Germany Has Started To Ban Older Diesels From City Centres

In an effort to kerb street-level air pollution and take a proactive stance against diesel emissions, the German city of Hamburg has implemented the country's first city centre diesel ban

Matt Kimberley

Updated: 19 May 2018

Germany Has Started To Ban Older Diesels From City Centres

The Northern German industrial city of Hamburg has begun to prepare a ban on diesels in the city centre, after receiving backing from Germany’s highest court.

Around 100 signs have been placed around the city centre, diverting older diesels away from two key streets, presumably where pollution is worst and pedestrian populations are highest.

Hamburg authorities are still waiting for the legal say on whether the ban can apply only to Euro 4-standard diesels from 2009 or earlier, or to Euro 5 cars built as recently as 2014. Either way, the ban will start to be enforced later this month.

Critics of the plans, approved in February and granting appropriate powers to all German city councils if they want to introduce bans, say that effectively blocking certain streets just forces drivers of more polluting diesels to drive longer distances through the city as they navigate around the centre.

Germany, like the UK, is facing massive fines over the level of pollution in its cities. German political power is bolstered in making anti-diesel moves by the fallout from the dieselgate scandal, which is said to be proving extremely motivating for the country’s law makers.

Monthly sales of new diesel cars in the UK have fallen by as much as 25 per cent versus last year, but demand for used diesels has actually risen. There’s a deep irony in there somewhere.

Source: Autocar

Comments

I was in germany a year ago,and I wasn’t allowed in cities already 😛

We have a similar concept in Germany already: every car receives an eco badge (Umweltplakette) that’s either red, yellow or green depending on how much the car pollutes. Most cities only allow cars with a green eco badge in the city centre. This makes sense because it actually takes into account how much the car pollutes rather than just its production date.

Banning cars solely for their production date like some other cities are doing is just stupid.

Also, for your information, this is what the sign they installed looks like. It specifically says “Anlieger frei”, so if you happen to live in an affected street, you’d still be allowed to drive there.

I wonder about these rules sometimes. What if these bans ultimately force all those old cars to become a distant minority, would it be then eligible for anyone who’d still own those car sometime in the future, drive anywhere in those city areas? Or would those politicians continue to be lazy as ever and simply ignore all those rules? I’m thinking the latter would be true. 🙄