Due to the Ukraine war, there are more and more tanks on German roads. To avoid panic, all traffic cameras were taken offline.
Stuttgart – The war in Ukraine is getting worse and worse. The effects can also be seen in Baden-Württemberg* and throughout Germany. The German auto industry is concerned about its employees (BW24* reported) and across the country people are taking to the streets to protest. In Baden-Württemberg, military activities were already observed last Monday (March 8th): tanks were transported on the A6 near Sinsheim*.
Live images of the German autobahns are currently no longer available. The federal government has taken all traffic cameras offline “due to the current security policy developments in Europe”, reports the German Press Agency (dpa). A spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport had previously told Südwestrundfunk (SWR) that the cameras had not been switched off, but that pictures were currently no longer published on the Internet.
Tank transport in Germany: Turning off the cameras is supposed to cover up activities
On February 24, Russia, contrary to international law, launched a military attack on Ukraine. Since then, thousands of people have fled the cities, some of which were heavily bombed. In Stuttgart, some Ukraine refugees were turned away* because the “mass flow” was too large. Concerns about an escalation of the war are growing throughout Europe, including in Germany. Because tank transports have repeatedly been on the road on the German autobahns since the beginning of the conflict, the shutdown of the traffic cameras is probably intended to prevent panic among the population. The Bundeswehr explained why there are currently more tanks on the streets, reports 24Rhein *.
A spokesman for the Traffic Management Center Lower Saxony (VMZ) confirmed that the shutdown of the traffic cameras on the motorways was directly related to the Ukraine war. In Baden-Württemberg, too, all cameras are currently switched off, as a look at the website of the traffic control center shows. “Due to the current security situation, no images from traffic cameras are currently being displayed,” it says.
No live images from the highways – “It’s good that everyone has a smartphone”
Live images from the traffic cameras of the Autobahn GmbH des Bundes are therefore currently not available. However, they hope to be able to offer the service again soon. However, tank transports and other military activities on German roads are anything but inconspicuous, even with the cameras switched off. There is a debate online about the purpose of the shutdown. “They (the tank transports editor’s note) are still not invisible,” writes a user on Facebook. “Everyone can see them.”
In the case of the tank transports in Baden-Württemberg, which roll from the US barracks Coleman in Mannheim to the Palatinate, for example, there will be enough footage even without official traffic cameras. “It’s good that everyone has a smartphone,” commented one user. “There is no one else on the streets who puts this on the net,” writes another. The fact that no more pictures of the German autobahns are currently being published on the Internet is apparently due to a request from the Federal Ministry of Transport. “There is an increase in the activities of actors relevant to security policy in the street space,” said the spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport in Stuttgart at the beginning of March. *BW24 and 24Rhein are offers from IPPEN.MEDIA.
