Germans still driving fast on autobahn despite energy squeeze

BERLIN: A leading German car club has joined a chorus of voices in the country urging a speed limit on Germany's autobahn amid the current energy crisis sparked by the Russian military attack on Ukraine.

The Auto Club Europa (ACE) said the speed limit on German highways should be reduced immediately to a maximum of 100kph. This would be a rapid and unbureaucratic way of saving fuel and dependence on oil imports from Russia, said the organisation.

The call comes amid signs that Germans are not slowing down on fast roads to save fuel despite a massive hike in prices at the petrol and diesel pumps.

"Russia's attack on Ukraine, in addition to the dramatic humanitarian consequences, has made it clear that we in Germany and Europe have an important decision to make," said ACE chairman Stefan Heimlich.

Senior Greens politician Ricarda Lang recently said a speed limit on the largely limitless highway was a good way to ensure Germany's independence from Russian oil supplies.

"Since hardly any other measures would work quickly, we now need a temporary speed limit on highways - for example for nine months and thus until the end of the year", said Lang whose party rules in Berlin with the social democrats and liberals.

Both the Deutsche Umwelthilfe environmental organisation and the huge DGB trade union congress have urged speed limits on highways.

The subject of highway speed limits comes up regularly in Germany where around two-thirds of the highway network is deregulated. This means that drivers of fast cars capable of 250kph or more can use the performance to the full.

The high cost of petrol in recent weeks has also not led to a noticeable slowdown, according to figures from navigation data companies Inrix und TomTom.

"Our speed analysis of several stretches of highway in Germany does not currently indicate any change in driving habits due to the price of fuel," said Bob Pishue of Inrix.

"However, on some stretches of highway we have seen an increase in traffic volume during peak hours and, as a result, slightly lower speeds than in the historical comparison," he said.

The liberal FDP party recently again rejected a highway speed limit and opponents of such a measure claim the fuel savings would be only minimal. Car industry lobbyists claim a highway speed limit would put the brakes on technical innovation.

Three weeks ago, the Federal Environment Agency proposed various measures to use energy much more sparingly.

These included driving less and, above all, more slowly.

If drivers reduced their speed on highways to a maximum of 100kph and to 80kph on roads outside built-up areas, this would save about 2.1 billion litres of fossil fuel and thus about 3.8 per cent of the fuel consumed in the transport sector, according to the agency.