Speed limits on the Autobahn?

[floor_it_baby]

Read on, a proposal's been tabled to put in a speed limit in the Autobahn ...

No More Fun on the Autobahn? - TIME

There goes one of the last places with no limits!! This whole global warming thing is going too far IMHO! Next thing that could happen ... ban F1 ... or better still ... put a speed limit in F1

[ajmat]

They should really first stop cows farting and clamp down on heavy industries. Cars only contribute 6% of which fast cars contribute 0.5%

[csentil]

By the way, speed limites do actually exist in some parts of the Autobahn.

Autobahn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After joining the EU there's a lot of pressure on the German Government to have speed restrictions. The car companies don't want that to happen.

Also there's an agreement within the German Automobile industry to limit speeds in all cars manufactured there to 250 kmph. This can anyways be broken.

[Kontoo]

Hmm..I doubt if this will ever be passed in the German Parliament.
Right now, 130 kmph is the minimum recommended speed on the Autobahn. Even if this were to happen, I doubt if the speed limit will be fixed at 130 kmph.
Anyways, let's wait and watch !

[1100D]

Question to ask is how much additional pollutants are being released by cars that are going above 130kmph and how does if measure up to the percentage of land area. Infact the rest of the world should actually learn from the Autobahns. I see this as a ploy to open Germany's market for lesser cars.

[arunforu1]

Originally Posted by Kontoo

Hmm..I doubt if this will ever be passed in the German Parliament.
Right now, 130 kmph is the minimum recommended speed on the Autobahn. Even if this were to happen, I doubt if the speed limit will be fixed at 130 kmph.
Anyways, let's wait and watch !

Well I live in & work in Germany & a very frequent Autobahn user. There is nothing like 130kmph minimum limit. Infact there is no minimum limit, if you want to know then theoritically its 80kmph as minimum on autobahn.

Well MAX limit exists, on most portions of autobahn, its 120kmph restricted, but there are no limit zones, where you can strecth.

There is an active traffic managemnet system installed, which identifies amount of traffic, at a given instance & sets the limit for that strecth.

but no limit zones are decreasing fast, year by year. Almost every friday there is traffic jams on autobahns, as no of cars are more & everybody prefers to drive back home(or somewhere)on weekends.

So picture of autobahn is not as rosy as it seems from outside, but most of times it fun to drive on & safe too.

Arun

[Nitin]

There was this article by a German,who was born and brought up in the US..pretty funny one.I got it in the mail,but I doubt if I still have it.
The guy used to go back to Germany every 2 years,to meet his grandparents. When he began driving,he'd yearn to get on the Autobahn,and touch 200kmph+ speeds,something he couldn't do without getting caught while in the US. When the 1st bill was introduced,to restrict the speed limit to a < 200kmph speed,a lot of people were annoyed,while some were happy. This guy's article mocked the Govt and the EU to such an extent,its hard to describe the way he did it. Totally amusing!!

I've been on the Autobahn,and just loved it. At 220kmph,things get blurry,no doubt. There were bikes whizzing past us at 280-290kmph!!
It did seem scary,and the thought of a crash was horrible. It would make sense to restrict the speed,but not to an extent where it would seem like any other highway in the US/Europe.

[sbasak]

After joining the EU there's a lot of pressure on the German Government to have speed restrictions.

Germany should exit from EU.

[Randhawa]

Just an update on this- It will be free from speed limits and no new limits will be imposed. The reason for the purpose speed limit was pollution but it was turned down. Thanks God for that. I can have a nice trip to the ring. Very nice...

[cheap_deal]

well not restricting the no limit areas is great news. now how is Germany during Christmas? can one drive around the ring and autobahn without sliding out on black ice?

[speedy]

the speed limit proposition getting turned down is a boon, they could however keep a check during peak hours and rush days.
my memories of two ferrari's raceing down the autobahn while i was in an Sclass doing 210 remains intact. thank god for that n i hope i get to experience more of this in the future.

[Randhawa]

Originally Posted by cheap_deal

well not restricting the no limit areas is great news. now how is Germany during Christmas? can one drive around the ring and autobahn without sliding out on black ice?

Sliding chances are quite high during the winters. Been to Stutgart couple of yrs back during Christmas and it was slushy on the roads so not safe really.

[Nitin]

Originally Posted by speedy

the speed limit proposition getting turned down is a boon, they could however keep a check during peak hours and rush days.
my memories of two ferrari's raceing down the autobahn while i was in an Sclass doing 210 remains intact. thank god for that n i hope i get to experience more of this in the future.

Reminds me of my time on the Autobahn. We were in an E340,doing 220kmph. Along comes this spanking new Ferrari,and along side it was a Porsche (911,as I recollect).They kept racing for a good 10 miles,and as they went past us, they were doing about 300kmph. Right behind them were the bikes that I mentioned,closing in at 280kmph+.
Bliss!!

[Randhawa]

Not much is left of these bikers or the supercars when they slam across the motorway. It makes you sick if you come across an accident. Puts you off from speeding for a while.

[RakishRam]

Originally Posted by Kontoo

Right now, 130 kmph is the minimum recommended speed on the Autobahn.

eh, where did you get this from?
I have German DL, have learned all the rules for theory exam as well. The 130KMpH is the suggested maximum speed in Autobahn, that means if you met an accident above that suggested speed, some of the insurance stuffs go invalid plus you are more vulnerable to be on the receiving end.

On the other hand, your car must be able to do a minimum 60KMpH to be legal for an autobahn drive, and suggested minimum is 80KMpH.


Of course there are limits in a few autobahns (120 KMpH mainly due to road works etc), otherwise the strong auto lobby wont let government to put a complete limit.

Like the chaps in topgear said, what is the significance of Germany's existence if speed limits are implemented