Speeding in German towns: 50 km/h, 30 zones and what you pay

The default limit and where a town begins

Under Section 3(3) StVO, the limit inside a built-up area (geschlossene Ortschaft) is 50 km/h for every motor vehicle, "even under the most favourable conditions". The built-up area is defined by signs, not by houses: it begins at the yellow place-name sign with the town's name and ends where the same sign appears with a red diagonal line. A bypass through open fields can count as in town; a road lined with houses beyond the sign does not. Higher limits inside towns exist only where signed.

Lower limits are common. Residential districts are often 30 zones, marked by a sign reading "Zone 30" at every entry point, and individual stretches near schools, nurseries and hospitals may be 30 km/h at set times. For fines, the catalogue only asks whether the place was in town or outside, so 21 km/h over in a 30 zone costs the same as 21 km/h over on a 50 road.

Every band with the full amount

These are the in-town rates for cars and motorbikes under table 1 c of the BKatV annex, after the tolerance deduction and assuming no intent. The total column includes the fee and delivery charge set by Section 107 OWiG; up to €55 you get a warning fine with no costs.

The reading columns show the speed on the camera at which each band begins once 3 km/h has been deducted, the fixed margin set by the PTB for readings up to 100 km/h. In town almost every reading is below that line, so the fixed deduction is what you will see on your letter.

The two lines that matter

At 21 km/h over, the offence is listed in annex 13 of the Driving Licence Ordinance and you get a point in the Flensburg register. At 31 km/h over, it becomes two points and a one-month ban; in a 50 zone that is a reading of 84 km/h. The page on 31 km/h over follows one such case through to the return of the licence. Bans grow quickly in town: two months from 51 km/h over and three months from 61 km/h, which is also the maximum for speeding. The page on 51 km/h over covers the two-month band.

If you had no ban in the two years before the offence, you may choose when to hand in your licence within 4 months of the notice becoming final. A foreign licence is affected too: residents with an EU licence surrender it like a German one, and non-EU licences receive an entry about the ban. More on the driving ban page.

A worked example

Say a camera on a 50 km/h main road reads 96 km/h. After the deduction you are charged with 93 km/h, 43 km/h over. The hearing form arrives first, then a fine notice for €400 plus €28.50 in costs, €428.50 in all, with 2 points and a 1-month ban. If you do not object within two weeks of delivery, the notice becomes final. With no ban in the previous two years, you then have 4 months to send in your licence at a time that suits you, for instance before a period of working from home. The ban counts from the day the authority receives the licence.

One km/h at the edge

The bands have hard edges, and in town the edge at 31 km/h is the one people remember. At 30 km/h over you pay €180 and get one point; at 31 km/h over it is €260, two points and a month without driving. The extra €80 is the least of it. At these edges it pays to check that the charged speed equals the reading minus the tolerance and that the place is correctly marked as in town.

Vans, motorbikes and caravans in town

Motorbikes and vans of up to 3.5 tonnes without a trailer pay the car rates in town, because they fall under table 1 c. Hitch a caravan or trailer and things change: you are charged under table 1 a, like lorries and coaches. In town that table gives a point from 16 km/h over, a ban from 26 km/h, and €160 for 16 to 20 km/h over. Families driving through villages on the way to a holiday campsite are regularly caught out by this.

Empty streets at night

Section 3(3) StVO states that 50 km/h applies "even under the most favourable conditions". An empty road at three in the morning, dry tarmac and perfect visibility change nothing, and fixed cameras work around the clock. The rule also cuts the other way: Section 3(1) requires you to adapt your speed to the road, traffic, visibility and weather, so 50 km/h can be too fast. Fog that cuts visibility below 50 metres limits everyone to 50 km/h, in town or out.

Town versus country

The same excess speed always costs more in town. At 40 km/h over, a town costs €260, two points and a month's ban; a country road €200, one point and no ban. The widest gap between the two columns is €100. The logic is about who else is on the road: pedestrians, cyclists and children are everywhere in a German town, and stopping distances grow faster than speed. The out-of-town figures are on the page about speeding outside towns.

Schools, roadworks and time plates

Time-limited limits are common outside schools and nurseries. A white plate under the sign gives the days and hours, and outside them the street's normal limit applies. Since the camera photo carries the exact time, there is rarely any doubt about which limit was in force. The catalogue adds no surcharge for these places; under Section 17(3) OWiG an authority may still take the circumstances into account, and has to explain in the notice if it departs from the standard rate.

Roadworks in town follow the same pattern. The sign sets the limit, and the in-town column sets the price. Mobile cameras are often parked at these sites because workers stand close to the traffic.

Repeat offences on the daily commute

Between 26 and 30 km/h over in town you get a point but no ban. That changes if, within 12 months of an earlier notice for 26 km/h or more becoming final, you are caught again at that level. Section 4(2) BKatV then usually adds a one-month ban, wherever the two offences took place. Commuters who pass the same fixed camera every day are the typical case.

New drivers and newcomers

Drivers in their Probezeit, the two-year probation after a first licence, face an extra track: any excess of 21 km/h or more is an A offence, triggering a remedial course and extending probation by 2 years. In a 30 zone, that line sits at a reading of 54 km/h. The same applies to residents who brought an EU licence less than two years old. To run your own reading with the exact limit and vehicle, use the fine calculator.