A driver on Germany’s famed Autobahn recently learned the hard way that while there is no speed limit on large portions of the highway system, it is not the case universally.
The Associated Press reported a motorist was clocked driving at 199 miles per hour on the Autobahn near Burg bei Magdeburg, Germany, on July 28. The town is about 80 miles west of Berlin.
The maximum speed on that stretch of freeway was posted as 120 kilometers per hour, or 74.5 mph.
So the motorist was going about 124 mph above the speed limit. It’s hard to imagine anyone driving at 124 mph, much less 199.
“The driver was handed a fine of 900 euros ($1,043), stripped of two points from his driver’s license and banned from driving for three months, the Magdeburg police office said,” according to the AP.
Road and Track reported, “Drivers in Germany face possible license suspension if they accumulate eight points on their license, so this one violation put the driver a quarter of the way there.”
Police did not provide the type of car involved in the incident.
Some years ago, Bugatti Chiron drove 400km+ on a German highway 😲
© dailycarfacts pic.twitter.com/2EJPSofOXs
— Sarahh (@Sarahhuniverse) February 16, 2025
Would you ever visit Germany?
However, in California in May, police pulled over a Porsche Panamera going 167 mph in a 70 mph zone. The driver was hit with over $2,700 in fines.
According to the website Epikdrives, the German government recommends a maximum speed of 130 kph (about 80 mph) when driving on the Autobahn when no limit is posted.
Further, “nearly half of the autobahn network in Germany is subject to speed limits, typically in areas near towns, on narrow sections, or in locations considered hazardous. However, Germany remains the only country in the world where motorways still have no general speed limit — at least for now.”
The Autobahn is what inspired the U.S. national highway system.
“During World War II, as the supreme Allied commander, Gen. [Dwight] Eisenhower was the architect of the defeat of Nazi Germany,” according to U.S. Army’s official website.
“As Allied armies raced across France and into Germany, he marveled at the vast highway system built by the Germans prior to the war. Eisenhower wrote in his presidential memoirs, ‘During World War II, I had seen the superlative system of German autobahn — [the] national highways crossing that country.’”
Columns of American vehicles advance deeper into Germany on the autobahn, while thousands of German prisoners march towards the rear, 1945. #WW2 pic.twitter.com/AJo2evPyoI
— WWII Pictures (@WWIIpix) May 3, 2020
In 1956, while Eisenhower was serving as president, he signed legislation creating the Interstate Highway System.
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