On main roads, a speed limit of 30 is only possible in dangerous situations. Some municipalities would like to allow cars to drive more slowly throughout the city than they currently do. The city council is therefore calling for the traffic law to be changed.
According to the will of the German Association of Cities, municipalities should be able to introduce a speed limit of 30 km/h city-wide. “Cities that want this should also be able to set a general speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour and only allow 50 km/h or another speed on selected main roads,” Helmut Dedy, chief executive officer of the German Association of Cities, told the Rheinische Post. He called on Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing to adapt the traffic law accordingly.
The road traffic regulations currently only allow 30 km/h on main roads if there is evidence of a dangerous situation. Cities should “be able to decide for themselves where it will be safer, more climate-friendly and healthier if the speed limit is not 50. It shouldn’t always take years and many reports before something changes,” said Dedy. “We need more freedom of action locally, for example for safe routes to school for our children.” On Thursday, the City Day, an alliance of more than 3,000 district-free and district-affiliated cities and municipalities, wants to emphasize its demand at a conference.
At its meeting last week in Chemnitz, the City Council passed a resolution and called on the federal government to implement recommendations made by the Bundestag. According to the “Rheinische Post”, the municipal umbrella organization supports the “Livable Cities” initiative from hundreds of municipalities, which is committed to ensuring that municipalities can set the maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour in town where they find it necessary.
Numerous cities want more 30 km/h, but due to the legal situation they are subject to strict limits. The city of Hanover announced that 30 km/h zones had been set up extensively in the city many years ago wherever this was permitted. “However, the city of Hanover would like to sign 30 km/h on selected main roads, but is not legally allowed to do so.”
