Bundestag's decision required: No diesel ban in cities and on motorways - update the limits!

Polticians don't take responsibility for nowadays mobility. Of 46 million cars, currently registered in Germany, about 15 million are diesel cars. 13 million of these belong to emission class EURO 5 and lower. One cannot simply ban these cars and their drivers from German cities, streets and motorways!

A green organisation, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) sues city after city demanding a ban on diesel cars. The ban, however, is based on limits which are far too low and are derived from measurements taken from randomly placed metering stations. One day, "exceeded limits" were reported in the city of Oldenburg - but that day, there were no cars around at all due to a marathon taking place! The limits must finally be updated to match the current situation and reality in general. They are at least 20 years old, and are not correct in any aspect anymore.

You think, 40 µg NOx (nitrogen oxide) per cubic metre of air on the street could pose a danger to your health and maybe life? However, the allowed limit at workplaces (indoors) is as high as 60 µg NOx per cubic metre of air, and in factories even as high as 950 µg NOx! Any Christmas tree with real candles produces as much as 200.000 µg NOx per cubic metre! For reference, the allowed limit for streets in the USA is 100 µg NOx per cubic metre of air. Anything below this value is "best air quality" – and never before the air in our cities has been as clean as it is nowadays. This is what the Federal Environmental Agency states.

The damage to mobility, to drivers and to society in general is enormous. Not to mention the loss of image - Germany in the only country in the world that has gone this far.

In France, drivers took to the streets and are actively protesting now. It's time for change in Germany, too.