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Anger at plan to limit speeds on German autobahns

It has been described as being as sacred to the Germans as sumo wrestling is to the Japanese or saunas to the Swedish. But the tradition of having no speed limit on Germany’s autobahns is under threat. The Social Democrats, partners in the coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel, say the introduction of a speed limit would reduce both CO2 emissions and the accident rate.

More than half of Germany’s 12,000-km autobahn network has no speed limit, and environmentalists have welcomed the idea of imposing a top speed of 130 kph. But the powerful car lobby is vehemently opposed to the plan.

The SPD used environmental experts to argue that a limit of 120 kph or 130 kph could reduce CO2 emissions by 9 per cent or more. “A blanket limit of 130 kph would be a quick and unbureaucratic way in which to increase climate protection,” said SPD chairman, Kurt Beck.

But Bernd Osterloh, head of the works committee of Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest car maker, dismissed the idea, saying cars had already become much more environmentally friendly. “It’s a dreamlike idea,” he told Bild newspaper. “For one thing speed limits hardly reduce a car’s already very low CO2 emissions, so it’s silly for politicians to keep clubbing the automobile industry between the legs with this.”

The lack of blanket speed limits has long been a treasured freedom in a country normally bound by rules. It even attracts a considerable amount of tourism.

Road safety experts say it is almost certain that lower speeds would mean lower accident rates. During the 1973 oil crisis, when a limit of 100 kph was introduced, the number of accidents and injuries on the autobahns was reduced by half.

But Ms Merkel, who is driven around in an Audi A8, has refused to join the debate, saying that under her leadership the speed limit issue is not open for discussion. “It will not happen under me,” she said in a TV interview. — ©Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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