Since mid-August, a new speed limit has been in force on the A7 motorway between Feuchtwangen-West (Bavaria) and Aalen-Oberkochen (Baden-Württemberg): 120 km/h for cars and 80 km/h for motorcycles. The responsible German department justifies this measure due to damage to the road surface and also announces that repairs will be carried out as soon as possible, but cannot yet give a deadline.
The Highway Directorate did not respond to our colleagues. Motorradwhich reported that different speed limits for drivers and motorcyclists increase the risk of accidents for the latter and that only uniform speed limits were truly safe. While cars are allowed to travel at 120 km/h on the approximately 100 km/h route, 40 km in length, the speed for motorcycles has been limited to only 80 km/h.
What is the reason for the new speed limit, according to authorities?
According to the “ingenious” German thinkers, this is “to prevent falls and personal injuries due to damage that the driver may have recognized too late, thus ensuring safe driving for all road users.”. But is it really safe? Basically, the Highway Authority, which is responsible for the southern Bavarian branch line in Munich, has avoided one danger, but created a new one.
Now motorcycles must circulate 40 km/h slower than cars and are therefore relegated to the right lane, which is heavily used by trucks and therefore particularly full of potholes. According to this new regulation, motorcyclists are thus trapped between heavy trucks and, to top it off, they must endure more than 40 km.
Furthermore, it is not even clear how long this uneven speed limit will be in place.
From Munich, they comment: «The old concrete road between Feuchtwangen-West and Aalen/Oberkochen has reached the end of its useful life and is no longer effective. In the medium term, the road surface needs to be completely renovated; in the short term, particularly damaged areas are to be renovated. We are doing everything we can to implement the renovation, lane by lane, as quickly as possible.«.
