There’s no topic in Germany that polarises people quite as much as speed limits - a debate that’s been raging on for many years now. With the gas crisis prompting fears that petrol and diesel supplies could soon be running low, proposals for a general speed limit on the German autobahn have been put back on the table, as a means of saving energy. 

Calls for Germany to introduce speed limit on autobahn to save energy

In a bid to make the country less dependent on Russian energy supplies, the general manager of the German Association of Cities, Helmut Dedy, has called on Germany to look more closely at its energy consumption, and specifically for a speed limit to be introduced. “This would allow us to immediately leverage savings potential,” he said. “We don’t want hysteria, but we do want people and the economy to be more aware that a large-scale crisis can happen.” 

Dedy’s call was supported by Jens Hilgenburg, head of transport policy at the environmental association BUND, who told dpa, “In order to reduce dependency on energy imports, energy savings must be achieved immediately. In the transport sector, effective short-term measures could be implemented straight away, such as a general speed limit on motorways, car-free Sundays and a ban on short-haul flights.” 

These measures are among those recently put forward in a 10-point plan by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to reduce oil demand around the world. Among other measures, the IEA proposed asking people to work from home three days a week, where possible, to reduce speed limits on motorways by at least 10 kilometres per hour (km / h), to avoid business travel where alternatives exist, and to make public transport cheaper.

Debate over speed limit in Germany rages on

The subject of a general speed limit on the German autobahn - which famously allows people to drive at whatever speed they wish on certain stretches - has occupied much debate in Germany in recent years. 

Most recently, the Greens failed in their election bid to implement a general speed limit, as the idea was firmly rejected by the FDP and the SPD in coalition negotiations. Germany’s politicians seem to remain against the idea, as a speed limit was missing from the package of energy-saving measures recently adopted by the coalition leaders. 

Three weeks ago, the environmental organisation Greenpeace proposed a number of short-term measures to reduce Germany’s oil consumption, including the introduction of a temporary speed limit of 100 km / h on motorways, 80 km / h on country roads and 30 km / h in cities for the duration of the conflict. 

According to the Federal Environment Agency, driving at faster speeds greatly increases fuel consumption. For example, a typical vehicle travelling at 90 km / h uses 23 percent less fuel than one driving at 110 km / h.