Overview
- Greenpeace calculations, released Sunday, estimate average households would save about €239 a year with a 100 km/h autobahn and 80 km/h rural-road limit, with national tanking costs falling by up to €9.5 billion.
- A Ruhr University Bochum analysis finds a 120 km/h cap could prevent about 58 deaths each year and cut crashes with serious injuries by roughly a quarter using a causal machine‑learning method.
- The German Environment Agency estimates about 3.2 billion liters of petrol and diesel could be saved annually under a 120/80 regime, and the IEA says a 10 km/h speed drop can cut national oil use by up to six percent.
- Transport group ÖAMTC disputes the larger savings and argues a 100 km/h limit would trim fuel use by only one to three percent, while urging traffic-flow steps like city green waves and truck overtaking bans.
- The governing coalition has no agreement on a general cap, and Germany remains an outlier in Europe without one, so drivers face continued debate rather than a near-term rule change.