When I arrived in Germany in 1978....one of the dozen-odd things that really 'burnt' into my mind was the speed limit business.
As the instructor for the license situation talked up the deal....you needed to be keenly aware of your vehicle, it's limits, the weather, and how good a driver you were. Most of us in the room....would end up with smaller 50 to 100 horse-power cars, we were going to probably never get above 130 kph (80 mph). Maybe a quarter of the folks in the room would acquire an aged Mercedes/BMW brand car....which could meet the 200 kph level (124 mph).
What you came to realize after two years in Germany and leaving....on a typical Saturday on the autobahn (heading north or south out Frankfurt).....there were serious accidents, and speed probably played a factor in most of these.
As I came back in 1984, I came to realize certain autobahns (like the A8 going toward Munich) didn't have a lot of traffic, and you could reach higher speeds (beyond 200 kph) easily.
After a while, you figured out that the tires greatly mattered in higher speeds.
Then you figured out about wildlife (usually deer) adding to the safety issue.
Accident rates greatly improved over the past fifty years? ADAC will give you the numbers and say survival rates are greatly enhanced now.
If you put this tempo or speed limit chatter up to a popular vote? No one seems to want to do it (not the pro or anti-crowd). In certain regions, like Bavaria or Hessen, I think seventy percent of folks would prefer something to be beyond 130 kph. In highly urbanized areas like Berlin or Hamburg....it's probably seventy percent of folks who want it even reduced down to 100 kph.
All of this on the Green Party agenda? The deal is this....Germany is the last country with the unlimited speed deal. If you watch public TV enough.....the focus is to convince people to accept the 130 kph tempo limit. My general belief is that it won't go anywhere, but it'll be dealt to each state (all 16) in Germany, and they be allowed to change the limit.
At least four states (I believe) will go to the 130 kph limit. In Hamburg and Bremen, it might drift down even to 100 kph.
If you wanted more division among the public.....this would be a starting point.
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