In the future, municipalities should be able to decide more for themselves how to organize local traffic and how to distribute public space fairly among road users. Is there now a push for modernization?
More space for cyclists and pedestrians, more 30 km/h zones in cities: This could be the result of a reform of the Road Traffic Act. Experts welcomed a draft law submitted by the Federal Ministry of Transport on Tuesday. Christian Hochfeld, director of the think tank Agora Verkehrswende, spoke of a “paradigm shift”.
The reform could form the basis for a modernization push in urban transport, because the responsibility for shaping mobility and local transport should be placed more in the hands of the municipalities. Public space in cities could be distributed more fairly between the individual modes of transport, said Hochfeld.
More leeway for municipalities
The draft law, which could be passed by the cabinet on Wednesday, provides that municipalities will have more leeway in transport planning in the future. In concrete terms, goals of climate and environmental protection, health protection and urban development are to be given equal weight in future in addition to the goals of safety and smooth traffic. Regulations can then be issued on this basis.
With the reform, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) is implementing a requirement of the coalition agreement. In addition to the Bundestag, the Bundesrat must also agree. However, he rejected a nationwide Temp 30 in cities in advance. “We are making things easier, especially for safety measures in playgrounds, high-traffic school routes and pedestrian crossings. However, there will not be a nationwide 30 km/h speed limit,” Wissing told the German Press Agency on Tuesday.
Hochfeld said many cities are waiting for modernization, for example for simpler designations of 30 km/h zones and for the establishment of bus lanes and bike lanes. In a further step, however, the subordinate road traffic regulations had to be changed.
Lawyer Roman Ringwald from the law firm Becker Büttner Held said that many changes to the applicable provisions of the road traffic regulations, for example to set up bus lanes, are currently failing in practice. “It’s only when we start doing that that the local authorities’ scope for action really changes.”
Source: Stern
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