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Dense traffic Kaiserdamm street in Berlin, one of the streets that could be targeted by a ban on diesel vehicles. REUTERS / Fabrizio Bensch
The most polluting diesel vehicles are regularly in the crosshairs of the German justice system. Several courts have imposed travel bans in city centers in large cities. Last example dated yesterday in Berlin.
With our correspondent in Berlin , Pascal Thibaut
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Aachen, Frankfurt, Berlin: The list of German cities where bans on diesel vehicles have been introduced or are planned is getting longer. In the German capital, fifteen kilometers of streets in the city center will be affected from 1 April. Up to 200,000 vehicles may be subject to this measure.
Environmental advocates starting with the organization that had appealed to the Berlin Administrative Court welcome it. But neither the cities concerned, nor the government, let alone the automobile industry, want any coercive measures to be taken. They displease many voters, are difficult to control for lack of plate identifying polluting vehicles. Their effectiveness is questionable as long as only some streets are concerned and not an entire area. Motorists bypass the ban and pollution increases where it was not a problem.
The government has announced a plan to avoid such bans with vehicle improvements and purchase bonuses for supposedly cleaner vehicles. Experts doubt the effectiveness of these measures.