Speed limit: climate activists remove free travel signs – criminal charges follow
Created: 01/09/2023, 16:30
By: Marcus Efler
Climate activists have introduced speed limits on their own - by removing signs that signal free travel.
This is how the federal government is reacting.
Whether for climate protection, for more safety or as an energy-saving measure: A general speed limit on German autobahns is being propagated by some politicians, and a majority of Germans, parts of the police and Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel are also in favor of a speed limit.
Climate activists are, not surprisingly, in principle anyway.
An Extinction Rebellion activist takes down a free ride sign.
© Extinction Rebellion
Speed limit: climate activists remove free travel signs – criminal charges follow
After street blockades and sticking actions (as here in the BMW Welt), the protesters have now discovered another means of drawing attention to their goals: they remove the white signs with black stripes on the motorways that remove previous speed limits again (how long they apply in principle, is written here).
So it had to look like for the motorists that instead of the recommended speed of 130, which was actually hip, the speeds were sometimes significantly lower.
Activists from Extinction Rebellion boast on Facebook that they have "introduced a speed limit" on more than 1,500 kilometers of free autobahn near Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt:
The comments show the different opinions of Germans, who support climate goals, but mostly reject illegal actions.
"Thank you for doing the work we pay a transport minister for!" Posts a user, "Well done", says a follower.
Others, in turn, express severe criticism: "It's just stupid," they say, and: "Old moth, you don't have all the slats on the fence anymore!".
Some also point to the criminal liability of the action.
Speed limit: Federal government announces ads against sign dismantlers
The federal government takes a similar view.
"Such acts are no longer a protest, they are simply punishable," said Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport, Oliver Luksic (FDP), in the
Rheinische Post
.
Every case will be reported.
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Most of the signs that were removed are now back in place and quick.
However, this did not happen quite so quickly in all cases: some of the removed traffic signs have disappeared and have to be procured again.
