Road safety: Federal Ministry of Transport adopts pedestrian traffic strategy

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On Wednesday, the Federal Government adopted a pedestrian traffic strategy in the cabinet. The Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and Transport (BMDV) is thus launching another project from the 2021 coalition agreement. For the first time, the federal government wants to strengthen pedestrian traffic as an equal component of modern and environmentally friendly mobility.

The ministry sees safety, attractiveness and accessibility as top priorities. As the federal states and local authorities are responsible for pedestrian traffic, the strategy is intended to provide them with guidelines for improving pedestrian traffic. The Ministry of Transport points out that around 22 percent of all journeys in Germany, or around 60 million a day, are made entirely on foot.

Key objectives of the strategy

• Recognition of walking as an equal form of mobility
• Protection of pedestrians
• Increasing the quality of life through more attractive walking options and better quality of life in public spaces
• Promoting climate and environmental protection, in particular by increasing the share of walking by 2030
• Promoting the health and quality of life of the population through active mobility
• Ensuring barrier-free mobility for all, improving social participation and inclusion
• Supporting the local economy

In order to implement these goals, the legal framework should be designed accordingly. The BMDV also mentions municipal planning, financing and funding, administrative structures and awareness-raising as further priorities to facilitate implementation. As long-term accompanying measures, research and evaluation point to the future: they should help to improve over time.

Interventions in the road traffic regulations

A central component of the aforementioned "framework conditions" is the latest amendment to the German Road Traffic Regulations (StVO). Among other things, the changes are intended to create adequate space for pedestrian traffic, for example if "the creation of a cycle lane on the carriageway can eliminate the need to open up the existing sidewalk for cycle traffic and thus defuse conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists". In order to enable more crosswalks, the ministry has relaxed the requirements for crosswalks laid down in the StVO.

Another example is parking space management: with the help of the new "loading area" traffic sign, pedestrian areas can be kept free and conflicts with stationary traffic can be better avoided by giving local authorities greater powers in the area of "resident parking zones". In particular, local authorities should be able to more easily prevent or at least punish obstructions to traffic caused by parking on the wrong side of the road or so-called sidewalk parking with new privileges. Last but not least, they should be able to enforce 30 km/h speed limits on main roads more easily. The municipalities now have more rights to do this.

Initial reactions to the new pedestrian traffic strategy

The German Road Safety Council (DVR) welcomes the pedestrian strategy as a "clear signal for the systematic and long-term promotion of pedestrian-friendly road traffic". However, the DVR is also calling for human and financial resources to be made available for the project and warns that the speed of car traffic must be reduced. The "FUSS" association, which is dedicated to promoting pedestrian traffic, calls the strategy a major step forward. In many urban areas, more journeys are made on foot than by any means of transportation. Nevertheless, cities and municipalities still need more freedom to set a 30 km/h speed limit where people have to cross the road on foot. In addition, speeding and reckless driving should be punished much more severely.

(fpi)