Many cyclists do not feel particularly safe along the Neubiberger Hauptstrasse.
This has now become clear in a Green campaign.
Together with the General German Bicycle Club (ADFC), they pointed out the grievance.
Neubiberg - During the “Pool Noodle Demo” on a cycling circuit over Hauptstraße, Kaiser- and Freiherr-von-Stengel-Straße, the participants demonstrated the minimum distance that drivers must legally adhere to.
The road traffic regulations stipulate 1.50 meters, the pool noodle length that was attached to the luggage racks of the bicycles of all demo participants.
“With this campaign, we want to show in concrete terms how big the safety distance required in town when overtaking cyclists actually is,” explains organizer Jörg Eichhorn from the Neubiberger Grünen in front of the circuit.
Demo with police escort
There were skeptical voices at the booth of the party.
“The car drivers simply flatten the pool noodles,” speculated a lady.
But the convoy of one police vehicle each in front of and behind the entourage was optimistic.
However: "Unfortunately, neither the officials nor the pool noodles are otherwise available to secure this crazy bike path," admits an older participant.
Bike paths too narrow
The problem here in Neubiberg: With many cycle paths, the required minimum distance cannot be maintained due to the insufficient width of the cycle paths between the sidewalk and the street.
The Grünwalderin Antje Wagner complains as deputy chairwoman of the ADFC branch in Munich.
If a car driver suddenly opens his door, the cyclist is suddenly forced to evade and is pushed into the middle of the lane.
The white marking of the cycle path is also overlooked far too often.
Daily bitter experience
Claudia Engmann from Neubiberg agrees “from daily bitter experience”.
“This is only a minimal solution here,” she admits.
Wagner and Engmann therefore demand a “complete network of cycle paths in the region”.
Engmann recently joined the ADFC “to make a difference”.
She wants to found her own local ADFC club in Neubiberg in autumn and is still looking for fellow campaigners.
Noodle on luggage rack
The 30 or so fellow cyclists have now completed the first round.
Jörg Eichhorn has meanwhile aligned his pool noodle on the luggage rack half to the left and half to the right.
That is no longer 1.50 meters.
“I'm just concerned that it will otherwise be driven off,” he confesses despite the police escort.
Some drivers avoid the pool noodles themselves.
“There are no horn concerts today because the police are there,” speculated one participant.
The daughter takes a seat in the seat box
Dominik Vogel has now also joined the demo. Daughter Sophia has taken a seat in the seat box. "The children are only halfway safe in there," admits Vogel. “The main street is not a good way to get to school on a conventional two-wheeler.” To get to the elementary school on Neubiberger Rathausplatz, you have to take an alternative path, for example via Schopenhauer Straße. In view of the traffic realities here and in other municipalities, however, it will still take a lot of pool noodles before the bicycle club and the Greens reach their destination.