Germany’s Autobahn has a need... a need for speed limits

In a recent report, the European Union declared that it aims to halve road fatalities and serious injuries by 2030 and get figures as close to zero as possible by 2050. In 2022, road crashes in the 27 Member States of the European Union claimed approximately 20,634 lives - an increase of 3.7 % on the previous year, and left more than 1.13 million people injured. Breaking down those figures, 45% were car occupants, 19% were motorcyclists, 18% were pedestrians and 9% were cyclists.

In the latest Eurostat figures, Romania has the dubious honor being the EU country with the highest mortality rate on the roads with 96 road fatalities per million inhabitants. Germany’s was less than half that (around 35) so why are there now calls to impose a speed limit across their federal motorway network, the Autobahn?

As fast as you like on Germany’s motorways

Germany is the only country in the world where there is no general speed limit on motorways but according to recent surveys, most Germans welcome plans to establish one. The advisory speed limit is currently 130 km/hr (81 mphr) but drivers are free to step on the accelerator and drive as fast as they want in certain unrestricted sections of the autobahn. Across the country’s 16 states, around 65% of the network does not have a fixed speed limit - although restrictions do apply depending on the class of vehicle. For example, the speed limit for buses carrying passengers is 60 km/hr (37 mphr) and for passenger cars pulling trailers, 80 km/hr (50 mphr).

A 100 km/hr speed limit was introduced in 1973 as a temporary response to rationing and rising prices at the petrol pump during the height of the oil crisis. Since then there have been a number of attempts to introduce a blanket speed limit on Germany’s motorways - the general consensus today is that at some point, it will become a reality. Especially seeing as there are now more cars in the road than ever. At the start of the new millenium, there were 42.84 million cars registered in Germany - that figure today stands at 49.1 million.

How would Germany benefit from imposing a speed limit?

Apart from reducing the mortality rate (interestingly enough, only five EU countries have better figures than Germany: Sweden, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Denmark and Luxembourg), the main benefit would be to the environment. Driving slower means less pollution. The German Environment Agency calculate that emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides and particulate matter could be cut by as much as 3% just by imposing a maximum speed limit of 120 km/hr.

But as always is the case in the modern age, there are those on the other side of the fence. Some argue that it’s only a small minority who take advantage of the lack of a speed limit to drive at top speed on unrestricted sections of the motorway - everyone else respects the road. Another of the main disadvantages is that journeys will naturally take longer while others worry that the measure might cause more traffic jams.

Apart from the various environmental organizations, those who support the motion to implement a speed limit on motorways include the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Alliance 90 (The Greens) and The Left.