Seven major German cities have decided to implement a new speed limit of 30 km/h in an effort to reduce accidents and lower traffic noise and air pollution. This decision comes after the German Bundestag accepted coalition proposals titled “Safer Cycling for Vision Zero in Road Traffic” from the CDU/CSU and SPD on January 17, 2020. The goal is to prevent accidents between cars, cyclists, and pedestrians. Spain has already successfully implemented a general speed limit of 30 km/h for urban roads with one lane per direction, and France has introduced a similar speed limit in 200 cities, resulting in a 70% reduction in fatal accidents.
In response to the positive effects of the speed limit in Spain and France, the German Environmental Aid (DUH) called for a similar implementation in Germany in May 2021. The World Health Organization (WHO) also supports this initiative, demanding a speed limit of 30 km/h in cities and villages worldwide. The German Association of Cities has now decided to conduct model experiments with a speed limit of 30 km/h as the standard speed outside of main roads. The seven major cities participating in the experiment are Aachen, Augsburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Hannover, Leipzig, Münster, and Ulm. On these cities’ streets, the speed limit will be 50 km/h on main roads and 30 km/h on other roads. The decision on which streets can be driven at what speed lies with the cities themselves. The aim is to investigate new speed models and their impact on accident statistics.
The participating cities emphasize that this is not an initiative against car drivers but a project for the residents of the municipalities. “The efficiency, climate-friendliness, and safety of traffic in cities will be improved by the 30 km/h speed limit. The quality of life will also be noticeably increased,” says the statement from the city council. In addition to reducing the risk of accidents for pedestrians and cyclists, the speed limit is also expected to reduce traffic noise and air pollution. The city council is supported by the Agora Verkehrswende initiative, which develops new climate protection strategies. Leipzig’s mayor and president of the German Association of Cities, Burkhard Jung, comments, “We want to make traffic in cities more efficient, climate-friendly, and safer. The municipalities are best placed to decide which speeds are appropriate on which streets.”
