Sunday question: What do you say about Berlin abolishing the 30 km/h speed limit because the air has improved thanks to the 30 km/h speed limit?
Sunday question: What do you say about Berlin abolishing the 30 km/h speed limit because the air has improved thanks to the 30 km/h speed limit?
Auf Dutzenden Berliner Hauptstraßen wurde wegen schlechter Luftqualität Tempo 30 eingeführt. CDU-Verkehrssenatorin Bonde will dies zurückdrehen. Die SPD befürchtet negative Auswirkungen für Schüler und fordert erst eine ausführliche Prüfung.
EDIT: changed article link and title to comply with rules (that I didn't read 😛). The article that is linked now, links to the previous one (this one https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2025/06/senatsverwaltung-verkehr-berlin-tempo-30.htm), and the title is the google translated of the new article, as close as original German as I can
The absurdity of the proposal is already in the title, and shows how motonormativity is spread all over the world.
Berlin has a very good public transit system, and a few 30 km/h zones cannot be that bad.
I would love to hear opinions from someone who lives there!
crossposted from: https://mastodon.uno/users/rivoluzioneurbanamobilita/statuses/114732266280428499
They've got a new moronic conservative government which also stopped every new bike lane. Even if they were federally subsidized and it means the city now has to pay back those.
Stupid Ideologically driven morons
This is like when a person goes on a diet, loses weight, then stops the diet.
More like stopping an antibiotic course mid-way.
Or stopping your blood pressure medicine because you don't have high blood pressure anymore.
This really hurts my brain. How can politicians be this shortsighted?
I'm living here and you are absolutely correct. Public transit is good. Most streets are 50 km/h. Some are 30 but that is oftentimes not enforced.
Several studies have shown that a speed limit of 30 km/h can massively reduce the number and severity of accidents. But as Germans we hate the idea of slowing down for other road users. We bought those shiny non electric cars and we want to blast through the city, god damnit!
How can politicians be this shortsighted?
not shortsighted, they're trying to make the city worse. They're conservatives and middle parties voted in by people not from the center of the city.
Oh they just got friends and potential future employers in the automotive industry.
I politics hanlons razor is reversed. Never attribute to stupidity that which could be explained by corruption.
I'm curious, do they fire all sysadmins on days where everything goes smoothly and rehire new ones the day after?
They do. The classic joke is that bosses will complain about paying IT/devops/SRE regardless of whether or not shit is broken.
Don't give them ideas.
I have to assume these guys only take a shower once a month, at most, and only because people keep complaining about how much they stink. And they definitely only wash their hands if they got shit on them.
As stupid as this sounds, eventually someone is going to suggest letting grocery stores be open on Sunday and this will usher in what German historians call "Der Modern Age". There will be a domino effect... Rathaus will get Internet, Doctors will forgo fax for email and Aldi will finally bring Trader Joe's to the motherland. We will slowly creep into the 21st century. One pointless rule at a time.
This stupid speed limit thing will be remembered as the catalyst of progress in the race to catch up to their neighbors.
( /s Because Germany hates change )
Queue up the: "I'm entitled to a peaceful Sunday" folks.
I'm having déjà vu.
I was in Berlin some years ago (2018?) and traffic is what will make me never ever put my foot there again.
Eating on the terrace of a cozy restaurant in the middle of the city? A fucking mega truck hauling 40 tons of wood thundering by at 70km/h raising so much dust from the street you get it in your food. Mmmm 🙋🏼♀️.
It's everywhere even in their mega park you hear traffic traffic traffic, I know Germans love their cars and so, but man, keep it away from the city centre?
May I ask what area you were in? Because there are many restaurants that are not near streets a lorry would usually take (esp. at those speeds).
And I don't really hear (or see) the traffic in most parks I vistit.
I don't remember perfectly, but between berlin mittel (got that from google maps, city-centre just north of the Sprée) and a bit to the north I think, still inside the city centre.
Tiergarten has a fucking motorway cutting it in half BTW 😅
Come to Paris for a change, there it's the people who will annoy you, not the cars 😁
That is not the original headline or the in-article analysis, so unfortunately I don't think that's a good fit for this sub/magazine.
That's true. I got to the op article through this one: https://www.der-postillon.com/2025/06/sonntagsfrage-tempo-30-berlin.html
Would this be a good fit? (I don't speak German)
Hey and in Freiburg they just cancelled the LEZ because the air quality improved...
I live here and recently had to borrow a car for a vacation. Of course I had to drive it through the city as well and it always surprised me how car-friendly it is. You are on a highway or road (or stroad) pretty quickly most of the time, so there's not much need to actually drive through most streets. Also -at least in my area- parking was sooo easy to find! I don't understand why peaople park so horrible here; I was able to find a free & legal spot within a 10 minute walk every time...
The only thing that really is in your way are other cars during rush-hour. Which makes the increased speed limit even more ridiculus; outside of rushour you're not losing much time because of it and within you're not gaining anything because it's just stop and go anyways.
I have to say that my experience cycling has improved since I moved here though. Maybe it's because I moved closer to the center at some point, maybe it's because I got used to it or it's because of the protected biking infrastructure the previous government & the districts were able to build. I just hope we get a rrg coaliton again next time around so things are going to continue improving.
Public transit is awsome if you don't live too far out. For some areas I can understand why people might find it frustrating to rely on it.