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“important today”
Traffic expert explains: How a speed limit is useful and how it is harmful
Road sign indicating the speed of 130 kilometers per hour. The specter of the speed limit is back – and everyone has an opinion on it
© Jens Büttner / zb / DPA
57 percent of people in Germany have just spoken out in favor of a speed limit of 130 km/h on motorways. But just the word “Tem-po-li-mit” makes many people’s pulses rise. It is argued with accidental deaths, traffic jams and stress. But there are also counter-arguments.
The German and his car, yes, that’s a very special bond here in Auto-Land. Now the specter of the speed limit is back – and everyone has an opinion on it. The SUV drivers driving on the left, flashing their headlights, fear nothing more than the speed limit. And then there’s the faction trying to prove that a speed limit would make so much sense: for the environment, health, stress levels, fuel consumption.
Traffic expert Prof. Michael Schreckenberg takes these emotions straight out and says in the 268th episode of “Today Important”: “If I turn something down (…) I have to offer an alternative at the same time, I can’t just say stay at home .” And the railway, according to the expert in an interview with host Michel Abdollahi, “is not the offer that really excites motorists and then lures them to other routes.”
The traffic jam myth
“There is a general misconception that you can eliminate traffic jams with a speed limit. The dynamics of traffic jams have been researched for many decades and we know exactly how congestion jams arise. And they don’t occur at speeds of 160 instead of 130, but at 30 instead of 60”, Prof. Schreckenberg continues.
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What would happen, on the other hand, would be economic damage: “From an economic point of view, so just looking at this aspect, I would make a big minus. In the end, you have to think about what is politically wanted.”
© TVNOW / Andreas Friese
Podcast “important today”
Sure, opinionated, on the 12: “today important” is not just a news podcast. We set topics and initiate debates – with attitude and sometimes uncomfortable. Host Michel Abdollahi and his team speak out for this star– and RTL reporters with the most exciting people from politics, society and entertainment. They let all voices have their say, both the quiet and the loud. Anyone who hears “important today” starts the day well informed and can have a well-founded say.
That costs a traffic jam
The minus arises because people reach their destination more slowly and lose working time as a result. The same with every traffic jam. The expert calculates: “A single traffic jam, four kilometers over three hours, on a two-lane motorway results in economic damage of 100,000 euros.”
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