German transport minister wants to ban driving on the weekends to help the climate

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Germany’s transport minister (and progressive politician), Volker Wissing, last month vowed to ban driving on weekends to meet Germany's climate-related goals. It's either do that or else he wants the ruling coalition to pass more restrictions within the Climate Protection Act come July.

According to the German newspaper BILD, as cited by Politico, Wissing penned a letter to the coalition’s parliamentary group leaders, in which he bemoaned the fact that the reforms haven’t yet been approved.

Wissing, whose initials are ironically those of Germany’s most famous auto maker told BILD, according to the Politico report that: “This serves neither the climate nor the reputation of the federal government.”

He added that reducing traffic to achieve climate goals would mandate measures such as “comprehensive and indefinite driving bans on Saturdays and Sundays.”

A government telling its citizens that they can’t drive on weekends would seem like a hard sell at best, but then again we obeyed similar — and even more intrusive — measures during the COVID pandemic lockdowns.

Personal automobiles, long a symbol of freedom and prosperity, especially in the United States, are coming under increasing attack, as are the internal combustion engines which have historically propelled them. Moreover, there is proposed legislation in the works to equip all vehicles with absolute speed governors, to make it easier for government entities to “spy” on drivers, and to even simply shut off vehicles if Big Brother doesn’t care for the way you’re driving. Etc. In many urban areas, car lanes are being pushed aside in favor of bike and foot paths. The elderly, handicapped, and infirm? The hell with them, apparently.

Ride your bike to work? No driving on the weekends?

There has been much talk of driverless cars, but what many Western leaders, the Biden administration among them, seem to really want is carless drivers.