it and 10% were unsure.
[48] The news website Business Insider believes the lack of a general speed limit on autobahns is holding back the development of autonomous vehicles in Germany.
[49] The Federal Managing Director of the Deutsche Umwelthilfe Jürgen Resch [de] sees this as a threat to the future of the German automotive industry with regard to autonomous driving: "Man kann moderne, digitale, autonome Fahrzeuge nicht testen, solange man befürchten muss, dass links ein Wagen mit 250 Stundenkilometern vorbeischießt."
")[50] In terms of range and energy efficiency, drivers of electric cars need a stable flow of traffic that rarely requires braking and then accelerating, which is beneficial or even necessary to ensure a long-term return on investment.
[58] Michael Müller-Görnert, transport policy spokesman for the VCD, assumes that travel times could be shorter in the long term if a speed limit is introduced.
[54][55][56] A general speed limit on autobahns is considered to be a quickly implementable, cost-effective, overviewable, realistic, consistent and certainly effective measure for climate protection.
[61] Tire abrasion caused by fast driving and frequent braking and acceleration, which leads to particulate matter, could also be reduced by a speed limit.
Using small-scale geographic grid data from RWI Essen, they show that 14.9 million people in Germany live within two kilometers of the nearest stretch of highway without a speed limit.
[67] According to a study published in 2023, which determined the effects of a speed limit on travel times, accident and congestion risk, fuel consumption, supply chains, expansion and maintenance of infrastructure and land use, and emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases as part of a cost-benefit analysis, the introduction of a 130 km/h speed limit on German autobahns would generate a welfare gain of at least 950 million euros per year.
[68] After the Nazi dictatorship, German society was happy to overcome the traumas of war by freeing itself from most government restrictions and regulations, including a general speed limit on autobahns.
[69] In the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, a federal speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph) on Autobahns was imposed to help save fuel and mitigate impending future shortages.
The measure only lasted from December 1973 to March 1974; while the Schmidt administration and the Bundestag were in favor of keeping the speed limit, the Bundesrat successfully pushed to repeal the law in early 1974.
[70] In February 1974 - three months after the peak of the oil crisis with the four car-free Sundays in Germany - the General German Automobile Club (ADAC) under its president Franz Stadler launched a campaign entitled "Free citizens demand free travel (Freie Bürger fordern freie Fahrt)", which was mainly directed against the four-month large-scale 100 km/h trial on federal motorways that had started in November 1973.
The Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environmental Agency) repeated its recommendation of a binding blanket speed limit in early 2007, but the Merkel administration saw no need for it.
Effective 9 April 2008, the City-State of Bremen enacted a 120 km/h (75 mph) speed limit as state law, citing environmental concerns.
[73] Most Bremen motorways already had some speed restriction due to congestion and noise, and the new measure only affected 11 km (6.8 miles) of previously unrestricted Autobahn.
German transport minister Andreas Scheuer collectively called the plans laid out in the report as "gegen jeden Menschenverstand" ("going against all common sense").
A speed of 200 kilometres per hour makes it impossible to fastly avoid dangerous situations while compliance with 130 km/h and only moderate braking would have prevented the accident.
