Germanys: NRW's speeding scandal

Germany's "fastest" politician - but how long can he stay minister?

NRW's minister of traffic gets more under pressure after his speeding-incident. Wittke went 110 km/h when he sped through Olpe when he got radared (flashed). His race yielded a fine of 175 euros, 2 months driving prohibition and four points in his file at Germany's traffic register in Flensburg (when u got 10, u have got to remake your driving license).

Read also: Oliver Wittke: after speeding, he went hunting

Especially brazen: The speedy minister posed four weeks after his scandal ride publicly with a poster of Germany's publicly funded aid organization traffic watch. This organization does a lot of welfare work, for example printing stickers and posters each year reading "school has started," so pupils going to school for the first time in their life won't be run by a car. By then, he got rid of his driving license for long.

Already yesterday there were first demands for the minister to step back! Now, party-friends choose a distance also.

Dirk Fischer, speaker for matters concerning traffic for Germany's conservative Christ Dems, said: "If a traffic minister makes such a huge notion of himself, than he hasn't just a problem but a very special problem: eventually it's him who is the caretaker of the (traffic)rules." The social dem member of parliament John Kahrs also asks, "whether somebody who goes 111 kmh in a town still tries to perform as a guiding example as minister of traffic." He goes on:"Now it's up to prime Ruettgers to act."

But Ruettgers leaves Wittke standing in the purple rain, he's silent. Bild got to know: the social dem faction leader in NRW's parliament intends to get to know from prime Ruettgers, whether he was informed at all about the driving license loss of his traffic minister.

call for abundance of office - Minister sped through town

The ecos in German parliament also demanded Wittke to clear his chair. Traffic expert Winfried Herrmann: "A traffic rowdy like Mr. Wittke who speeds 111 km/h in a town cannot be borne anymore as a traffic minister."

Jochen Ott, vice of NRW's social dems, said to Bild: "It's no small traffic sin to chase with 111kmh through a town, but instead it's irresponsible. A speeding traffic-minister as a scrupulous speeder - this minister cannot be carried anymore."