Should there be a 75 mph speed limit on the Autobahn to reduce CO2 emissions?
Modern cars are at their most fuel-efficient at 55 mph, and American politicians have used this speed limit to encourage fuel conservation in the past. But how do things look on the German Autobahn, the most famous stretch of public high speed road in the world? Writing at The Truth About Cars, Robert Farago discusses the "gentleman's agreement" that for years kept most German cars' top speed at 155 mph. But, thanks to clean technologies throughout the German car industry, Farago says, "the tailpipe emissions produced by Germany's increasingly modern automotive fleet are virtually sterile." and the Autobahn only makes up a small percentage of Germany's roads.
Nonetheless, German environmentalists are now showing greater concern for CO2 emissions on the Autobahn. At the end of December, Andreas Troge. the President of Germany's Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) and a long time auto industry critic, called for a 75mph speed limit on all German Autobahn stretches. Troge said this will reduce Germany's CO2 emissions by 30 percent. Germany Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee didn't seem enthused by the idea, saying, "a general speed limit on open stretches of road does not make sense."
[Source: The Truth About Cars]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1985 Gripen 2:11PM (1/04/2007)
Why don't we just pass some law that says that all cars sold can only have a top speed of 55 mph? I'm being facetious, of course. That would be horrible.
The autobahn remains a mecca for car enthusiasts the world over. If I ever make it to Germany I look forward to driving the autobahn. I'm an environmentalist, but I'm also a car enthusiast (so I guess this blog's for me!).
I highly doubt that reducing the speed cars can drive on the small remaining parts of the autobahn with unregulated speed limits will reduce all of Germany's CO2 output by 30%. Where does he get that number? Where's the science? That doesn't even pass the smell test.
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Ken 4:31AM (1/05/2007)
I too don't believe a speed limit will reduce CO2 dramatically enough. Through most of the Autobahn already there's a 120-130kph limit. And I doubt Germans, used to drving the unrestricted section at 90-105mph will slow down too much if there's a limit. It's almost like back in the US when people thought making the speedometers only read up to 85mph would make people drive more economically. It just gives you a motivations to bury the needle as often as possible.
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Guenther 9:02AM (1/05/2007)
Complete non-sense. Traffic congestion has most of the open sections rolling along at 110-130km/h during the day already. At night, you can ad to that the night-time noise limitations near towns, and the over-all percentage of cars traveling at more than 150km/h dwindles. And with fuel prices creeping further north all the time....
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