Germany's First Speed Limit on Autobahns Rolls Out in Bremen
By Jeremy van Loon
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's Bremen introduced a speed
limit on its autobahns, the first state to challenge a national
tradition of allowing motorists to drive as fast as possible on
public highways.
To save lives and reduce air pollution, the city-state in
northwestern Germany will limit drivers on autobahns to 120
kilometers an hour (75 miles an hour), it said in a statement on
the OTS newswire today. The new rule came into force today.
Germany is the world's only industrialized country without
curbs on speed. Limiting motorists who currently travel as fast
at 300 kilometers an hour to 120 would cut traffic deaths by 30
percent and carbon-dioxide emissions by 3.4 million tons a year,
or the same amount spewed by all the country's buses, the VCD
German transportation association has estimated.
The nation's first autobahn, which became the model for the
U.S. interstate highway system, opened in 1932. It grew in
tandem with the country's auto industry, which is now worth 290
billion euros ($456 billion) a year and helps makes the German
economy Europe's biggest.
``This is a good day for transportation safety and is a
signal for environment and climate protection,'' said Reinhard
Loske, a state senator responsible for environment and
transportation. ``Our goal is to work with other states and push
through an overall speed limit on Germany's highways.''
Bremen, one of the smallest German states, has 60
kilometers of highways that pass through the city and its port,
which are connected by the A27 highway. Other highways include
the A1, A270 and A281.
--Editor: Todd White, Kristen Hallam
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at +49-30-70010-6231 or
jvanloon@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kristen Hallam at +44-7673-2584 or
khallam@bloomberg.net.