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Germany is known for many things,

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beer, world war two cars,

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which brings us to the Autobahn. That

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is the country's network of highways where

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you can drive as fast as your car

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can go. As NPR's Rob Schmitz

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reports, a movement to introduce a

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speed limit on the Autobahn is

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gaining momentum and leading

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to some soul searching.

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This is the sound of the Autobahn inside

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Alex Gruuler's Mercedes. This

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is a convertible s class with an

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AMG engine. Since hundred and twelve

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horsepower, and its top speed is a

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hundred and ninety two miles an hour.

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Griller knows this because he's driven

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it that fast, but only a few times a year

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on vacant stretches of the near

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Cologne,

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been automobile enthusiast.

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I'm a car enthusiast. The first word

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out of my mouth was in mama or

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papa. But Autobahn,

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I love driving, and I love driving

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fast, but I only do it when

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it's safe. Crueller wears blackrammed

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glasses, black kashmir sweater

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and a striped cream colored blazer.

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The advertising exec says he'd prefer

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an Italian sports car, but he sticks

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with an understated Mercedes because

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he says Germans feel self

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conscious about showing off. Buddy

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insists Germans should not feel self

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conscious about their auto bond. A

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movement to introduce speed limits on

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speed limit less portions of the

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National Motorway is gaining momentum. And

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years ago, when the government began introducing

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limits of eighty miles an hour on many

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stretches of the highway network, groomers

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started a campaign against these limits.

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Having no speed limit is part of German

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culture. The French are obsessed with wine,

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the Americans love their guns, every

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nation has its cultural characteristics. We

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have no speed limit and it's a freedom

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we've enjoyed for decades. Is part

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of Germany's DNA.

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Indeed, many aspects of modern

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German culture, including this twenty

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two minute ode to the Autobahn by

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German techno music icon kraftvek

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are infused with this sense of freedom.

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A roadway without limits, an ideal

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platform for German industry to showcase

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the technological superiority of

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its immaculately engineered highways

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in automobiles. And that was

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precisely how the Nazi leadership

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saw the Autobahn that it inherited from

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the post World War one Weimar Republic.

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Not see propaganda films like this one

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employed popular music of the era,

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to showcase Adolf Hitler's promise

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for building an Autobahn network across

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Germany. These

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propaganda programs mixed music

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with skits devoted to the glory

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of the Reich's

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Autobahn. I'm very anxious to

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get going and still not curious. Of

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the results when we have finished.

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Well, let's go. One of these skits

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meant for an English speaking audience portrayed

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race between a British visitor and his German

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friend. The Brit takes the country roads

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between two points, and the German opts

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for the Autobahn. When they meet up,

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they compare notes. The German says he

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used his brake just five times.

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The Brit, one hundred and sixty

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five

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times. The instruments cannot receive

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and the gas performed beautifully.

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The German rise outbound will

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impress the world. I listened

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to these radio shows from the Nazi Times

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on the outbound And I

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was out to say surprise how good they

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are. Conrad Kunze is author

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of the book Deutschland, Als nor

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Germany as auto ban. He says

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the Nazi leadership closed factory

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floors and stores so that Germans would

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listen to hit their speeches in these radio

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dramas about the Autobahn and how it

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symbolized German superiority. The

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Autobahn as a collective piece

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of architecture is connected to

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an idea of Volkswagen's Mindshof that

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was a Nazi idea that,

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like, all Germans are somewhat

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harmonious nation.

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A nation that, like its showcase roadway,

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was rapidly moving forward without

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any limits. And in some ways, Koonza

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says this unifying idea around

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Autobahn survived beyond World

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War two as Germany continued construction

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on the network again making it a distinctive

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feature of the country. Today, the

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Autobahn is eight thousand miles

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long, seventy per cent of it

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has no posted speed limit.

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Every single study on CO2 emissions

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and speed limits comes to the same conclusion.

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We can save millions of metric tons of emissions

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by introducing a speed limit on the auto ban.

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Stefan Galpar is a green party lawmaker

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in Germany's parliament. His party has

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called for a blanket speed limit on the Autobahn

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of around eighty miles an hour in order to

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save more than two million metric tons of

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CO2 emissions each year. Two

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parties in Germany's three party ruling

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coalition are in favor of this measure.

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But the libertarian FDP party

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is blocking it, calling this limit on

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the freedom to speed unnecessary. Galpar

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compares the debate over a speed limit similar

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to that around gun restrictions in

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the

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US.

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think you mentioned the

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debate around freedom and security is definitely

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similar.

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There are people who associate a concept of

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freedom with driving fast or carrying a

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gun. And there are people who say

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that my sense of safety is massively

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threatened by someone hurtling past me at

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more than a hundred and sixty miles an

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hour. Out for you, how it knows this personally,

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in the worst way. Eight years

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ago, the now seventy two year old therapist

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got a call from the police saying his ex

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wife and fifteen year old daughter had

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been hit from behind by a car on the

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Autobahn.

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Mine to follow Zoom Klein and

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Klein's outline. My wife was driving a small

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car. She signaled left, and as she

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was pulling out into the next lane, a car driving

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a hundred twenty miles an hour slammed into

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her. His ex wife died instantly.

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His daughter was taken to the hospital in critical

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condition and knew how jumped into his

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car and headed

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there.

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But if I do not to detect Harish Thazyan --

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So -- I

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wanted

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to get there as fast as I could.

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Sorry. I need a moment. She

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was still alive as I drove to the hospital. My

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friend who was with me told me to slow down.

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Of course, it's so ironic that I was speeding

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to get to my daughter who'd been in a crash caused

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by a speeding

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car. When

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Luha arrived, it was too late.

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His daughter, Sofia, had died.

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I see cars as weapons in Germany.

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almost think you need something like a weapons license

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if you'd like to drive a car here.

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According to road accident statistics from

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last year, thirty four people per

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million Germans died in car accidents.

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But only five percent of those accidents

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occurred on the Autobahn. Germany's fatal

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car accident rate is among the lowest in

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Europe and is more than three times as low

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as the rate in the United States. Lujov

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says it's an uphill battle introducing

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a speed limit on the Autobahn because the

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German economy is to pendant on

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an auto industry that uses the auto

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bond as a selling point. But he thinks

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the tide may turn soon. In the

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most recent poll, sixty cent

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of Germans agreed on introducing speed

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limits. An

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even Autobahn enthusiast Alex Gruuler

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thinks the government should add some restrictions.

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I

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do think Germany should require drivers

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to get an extra license for driving cars

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of a certain caliber. I don't agree

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with eighteen year olds having the right to drive an

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eight hundred horsepower

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car. But as far as a blanket speed

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limit on Autobahn griller says, it

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would take a way of freedom that he

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thinks is synonymous with

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being germ