“Let’s assume”: a general speed limit? So what?

Let’s assume that the tempo is 30 in the city and 130 on the motorway – will we then reach the climate targets faster? Would other cars be built? And would there be fewer accidents? A thought experiment.

Markus Sambale
ARD capital studio

The discussion about a general speed limit on German roads is old – but the topic is reappearing in the current federal election campaign. The CDU / CSU, the FDP and the AfD are against it, the SPD, the Greens and the Left are in favor. This is what it says in the parties’ election manifestos.

But what good would it be if, for example, you could only drive at a maximum speed of 130 on the motorways and the speed in inner-city traffic was limited to 30 km / h?

Would there really be fewer accidents and fewer serious injuries? Would we then actually achieve our climate protection goals more quickly? Will cars then be built very differently in the future? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of general speed limits?

The two correspondents answer these questions Vera Wolf Fight and Markus Sambale from the ARD capital studio in Berlin and search for the future podcast of daily News together with experts for answers.

Thought experiments in the Tagesschau podcast

“times accepted” is the multi-award-winning * future podcast nominated for the German Radio Prize 2021 daily News. Every week a six-person team of correspondents thinks from the ARD capital studio in Berlin a current political idea into the future and plays through the possible consequences in a thought experiment: Let’s assume that Germany would no longer export weapons – what would the political consequences be? Or suppose that cash would be abolished – what effects would that have on our everyday lives and the economy?

Numerous experts help to find answers to these questions, positive examples from other countries show what is already possible elsewhere today and thus provide new impulses in political debates.

You can listen to the audio podcast “once accepted” at home or on the go on your smartphone at any time. Every Thursday a new episode appears here on our website in the Tagesschau app, in the ARD audio library and on numerous other podcast platforms.

* Among other things, winner of the “Prix Europa” 2020 in the “Digital Audio Project” category