Bremen introduces 120 km/h speed limit on autobahn

Bremen introduce 120 Tempo limit on the autobahn .,.how many speed cameras will they be installing?

If you drive along the A1 from Hamburg towards Osnabruck past Bremen in either direction you will notice (or maybe not) the number of speed cameras that have been there for some years...

There was a story in thepress on this. It's misleading though; there isn't a general 120 limit - on the A1 passing through Bremen there is a managed speed-limit system in place, as per the M25 around the Heathrow area. Sometimes the limit is 120, or 100 or whatever at rush-hour but at off-peak/quiet times there is still no limit.

I think the electronic speed zone through Bremen is 38 km long and it's been in place for a number of years. They post the speed on boards according to traffic volume, throw up traffic jam warnings, etc. Most stick to the posted speeds because they know the cameras will zap them if they stray too much over.

The speed limit here rarely gets anywhere near 120Km/h...

According to the TV report other Lands will be following but I can’t see Bayern ever doing this, and as HellsAngel says I’d be happy if I could get up to 120 on the A3

The joke is that at one time, the autobahn was two lanes and there was no speed limit. Now there are three lanes and we're only allowed 120 km/h I live in Bremen and have often wondered about the "automatic" system introduced a few years ago. I've driven along the autobahn in very light traffic, wondering why the traffic was regulated. According to official sources, it's not only the amount of traffic, but the type. Apparently the weather also plays a large role and that really does mean trouble, as anyone who's spent a little time in or around Bremen will tell you

I've often said in conversation that the whole discussion about the environment is just a front for making such decisions. The Greens obviously love it and it was a Green politician that had himself photographed putting up the road signs. If they're really serious about slapping a speed limit on the roads, then the obvious thing to do is to ban cars that can go above said speed. If drivers can't go any faster, then there's no need for a speed limit. It will never happen though, as the car manufacturers position is simply too strong and all that will happen is that drivers will slow down to maybe 150 km/h or so and cough up their €40,- when (if) they get caught . . .

I don't think that this news is quite the bombshell it seems. Bremen is a tiny state and, judging by a quick look at a map, has around fifty kilometres of Autobahn within its area. Since much of this is close to built-up areas and/or major junctions, I would expect that much of the Autobahn in Bremen already has 120 or 100 km/h speed limits.

Although, as I was pondering yesterday after almost smashing into two cars racing each other along the Autobahn, 120 km/h really should be fast enough for most people, and certainly no slower than anywhere else in the world.

Yes indeed. I think this is more driven by managing traffic volumes in a very densely packed road system then by cutting emissions.


There are countries with higher limits. Denmark increased their limit to 130 kmh and saw a reduction in accidents.

Yes and no. The autobahn is more or less the northern and eastern "border" of the city/state, which means the built-up areas are - if at all - only on one side. A lot of said built-up area is also industrial. Let's be honest - who wants to live next to the autobahn?!

As far as speed limiting goes, when the third lane was opened a couple of years ago on the A27, the speed limit was taken off (leaving maybe 10-15 km at 120 km/h) and I've yet to see a statistic that "proves" this caused more accidents. The regulation of traffic on the A1 has been in place for a few years now and although generally set at 120 km/h, there were long periods where the speed limit was what your car could give you. This also cost a lot of money to install and maintain and with the decision to make it redundant, Bremen once more has shown that their politicians have no financial instincts at all (except where their own pockets are concerned )

Having gone through Bremen using the A1 about 200 times last year due to my work I did notice that the traffic management did sort of work keeping the traffic more spread apart and no bumper kissing.

If you take the autobahn up north towards bremerhafen thats a different story. You can average 200 easy .

For those of you wanting to go for a low high speed flyby these are the autobahns to take (own experience ) P.S.:dont use US cars for these rides!

A1 Osnabrück to Hamburg(except Bremen area and closer to Hamburg)
A7 North of Neumünster(Kiel junction) all the way to the dutch border.
A7 south of Hamburg but alot of restrictions closer to Hannover
A20 (watch out in the vicinity of Lübeck)
A27 North of Bremen
A28
A31 (Dutch border) Holly shit fast!

I drove from HH to Duesseldorf Tuesday & just came back. The whole stretch between HH & Bremen is now 120 limit (from 6:00 to 20:00 - why its safer to drive fast in the dark beats me).
Within Bremen there was a few kms derestricted but by the time the car is wound up you reach the end. Pretty well the whole stretch between Bremen & Münster is 120 or 100 limit including some very nice 3-lane parts. I estimate less than 20kms is derestricted.

this works if the whole system is the same like in switzerland and france ..you know the limit and stick to it