The German government isn’t looking to implement a speed limit on highways, according to Transport Minister Volker Wissing.
He dismissed a report published by the Federal Environment Agency earlier this year — according to which a speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour on the iconic autobahn could reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly — arguing that the majority of Germans wouldn’t back it.
“People don’t want that,” he said. “There are so many figures floating around. The important thing is that only measures that are accepted can be successful.”
Germany is the only industrialized country where some highways do not have a maximum speed limit. The debate about introducing one frequently flares up.
For some years now though, approval for the introduction of a speed limit has been rising. Even 54 percent of the General German Automobile Club members, Europe’s largest automobile association, voted in favor of a speed limit in 2023.
Germany’s Expert Council for Climate Issues confirmed in August 2023 that the government is not on track to achieve 2030 climate goals, with the transport and building sectors causing problems in particular.
“What is striking is the large discrepancy in the implementation status and degree of concretization of the measures included in the Climate Protection Program 2023,” the report Wissing was responding to said.
Wissing is a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), which rejects the implementation of a speed limit in its party program, along with the far-right Alternative for Germany and the conservative Christian Democratic Union. Environmentalists and traffic experts have previously accused the FDP of representing the interests of the automotive industry.
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