A brief review: In late autumn 1973, there were four car-free Sundays in Germany. The shock of the oil crisis was still deeply felt at the time, when OPEC countries reduced oil production, causing petrol prices to skyrocket. The federal government at the time imposed driving bans on the country to save petrol. It also imposed a six-month speed limit of 100 km/h on motorways and 80 km/h on country roads. For half a century, these were to remain the only car-free Sundays. Since then, pedestrians and cyclists have had no place on motorways.
Why a new climate protection law?
The current Climate Protection Act has been in force since 2019. However, it contains climate targets for individual areas of greenhouse gas emissions, such as industry, energy, transport and buildings, which cannot be achieved in this form. The federal government therefore presented a draft for a new Climate Protection Act in 2023. The draft legislation aims to ensure that compliance with climate targets is no longer monitored on a sector-by-sector basis, but rather viewed holistically over several years. Minister Wissing wants to gain time to achieve the ambitious climate targets for the transport sector.
The draft bill is now stalling in the traffic light coalition. The Green Party in particular is blocking the plans. Transport Minister Wissing is now applying pressure and putting the squeeze where it hurts most: motorists. If not by 15 July, then... Then what exactly? A driving ban for everyone? But not for ambulances. And not for fire engines either. And how will nurses get to work? Nothing has been decided yet. And it probably won't be, at least not by 15 July. A driving ban is a serious encroachment on fundamental rights. Every motorist, association and political party could take legal action. Ultimately, the Federal Constitutional Court would have to rule on the proportionality of the measure – by 15 July?
What would be the point of a weekend driving ban anyway?
First of all, traffic is only 20% of CO2emissions. Heavy goods vehicles are therefore a significant contributor to these emissions. And it is at a standstill on Sundays anyway, because according to Section 30 (3) sentence 1 of the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO), lorries over 7.5 tonnes are not allowed to drive on Saturdays or before public holidays from 10 p.m. until Sundays or public holidays at 10 p.m. This applies to the entire German road network.
What's more, there are definitely alternatives to a driving ban. For example, a speed limit on motorways and country roads, as was the case in 1973. But the FDP categorically rules this out. Would you rather not drive at all than drive at 100 km/h on the motorway?
In the recent past, there have been other approaches to reducing CO2emissions. For example, by switching more consistently to e-mobility. However, this has stalled because subsidies for electric cars have been discontinued. The government simply can no longer afford the purchase premiums. As a result, the share of electric cars in the total vehicle population is languishing at 2%, with sales virtually collapsing. On the other hand, the proportion of SUVs and off-road vehicles is increasing massively, accounting for an impressive 40% of new registrations. Road freight transport is also continuing to increase because there are more and more lorries on the road. The shift to rail is pure wishful thinking.
It will be interesting to see how the coalition government resolves this dilemma. It is unlikely that they will want to incur the wrath of tens of millions of motorists – and voters. Are there not general elections in 2025?
Further sources:
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/wissing-fahrverbot-klimaschutzgesetz-100.html
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/wissing-fahrverbot-klimawandel-co2-100.html
