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Germany’s Autobahn highway network is famed for its unrestricted sections, which allow drivers to set their own pace—no matter how fast. Apparently, though, it’s possible to cross the line even when there isn’t legally one to cross, as Germany’s Transport Ministry has reportedly decided. This comes after the emergence of a video showing a Bugatti Chiron passing traffic at speeds of up to 257 mph.
Said video was recorded by Radim Passer, a Czech citizen whom Forbes reports has a net worth equivalent to $309 million. Passer claims in the description of the YouTube video that it was filmed in July 2021 on a stretch of the A2 from Berlin to Hannover, where he claims there to be a 6.2-mile straight with good visibility. There, around sundown, Passer cracked open the Chiron’s 1,479 horsepower, flying past light traffic, his GPS speedometer recording a top speed of 417 kph (259 mph)—nearly the top speed of a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.
The video quickly came to the attention of the country’s Transport Ministry. As the Associated Press reports, the agency released a statement saying it “rejects any behavior in road traffic that leads or can lead to endangering road users.”
“All road users must abide by the rules of the road traffic regulations,” it continued, adding a passage from Germany’s road law saying “anyone participating in traffic must behave in such a way that no other person is harmed, endangered or obstructed or inconvenienced more than is unavoidable under the circumstances.”
Many would agree that driving triple the speed of cars around oneself qualifies as endangering others. Apparently, that includes the German Transport Ministry.
This debacle surely won’t do much good for Autobahn preservationists, who have in recent years lost ground to those seeking to enact speed limits on Germany’s highway network. In January 2020, Germany’s most influential car club ceased opposing speed limits, a shift since mirrored by German four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, who now sees Autobahn speed limits as an inevitability.
For the time being, though, reining in the Autobahn is on the back burner, as Germany’s controlling green party has reportedly failed to enact the 130-kph (81 mph) limit it campaigned on. Even so, the writing seems to be on the wall for the Autobahn, whose taming only seems more likely given the reaction to videos like Passer’s.
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