Automobile Insurance Wiki

January 21, 2011

The German Autobahn

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The German Autobahn was officially opened on August 6, 1932 with an expressway going from Cologne to Bonn . Opening ceremonies were held by Konrad Adenauer who said, “So werden die Straßen der Zukunft aussehen.” Which in English means, “This is how the roads of the future will look.” (3)

Adenauer proved right in his prediction as the people of the world started to shift their main mode of transportation to the automobile. In December of 1940 America’s first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway, was opened to traffic. Both segments of roadway are still in use today. The cologne-bonn road is now section of the A555 autobahn and the Arroyo Seco Parkway is now called the Pasadena Freeway.

The earliest predecessor of the autobahn was the German AVUS. Began in Berlin in 1912 the AVUS was not completed until 1921 and was not connected to Berlin’s public road network until much later. The world’s first limited access motorway was built in Italy in 1924. Designed by a man named Piero Puricelli, and was overseen by Benito Mussolini. It spanned 80 miles and connected Milan to Varese. However, unlike the German autobahn to come this superhighway was a toll road and did not have divided lanes until much later.

There were numerous organizations that helped with the planning and construction of the German autobahn. The first was organized in 1924 and went by the name STUFA (Studiengesellschaft für den Automobilstraßenbau). STUFA published a plan for a 22,500 km German highway network, twice the length of the current German road network. In 1926 the HaFraBa (Verein zur Vorbereitung der Autostraße Hansestädte-Frankfurt-Basel) which in English means, Association for the Planning of the Hanseatic Cities-Frankfurt-Basel Motorway, took over for STUFA. HaFraBa did most of the major planning and groundwork for the German road network and in 1928 Kurt Kaftan, head of HaFraBa public relations, was the first to call it by the name we use today, the autobahn. It was HaFraBa’s unique intention to charge a toll to finance this project however a German law later passed preventing this. Today it is financed through taxes on gasoline and oil and also there is now a toll system in place for trucks only. (5)

In 1933 Adolf Hitler became Reichskanzler under Hindenburg, the Nazis took over HaFraBa and renamed it the GeZuVor (Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Autobahnbaus). They put civil engineer Dr.-Ingr. Fritz Todt in charge of all matters of highway planning and construction. From 1933 to 1938 Germany added 3000 km (1860 mi) to its autobahn network. The next year Germany invaded Poland, slowing down construction progress. By 1941 only another 800 km (500m) had been built. The Nazis were unable to meet the costs of both the war and construction of the autobahn system. On December 3, 1941 all autobahn construction was halted. Only 3,860 km of mostly damaged or incomplete roadway out of the planned 6000 km was laid. (3)

Today the German autobahn (pictured below) is a vast network of intertwining freeways that stretches 11,000 km (6830 mi). (2) It is a fast moving and efficient road network managed by a state of the art electronic monitoring system. While there is no enforced bustle limit on about three quarters of the autobahn, there is an advisory speed limit from the German government called the Richtegeschwindkeit that is always in effect. It advises all drivers to not go faster than 130 km/hr, roughly 81 mph. Driving faster than this speed can be considered driving with “increased operating danger” Erhokte Betriebsgefahr, and in cases of accidents may result in one’s insurance company withholding claims. (4)

There are posted speed limits in areas surrounding cities and areas with difficult terrain (such as this section of autobahn near the Czech border pictured below). The electronic monitoring system allows complete control over the autobahn system, and an area that is usually governed by the Richtegeschwindkeit rule can be rapidly changed if poor weather conditions or if traffic density necessitates this to be done. This electronic signing system can also be used to open and discontinuance extra lanes when needed. (1)

Another tool used to keep the autobahn estimable are radio broadcasts used to give traffic reports. German radio tuners continue to monitor the last selected radio station even when a tape or CD is being played. Radio stations broadcast a special tone at the start of traffic reports which causes the tuner to switch the tape or CD being played to the radio so that you can hear the information. (6)
There are also restrictions placed on certain vehicles. Bicycles, mopeds, and pedestrians are not allowed to use the Autobahn, as are any other vehicles unable to achieve a speed of 60 km/h (36 mph). Buses carrying standing passengers and motorcycles pulling trailers are both restricted to 60 km/h. Vehicles with a unfriendly weight of over 3.5 tons, passenger cars and trucks with trailers, and buses are restricted to 80 km/h.

As far as fatalities go the autobahn has proven repeatedly to be safer than most other roadway networks in the world. The autobahn with no posted speed limit and sporting a larger average daily traffic density than the US still has a lower fatality rate. In 2004 the German Autobahn had an annual fatality rate of 3.2 per billion km, the United States interstates had an annual fatality rate of 5.0 per billion km. (7)

Recently certain activist groups have tried to get a law passed giving a blanket speed to Germany’s autobahn on the grounds of ecological concerns such as fuel consumption and the level of carbon given off at these high speeds; however, they have had little success. I own that this is rightly so. The German autobahn is an immensely intricate road system and a hallmark of German engineering and should be left the way it is. Besides, how much longer are we going to be driving cars fueled by gasoline?