Most Germans want speed limit on autobahn ?

Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:52AM EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - Nearly two in three Germans believe a speed limit should be introduced on the car-loving nation's notoriously fast autobahns, according to a new poll.

The European Union's environment commissioner Stavros Dimas and environmental activists in Germany have said speeding on the autobahn wastes energy and called for a speed limit. German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee has rejected the idea.

The poll for ZDF television published on Friday showed 54 percent of Germans favor a speed limit of 130 kph (80 mph) while another 10 percent would like a limit below that level. Some 35 percent said they did not want any speed limit.

At least a third of German motorways have a speed limit while the rest carry only a recommended top speed of 130 kph where legally drivers can, and often do, travel as fast as they like.

German car firms like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, which pride themselves on producing powerful vehicles, fear speed limits on the autobahn would remove some of the allure of their vehicles and harm sales.

The survey also showed that 56 percent of Germans believe flights should be taxed at a higher rate because of the environmental damage they cause.

PFAFFENHAUSEN, Germany: Ask Marc Bongers about the wisdom of
introducing a speed limit on the German autobahn, and he answers by
revving the 435-horsepower engine of his specially modified Porsche
impatiently. Slowpokes, he said, already spoil half the fun.

"A lady," Bongers sniffed, as a Mercedes finally scuttled out of his
way in the passing lane on a busy autobahn in southern Bavaria the
other day. "And she's talking on her phone," he said, shooting her a
sidelong glance. "Doesn't she know it's against the law to do that on
the autobahn?"

With a stretch of empty road ahead, Bongers floored his accelerator
??? something that is still legal here ??? and within seconds the
speedometer was registering 286 kilometers, or 178 miles, per hour.
That, by way of comparison, is about the speed of a commercial jet on
takeoff.

Few things are closer to the German heart than the freedom to drive
like Michael Schumacher, the fabled Formula One champion. Rule-bound
and risk- averse in so many other ways, Germans regard driving at
face-peeling speeds on the autobahn as close to an inalienable right.

Now, though, Germany's love of speed is colliding with its fears
about global warming, as it becomes clear that its Sunday race-car
drivers are needlessly spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the air.

Last week, the European Union's environment commissioner, Stavros
Dimas, set off a national debate here by suggesting that the German
government introduce a general speed limit on the autobahn.

To be sure, half the 12,000 kilometers of autobahn already have speed
limits, as do smaller roads. There are also temporary limits for road
work and other hazards on the autobahn. But the anything-goes
stretches are the fastest public roads in the world.

"Speed limits are useful for many reasons, and are the order of the
day in most of the EU's 27 member states and the United States,"
Dimas said in an interview with the mass-market newspaper Bild.
"Strangely enough, it is only in Germany where they are controversial."

His mild words were met with heated indignation from politicians and
automotive groups here. Some acted as if Brussels were demanding that
Germany outlaw beer and bratwurst.

This is "a trivialization of the climate problem," declared the
German environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel. The German Association
of the Automotive Industry said Germans needed "no coaching" from
other Europeans on how to protect the climate.

Even Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has put climate change at the top
of her agenda as president of the European Union and the Group of 8
industrial nations, opposes a uniform speed limit.

Merkel is hardly a car buff. Unlike her predecessor, Gerhard
Schr??der, she is rarely photographed behind the wheel. But she seems
to realize that, like Social Security in the United States, the
autobahn is the "third rail" of German politics ??? potentially deadly
to those who dare touch it.

Critics brandish statistics that show a speed limit of 120 kilometers
would only reduce Germany's overall carbon- dioxide emissions by
three million tons a year, or 0.3 percent. Better, they say, to focus
on building more efficient power plants and houses.

Yet, as environmental groups and a few lonely politicians point out,
three million tons of carbon dioxide is still a worthwhile saving.
And unlike other measures ??? clean coal plants or hybrid cars, for
example ??? a speed limit could be imposed tomorrow and at relatively
little cost.

"Our politicians like to say that Germany should not have to do more
than other European countries on climate change, but in this area, we
are doing less," said Josef G??ppel, one of the few conservative
members of the German Parliament who favor a limit.

For years, advocates of a speed limit tried to argue their case on
safety grounds. The autobahn, though, is statistically safer than
highways in many countries, even if its crashes are singularly
horrific. Saving the planet, it turns out, may prove more persuasive
than saving lives.

"Given the pride of Germans about being No. 1 in protecting the
environment, this could lead to a breakthrough," said Peter
Schneider, a writer who limits himself to about 150 kilometers per
hour on the autobahn.

Schneider is realistic. Driving fast, he said, is deeply rooted in
the German psyche ??? a form of expression that survived even the ruin
of World War II (Hitler was a fan of the autobahn, vastly expanding
it). It is an addiction that crosses all social and political
boundaries.

"I have friends who are left-leaning intellectuals, and they're proud
to tell me they can get to Hamburg from Berlin in two hours,"
Schneider said. (That requires driving an average of 140 kilometers
per hour.)

Germany also has a powerful economic incentive to resist a speed
limit. It builds some of the world's fastest cars, and the autobahn
is a valuable showcase and marketing tool for the industry. A Beijing
tour operator even organizes driving tours of the highway for Chinese
visitors.

Car connoisseurs from around the world flock to Pfaffenhausen, a one-
horse town where the local company, Ruf Automobile, makes cars with
many horses. Bongers, the sales manager for Ruf, said people who buy
these custom- modified Porsches often take them for spins on the
autobahn. For most, it is the only place they can legally test the
top speed of their new toys.

"It's a kind of freedom," said Bongers, 40, who once pushed his own
Porsche 911 to more than 300 kilometers an hour to prove that he had
the guts to do it. "Speed is relative on the autobahn."

Alois Ruf, a courtly, nattily dressed man who took over the family
business from his father in 1974, said he did not know enough about
the science to judge whether a speed limit would result in
significant reductions of carbon-dioxide emissions. But the debate
feels oddly familiar.

In the depths of the oil crisis in late 1973, West Germany imposed a
speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour. Four months later, the
government rescinded it. Ruf recalls worrying during those dark days
that the family's sports car business was doomed.

"This is a dream we are selling to the world," he said. "It's a
tradition I think we have to defend."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/...nal.php?page=2