On the highways

Fixed: If blue-black comes, new speed limit comes

The new government could introduce new speed limits on our freeways.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/picturedesk.com/Roland Schlager, APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Blue-Black is on the gas pedal. The coalition should be in place by Tuesday and, according to information from "Krone", one of the first measures will be a new speed limit on selected, or perhaps all, freeways. Implementation on selected sections has already been agreed in the relevant negotiating group. 

Will blue-black come to fruition or will the negotiations collapse? And after former ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer, will FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl also have to return to Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen without a successful outcome? According to the "Krone" newspaper, clarity should prevail by Tuesday at the latest. Even before a small delegation from the two steering groups meets on Monday, results from the sub-groups, which are finishing their work today with the last meeting in the finance and tax area, are leaking out.

Steering group decides on general limit
As the "Krone" learned from negotiators and reported weeks ago, a new speed limit on freeways is likely to apply in Austria soon. The FPÖ and ÖVP have agreed that 150 should apply from now on at least on selected stretches of highway with particularly good traffic conditions. A similar model is already in place in the Czech Republic. "However, a general increase in the limit to 150 on all freeways is also possible," reports the subgroup. However, this must now be decided in the steering group.

Lower Austria's FPÖ state deputy leader Udo Landbauer was the first politician to call for this. "I am clearly opposed to the green climate religion, whose gospel is 100 km/h," he told the "Krone" newspaper. The world has moved on, today's cars are safer, less polluting and more powerful, so increases are legitimate, he explained after a visit to the World Road Congress in Prague in 2023.

Environmentalists express criticism
Criticism has always come from environmental experts. An increase in the speed limit from 130 to 150 km/h (equivalent to a speed increase of around 15 percent) would have a "massive impact" on the environment. The increase in speed and pollutant emissions would not be proportional to each other, as calculations by the Federal Environment Agency show. The 15 percent increase in speed (from 130 to 150 km/h) would increase carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 19 percent.