No new speed restrictions on Germany's autobahn, at least for now
One of prime factors that has led to the development of cars with excellent high speed capabilities from German car-makers is the presence of the autobahn. In particular, the long stretches of smooth inter-urban pavement that have no posted speed limit have inspired the likes of BMW's M-series cars and the Mercedes-Benz AMG models. Of course those unlimited zones are far from universal and as soon as you approach major cities like Frankfurt and Cologne the limits are posted at speeds of 100-130 km/h. Environmentalists and safety advocates have recently been pushing to implement speed limits throughout the autobahn system of no more than 130 km/h (approx. 80 mph). German Chancellor Angela Merkel has put the kibosh on those plans for the time being. While those pushing for the changes argue that the lower speeds would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Merkel feels the increased traffic jams would counter any such benefit. Instead Merkel prefers improved traffic management systems which would improve the flow of vehicles.
[Source: PistonHeads]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
scatter 11:51AM (10/30/2007)
Is there any correlation between lower (i.e. normal) traffic speeds and increased congestion on motorways? I always thought that higher speeds led to more of those phantom traffic jams caused by sharper braking.
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