Easier to brake to 30 km/h

Created: 2022-08-02 09:02

By: Hanna von Prittwitz

30 km/h in town: The people of Seefeld would also like that.

© Arno Burgi

The small town of Wielenbach is already there, as are the cities of Wiesbaden, Castrop-Rauxel, Flensburg and Trier - and now also Seefeld: The municipality is joining the initiative "Cities and communities worth living through adapted speeds".

Most of Seefeld's councils decided this at their most recent meeting.

Seefeld

- The parliamentary group of the Greens/NI had applied for membership.

The initiative was founded by seven member cities of the German Association of Cities.

Their goal: more powers to act when setting maximum speeds on the roads.

"It's something that doesn't cost anything," Nikolas Rathhert (Greens/BI) began his plea for membership.

Up to 240 cities throughout Germany, large and small, are already there.

"The initiative wants to ensure that the federal government starts to ponder the large number and changes the law so that municipalities can identify 30 km/h with legal certainty."

So far, Section 45 of the Road Traffic Act, a federal law, stipulates that 30 km/h can only be ordered in the event of specific hazards or in front of social facilities such as daycare centers and schools.

The initiative calls on the federal government to immediately create the legal prerequisites for municipalities to be able to impose a maximum speed limit of 30 km/h without further restrictions in urban areas where they consider it necessary.

Mayor Klaus Kögel welcomed the move.

Because the municipality is already committing itself to “civil disobedience” at one point or another, in which it illegally announces a speed limit of 30 km/h.

"It's about time we made progress there," said Kögel.

He expressly pointed out that consent is not linked to specifying a speed limit of 30 everywhere.

"It's just about making it easier."

Thomas Zimmermann (Greens/BI) added: "We still decide for ourselves whether 30 km/h makes sense." The advantage is that there is no longer a gray area.

Nevertheless, a discussion developed.

Petra Gum (FWG) stated that with the parked streets and therefore necessary evasive maneuvers "quickly five kilometers too fast" in the 30 km/h zone.

Stefan Kalski (CSU) was also critical of Tempo 30.

"That works in some places, but it's not the salutary solution." Road users driving to work cannot be expected to drive 30 km/h within the towns, such as on Inninger Straße.

Dennis Weber (Greens/BI) argued that traffic calming had always been a central issue in the process of public participation in the local development process.

"It's hard for us to say that we don't want to take part in the initiative." Josef Wastian (FWG) still didn't trust the roast and wanted to see the application formulated that 30 km/h is not an obligation.

That was superfluous: "It's already expressly stated in the application," said Ortwin Gentz ​​(Greens / BI).

The decision of the Seefeld municipal council fell against two votes.