Status: 15.10.2023, 19:04 PM
By: Robin Dittrich
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The traffic light government decides on a new road traffic code. As a result, 30 km/h zones should soon be easier to implement.
Munich – The cabinet gives the green light for an amendment to the Road Traffic Act (StVO). The new amendment is intended to take greater account of climate and environmental protection as well as health. The absolute priority of car traffic should thus be a thing of the past.
Traffic light government adopts amendment to the Highway Code
The amendment to the StVO was adopted by the cabinet on Wednesday (11 October). Among other things, it was discussed at the two-day conference of transport ministers in Cologne, where the politicians also discussed the Deutschlandticket. The financing of the ticket for the coming years has not yet been clarified.
However, they came to the conclusion that the decision on traffic restrictions such as speed limits should lie with the municipalities in the future. Cities and municipalities are therefore allowed to decide whether new cycle paths or bus lanes are built. Play streets, pavements and speed bumps can also be arranged more easily. In such zones, cars would only be allowed to drive at walking speed.
Thanks to a new amendment to the Highway Code, municipalities will be able to decide on 30 km/h zones in the future, for example. © bodenseebilder.de/Imago (symbolic image)
A particular thorn in the side of some drivers could be 30 km/h zones. With the new StVO, municipalities can more easily impose a speed limit of 30 km/h in the vicinity of schools and daycare centres. Among other things, 500 km/h zones are to be possible at playgrounds, highly frequented school routes, pedestrian crossings and sections of up to 30 metres between two 30 km/h stretches, "so that traffic can flow better," the federal government informs. Previously, a speed limit of 30 km/h could be imposed if the distance between two 30 km/h zones was 300 metres.
Municipalities have long wanted more co-determination in 30 km/h zones
According to the Cabinet, traffic safety and rapid progress are also still an important part of road traffic, but no longer decisive. More important now than before is the impact of traffic on people's quality of life, especially on children. Urban development concerns have also been included in road traffic law as additional goals, the Federal Ministry of Economics announced on Wednesday.
For some time now, municipalities have been calling for more co-determination in 30 km/h zones. "We are not interested in a general 30 km/h speed limit, but in the greatest possible freedom of action," said Gerd Landsberg, Managing Director of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities. An amendment to the Road Traffic Act was already passed in June. However, before the amendment to the StVO can finally come into force, it must be adopted by the Federal Council. The corresponding meeting is scheduled for 24 November. (RD with AFP
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