, Columnist
Doing 100mph on the Autobahn Isn't Worth It
The Jagdberg Tunnel on Autobahn 4.
Photographer: Jan Woitas/picture alliance via Getty Images
For four months during the 1970s oil crisis, a country synonymous with powerful engines and driving freedoms did the unthinkable: West Germany (as it was then) imposed a 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) speed limit on the Autobahn to conserve fuel.
Today, with the Strait of Hormuz oil route still effectively closed by the Iran war and prices at the pump soaring, should it do so again? Environmental groups and leftist politicians think it’s time Germany abandoned its attachment to fast driving. The International Energy Agency agrees.