Icon: enlarge
A radar device in a patrol car of the Rhineland-Palatinate police flashes in a street with a speed limit of 30 km / h
Photo: Ronald Wittek / picture alliance / dpa
Until recently, it looked as if the unsuccessful reform of the Road Traffic Act (StVO) could not be repaired until the federal election in October 2021.
But this is urgently needed.
A legal formal error that the Federal Ministry of Transport had written into the ordinance by Andreas Scheuer (CSU) made the rules invalid, and with it many new fines that were intended to make road traffic safer, especially for pedestrians and cyclists.
There was great legal uncertainty on the streets and in court.
But now there is movement in the embarrassing matter.
State colleague Anke Rehlinger (SPD) from Saarland, currently chair of the conference of transport ministers, rushes to help the Christian Socialist.
She presented a compromise paper for the meeting of the Bundesrat Transport Committee on Wednesday.
This includes new suggestions.
In addition to the question of when the driver's license should be withdrawn for a month in the event of a frenzy, there is also the controversial pop-up bike path.
According to the paper, which is available to SPIEGEL, the driver's license is only immediately gone if motorists are flashed too fast at 26 km / h in town and 36 km / h outside of town.
According to the original amendment, this should already be the case at 21 and 26 km / h.
The green state transport ministers in particular insisted on this, but Scheuer refused.
The Saarland transport minister now met the federal minister.
Green concession for pop-up cycle paths
As a concession to the Greens, who are committed to protecting cyclists and pedestrians from razors, Rehlinger's proposal provides for a drastic increase in penalties.
"In the interests of road safety, the fines for speed violations [...] will be brought closer to the level of many neighboring European countries and almost doubled," it says in its proposal paper.
Those who drive too fast in urban areas at around 21 km / h will pay around 160 euros instead of 80 euros in future.
At 61 km / h, 480 euros are currently due in urban areas, in the future just under 1000 euros.
Rehlinger makes it clear: "The legal maximum limit of 1000 euros will be observed during the adjustment."
Another concession to the Greens should be that the transport ministers want to provide legal clarification on the so-called pop-up cycle paths.
These bicycle lanes, which were temporarily introduced with paintwork in Berlin and other cities, were initially banned after a lawsuit by the AfD, but will continue to apply until a higher court decision has been taken.
A clarification in the Road Traffic Regulations would eliminate this legal uncertainty and finally establish the traces.
Furthermore, the proposal from the Saarland provides that cities can impose a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour in more places than before.
This is hidden behind the sentence: "With an extended experimentation clause, the StVO creates the conditions for being able to try out new rules or traffic measures beyond the previous legal framework."
The Greens in particular have long been pushing for a speed limit of 30 in the city and a speed limit of 50 as an exception.
So far, this has been exactly the opposite, which the Union and the FDP want to maintain.
Federal Council decides at the beginning of November
Rehlinger, hopes to "finally put an end to the tiresome StVO issue," she told SPIEGEL.
A proposal is on the table that combines legal and road safety.
"No party political side can enforce their ideas 100 percent, so the Federal Council should not become a playing field for maximum positions," said the Social Democrat.
She hopes on Wednesday for a majority in the Federal Council's transport committee, especially from the countries in which the Greens co-govern.
They hope that those countries in which the Greens govern with the CDU should also agree.
If this were the case, then the compromise proposal could find a majority in the upcoming meeting of the Federal Council on November 6th and allow the new version of the StVO amendment to come into force.
This, according to Rehlinger, would finally eliminate the mess that prevails on German roads when there are speed violations.
According to SPIEGEL information, the Green-led Ministry of Transport in the black-green ruled Baden-Württemberg wants to approve Rehlinger's proposal.
This would be an important step towards agreement.
Icon: The mirror
