In view of the Corona restrictions, activists have postponed the planned cycling decision at the state level. “We are still preparing, but we have to wait for the corona madness first,” said Heiko Nickel, spokesman for the Frankfurt Radentscheids. They want to use the means of the referendum and referendum to bring a law into motion that accelerates the turnaround in traffic in Hesse.
It made no sense to collect signatures for the project in the Corona summer when contact restrictions apply at the same time, said David Grünewald, spokesman for the Darmstadt cycling decision. According to their own statements, the activists are not inactive.
In Darmstadt they are trying to make the best of the corona situation. An agreement was reached there with the city on traffic tests. “This means that traffic regulations will be changed on a test basis in order to find out whether they will work,” said Grünewald. For example, a lane for cars on Heidelberger Strasse was temporarily converted into a cycle path. This was made possible by lower traffic volumes due to the pandemic.
In the local elections in March, the activists want to focus on illegal parking. “This is a subject where we watch the parties on the fingers of how they position themselves,” explained Grünewald. Illegal parking is often tolerated on footpaths, and there are only parking tickets on cycle paths. A “comprehensive towing as it would be right” is missing. A group of around 50 active people is behind Radentscheid Darmstadt.
The activists of the Frankfurt Radentscheid are also looking to the local elections: A group has been founded to deal with the program of the parties in Frankfurt, said Heiko Nickel. There is a total of 30 to 40 active members.
The most important topic is currently traffic safety at intersections. “We want to design an intersection infrastructure, as a model as a model solution.” The key question is how cycle lanes can be guided to prevent typical turning accidents at intersections. Concepts for main and secondary roads have already been developed. Overall, Nickel is satisfied with the progress made in Frankfurt. “Of course you always want more, but we are well on schedule.”
In Kassel, the cycling activists are less satisfied: Although something is moving, said spokesman Thomas Hofmann: “But we see the problem that the pace has not increased as much as we would like.” Above all, projects that can be implemented at short notice would not get off the ground like a campaign for more consideration in traffic. Traffic tests have also been missing so far. With a view to the local elections, they want to put pressure on. One also expects more honesty from parties: They have to tell the voters clearly that more space for cycling will be at the expense of car traffic, Hofmann explained. The active group of the Radentscheid Kassel consists of 25 to 40 people.
In Hesse, three municipal cycling decisions had taken the first hurdle, the referendum. Tens of thousands of signatures were collected. The next step was never due to legal obstacles. However, the cities agreed with the cycling activists on multi-million dollar investments in the cycling infrastructure.
A fourth cycling decision is in preparation in Offenbach. However, the pandemic is slowing the activists’ efforts: “We were hit twice very badly by the corona crisis,” said their spokesman Jochen Teichmann. Currently, due to the contact restrictions, signatures are only collected digitally. “This means that we cannot achieve our goal of being finished by the end of the year.” A group of 30 to 40 active people is behind the project in Offenbach, which aims to bring more bike paths into the city.
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