Germany's Road Speed Limit Debate Safety, Climate and Beyond

TapTechNews July 9th news, an alliance of opinion groups consisting of the German Environmental Aid Organization, the Police Union of North Rhine-Westphalia, the German Organization for Assistance to Victims of Traffic Accidents, etc., released a joint statement on the 5th of this month, demanding that the German government formulate strict and extensive road speed limit regulations.

TapTechNews learned that Germany is currently the only industrialized country that has not set a general speed limit on highways, only stipulating a 'guidance speed' of 80.78 miles per hour.

The speed limit alliance calls on the German government to set a speed limit of 62.14 miles per hour on highways, 49.71 miles per hour on rural roads, and 18.64 miles per hour on urban roads.

The alliance stated that according to the current situation, the German federal government cannot achieve the 2030 climate target. And limiting speed is the most effective climate protection measure in the transportation field, with immediate results, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 11 million tons per year.

For the increasing number of electric vehicles, if the driving speed exceeds 80.78 miles per hour, the cruising range will also be greatly reduced.

In addition, in the past 20 years in Germany, 75,000 people have died on the road due to various accidents, a number sufficient to fill the Allianz Arena of the Bayern Munich football team.

The German federal government is committed to realizing the vision of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries, but recently the number of road deaths has risen again. Strict road speed limits can reduce the occurrence of serious traffic accidents that cause deaths and injuries.