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Bicycle Street (in Offenbach)
Photo: Norbert Neetz / picture alliance / imageBROKER
On the way to more climate-friendly traffic, many municipalities in Germany are focusing on the expansion of cycle paths or cycle lanes.
In recent years, traffic planners have reacted to the decline in car traffic due to the corona pandemic with generous pop-up cycle paths.
These advantages for the bike are not universally welcomed - which can sometimes lead to curious cases.
It was the same with a judge from Lower Saxony who took action against a bicycle street in the zoo district in Hanover.
Cyclists have the right to ride side by side on cycle lanes that are marked with appropriate signs and often also with asphalt of a different color.
Unlike on other roads, the cars have to adapt.
The man was right in court, reports the »Hannoversche Allgemeine«.
But then his success reversed itself.
According to the court, it is not enough to simply put up a sign that declares a street to be a bicycle street.
In order for this to be legal, cyclists would have to actually have advantages over normal streets in the small residential street, some of which had car parking spaces along the carriageway.
But that wasn't the case.
Therefore, the city reacted differently than the plaintiff and other residents had hoped: instead of canceling the status of the bicycle street or appealing, the civil engineering department simply deleted the parking spaces that had caused tight traffic conditions: A bicycle riding next to each other, as is actually provided by law for bicycle streets, was not possible when cycling was approaching motor vehicles.
Signs and markings on the road that allowed parking will soon disappear.
However, motorized service providers such as craftsmen or nursing services should continue to be short-lived, and residents are also allowed to drive through the street.
The city of Hanover also wants to review the other 20 or so cycle lanes and give cyclists more space where necessary.
In Hanover, judgments and the city's reaction have caused mixed reactions.
The cycling club ADFC naturally welcomed the decision.
The CDU called for an appeal procedure before a higher legal authority in order to have legal certainty for other cycle routes in the future.
But according to the civil engineering office, the legal dispute is an isolated case that does not allow any statements on general questions about bicycle streets.
pity drivers
From the ranks of the Greens in Hanover came the demand for quick adjustments to other narrow bicycle lanes.
The local FDP expressed sympathy for the people who would soon find fewer parking spaces in the city.
“Anyone who votes green has to live with the Green dictatorship,” grumbled FDP faction leader Wilfried Engelke.
Hanover has a green mayor, Belit Onay, who is the strongest parliamentary group on par with the SPD.
The creation of so-called bicycle streets is also part of the national cycle traffic plan, with which Germany wants to promote cycling by 2030.
According to a sample from 2016, there were more than 420 cycle lanes in more than a hundred municipalities at the time, and there are likely to be significantly more now.
joe
