Political suicide comes in many forms. In the US, it's the call for gun control, in Britain try suggesting that they dump the pound for the euro.
In Germany, a politician anxious to put a swift end to their career calls for a speed limit on the autobahn.
Germans have a need for speed. There you are, zipping along nicely at the "advised" autobahn speed limit of 130km/h only to be overtaken by a car going so fast you can't even tell its colour.
Racing across the country is a cherished time-out for Germans from the over-regulated grind of daily life.
That's why a suggestion last week by European environment commissioner Stavros Dimas was immediately run off the road.
"There are so many areas in which we waste energy in a completely senseless way and burden the climate," said Mr Dimas to Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "A simple measure in Germany could be a general speed limit on the autobahn."
The ADAC, Germany's equivalent of the AA, called it an "idiotic idea from the ideological treasure chest". Leading politicians were equally dismissive.
"Talk of an autobahn speed limit is a bit like the Loch Ness monster - it emerges every six months and then vanishes without trace," said federal transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee. "I consider a general speed limit unnecessary."
Several studies exist that examine the relationship between speed and fuel consumption. A study for the US Department of Energy found that each 8km/h a car drives over 100km/h reduces fuel economy by 10 per cent.
Germany's transport ministry has produced a report suggesting that a 100km/h limit would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 0.6 per cent on present levels.
Environmental campaigners have been quick to point out that even a 0.6 per cent reduction would translate into a saving of six million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in Germany annually.
They see a speed limit as a low-tech yet effective way of reducing car-related pollution.
"In time, even German drivers will have to get used to the idea that autobahn speed limits are a sensible measure for climate protection," said German environmental campaigner Achim Steiner. "You cannot allow [the fact that] you are able to drive at 200km/h to define a feeling of freedom."
Yet that is exactly how Germans have viewed speeding for decades. As a people, they are an environmentally conscious bunch, but ask them to slow down on the autobahn for cleaner air, and they will, quite literally, put their foot down.
"Free driving for free citizens" is the slogan commonly used to justify their right to race. The origins of this right, however, are shrouded in the mists of time.
The autobahn has held a special place in the German psyche since the first stretches were opened in 1929. Car-loving dictator Adolf Hitler expanded the network in the 1930s, and further expansions followed in the 1950s.
Economists see this growing autobahn network as a crucial element in Germany's economic booms in the 1930s and the 1950s. Growing levels of German prosperity went hand in hand with the production of ever-faster cars by German car giants BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. By the 1960s, it had become almost a civic duty to drive a fast car.
But times are changing: speed limits now apply on about 40 per cent of the autobahn network as the public mood towards speeding changes. A poll for ZDF public television showed that nearly two in three Germans believe an all-round speed limit should be introduced. Perhaps the secret of German speeding is its link to personal prosperity, a sensitive matter in a country with a high, but stagnating standard of living.
A recent survey found that 64 per cent of Germans who earn over €2,500 a month drive over the recommended speed of 130km/h and admitted taking little notice of fuel consumption and environmental pollution.
On the other hand, only 37 per cent of drivers with a net income under €1,500 drove over the recommended speed, according to the poll by TNS Infratest polling agency.
Speeding, it seems, is Germany's equivalent to fox hunting: the preserve of a well-off minority to be defended to the bitter end.