German Autobahns - Public Debate

Public Debate

Since the mid-1980s, after environmental issues had gained importance and recognition among lawmakers, interest groups and the general public, there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not a general speed limit should be imposed for all autobahns. A car's fuel consumption increases with high speed, and fuel conservation is a key factor in reducing air pollution. Safety issues have been cited as well with regards to speed-related fatalities. Those opposed to a general speed limit maintain that such regulation is unnecessary because only two percent of the traffic in Germany runs on unlimited sections (the heavily used autobahn sections in metro areas do have a speed limit). Additionally, better fuel economy, even at high speeds, has been achieved in most modern cars. Moreover, international accident statistics demonstrate that limited access grade separated roads such as autobahns and motorways have much greater road traffic safety regardless of speed limit, suggesting that high speed alone isn't a deciding factor. Another reason is that German cars have a long heritage of being some of the safest in the world, and that the high-speed image projected by German car makers is an important marketing tool. Therefore, Germany's powerful car lobby, including a representative from the Volkswagen company, is vehemently opposed to the authorization of an autobahn speed limit.

In the discussion about such plans during his political term of office, the former Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder was against the introduction of a hard speed limit in the autobahn, which he justified by calling Germany an "Autofahrernation" (a nation of drivers) to point out the fact that a speed limit would not be regarded positively by the public. True enough, after various polls, it was made clear that the German public is to a large degree against a hard speed limit on the entire autobahn network.

Over twenty years after the beginning of this debate, there are no concrete plans by the German government concerning such a speed limit. In October 2007, at a party congress held by the Social Democratic Party of Germany, delegates narrowly approved a proposal to introduce a blanket speed limit of 130 km/h (80 mph) on all German autobahns. While this initiative is primarily a part of the SPD's general strategic outline for the future and, according to practices, not necessarily meant to affect immediate government policy, the proposal had stirred up a debate once again; Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel and leading cabinet members have expressed outspoken disapproval of such a measure.