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ADFC calls for ideology-free transport policy - and unblocking of StVG

The bicycle association is calling for an ideology-free transport policy in favor of the safety of all road users for 2024. It appeals in a letter to Minister of Transport Wissing to initiate the convening of the mediation committee following the failure of the road traffic law reform.

Set the traffic light to green: The ADFC sees stagnation or even setbacks in biking infrastructure and urges an end to the StVG blockade. | Photo: ADFC/April Agency
Set the traffic light to green: The ADFC sees stagnation or even setbacks in biking infrastructure and urges an end to the StVG blockade. | Photo: ADFC/April Agency
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Johannes Reichel

The ADFC has called for an ideology-free transport policy and a rapid modernization of the Road Traffic Act in favor of the safety of all road users in a year-end statement for 2024. The bicycle club looks back critically on the year 2023. The federal government has significantly reduced funding for cycling, the planned nationwide expansion of cycle path networks has hardly progressed, and the sense of security among cyclists remains poor. Above all, the urgently needed modernization of the Road Traffic Act (StVG) has initially failed due to the blockade of some federal states. For the year 2024, the bicycle club demands an ideology-free transport policy and a quick agreement on the StVG for the benefit of the safety of all road users.

ADFC Federal Chairman Frank Masurat summarized the year 2023 by stating that transport policy is becoming increasingly partisan and ideological. The focus is increasingly not on the common good, the safety of all road users, the fair distribution of road space, the freedom of choice of means of transport even in rural areas – but on the particular interests of motorized traffic and artificially heated debates, criticized the ADFC chief.

"The legitimate interests of cyclists and pedestrians to receive more protection and space on the road are branded and discredited as ideological. At the same time, the insistence on the decades-old privileges of car traffic itself resembles an ideology. This really has to end in 2024. Germany must come to a fact-based transport policy that serves everyone and takes climate protection seriously. This includes a powerfully modernized Road Traffic Act that ensures space and safety for all road users - not just for those who sit in cars."

2023 – A Slump in Road Traffic Legislation

The federal government has set itself the goal, with the National Cycling Plan, of doubling bicycle traffic by 2030 and ensuring continuous and safe cycling networks across the country. However, the year 2023 has hardly contributed to this goal. The ADFC Bicycle Climate Test in April showed that 245,000 respondents remain dissatisfied with the conditions for cycling. 80 percent find the bicycle paths too narrow and 70 percent do not feel safe while cycling. Further cuts are planned in the 2024 federal budget. Instead of the necessary annual bicycle billion for co-financing bicycle infrastructure in municipalities, less than half is planned for 2024.

“The toughest brake on the future expansion of cycling networks, however, was the preliminary failure of the StVG reform in the Bundesrat. The federal government thus misses its own coalition agreement and the goals of the National Cycling Plan at the same time. For many people in Germany, this means continuing to be forced to use a car even for short distances because safe and comfortable alternatives for daily mobility are simply lacking," criticizes Masurat.

Finally Resolve the StVG Blockade

In a simultaneously sent letter, the ADFC called on the federal transport minister to ensure that the government initiates the convening of the mediation committee after the failure of the road traffic act reform. Incomprehensible voting in the Bundesrat On November 24, the Bundesrat blocked the road traffic act reform (StVG) already passed by the Bundestag, thereby also preventing improvements in the road traffic regulations (StVO). The failure of the amendment is completely incomprehensible to the bicycle club, as there was great agreement in the Bundestag and at the State Transport Minister Conference about the necessity and direction of the StVG amendment after long discussions.

Call to the Mediation Committee

The club appeals to Federal Minister of Transport Wissing to promptly reach an agreement between the federal government and the states and to urgently call the Mediation Committee in order to find a consensual solution. According to the association, the differences between the government, the Bundestag, and the states are minor. In their letter, they reminded once again of the coalition agreement of the traffic light government, which stated: "We will adjust the Road Traffic Act and the Road Traffic Regulations so that, in addition to the fluidity and safety of traffic, the goals of climate and environmental protection, health, and urban development are taken into account, in order to provide scope for decision-making to states and municipalities […]" It was precisely these decision-making scopes that the Federal Minister of Transport emphasized to the ADFC in 2022, because municipalities generally know best what needs to be done locally and therefore should not be unnecessarily restricted in their freedom of design by federal legal constraints. The Federal Minister of Transport must act to prevent the failure of the reform.

2024 – Secure StVG Reform and Annual Bicycle Billion at Last

The ADFC calls on politicians to enable climate-friendly and safe mobility for all people in Germany – and to overcome ideologies and party tactics to do so. For this, the federal and state governments must find a solution in the mediation committee for the initially failed traffic law reform, which finally provides municipalities with the leeway to redistribute traffic areas and simultaneously reduce the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries to nearly zero according to Vision Zero. Cities and municipalities must utilize the opportunities of bicycle traffic without playing it off against pedestrian traffic or demonizing it as an anti-car measure. Additionally, the ADFC calls for a fund instead of temporary funding programs that will ensure the long-term financing of bicycle path construction. The amount of the fund must be in line with the annual "bicycle billion" that the Transport Ministers Conference has defined as necessary.

Translated automatically from German.
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