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While the European Union mulls speed limits, the usually conciliatory German leader puts her foot down. |
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A natural right
Conservative Germans may happily follow rules in most other areas, but travelling at 180 kilometres an hour is seen as a natural right in the land of the Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Audi.
Merkel's official car is an Audi A8.
The speed limit theme is a hardy perennial in Germany, where motorists can travel at any speed they like on around half of the country's 12,000 kilometres of autobahn. The "recommended" speed of 130 is ignored by most.
"Freie Fahrt fuer freie Buerger," (unrestricted driving for unrestricted citizens) is a slogan dating back to the 1970s that still resonates, albeit with a touch of irony these days.
Decreasing death
Cutting autobahn deaths and injuries used to be the main argument for a speed limit. Last year, 600 people died on the country's autobahns, most of them on the stretches where there is no speed limit. |
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Powerful lobby
That symbolism cut little ice with the powerful car lobby. Motor industry president Matthias Wissmann described the SPD decision as "of little ecological use and purely symbolic."
And the ADAC automobile association weighed in with: "A speed limit makes no sense, either from a traffic safety point of view, or for the sake of the environment."
Germany's car manufacturers know where their profits lie -- in the luxury class of heavy limousines powered by high-performance engines. Even if their drivers never reach the 200-plus top speeds, the awareness of what the car is capable of is a powerful marketing tool.
Standards
Germany is not quite unique in its attitudes to speed. Motorists can travel as fast as they like on the Isle of Man, although not very far, as the island is less than 50 kilometres long.
Motorway speed limits across Europe stand at 130 kilometres an hour in countries like France, Italy and Poland. Britain, Spain and Sweden have even lower limits.
These days, the EU is mulling what it can do to standardize road rules and increase traffic safety.
12 November 2007
Copyright DPA with Expatica
Subject: Germany, speed limits, EU, politics, road safety
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