Federal Council Blocks Road Traffic Law Reform - Criticism from Municipalities and Associations
The Berlin-based think tank Agora Verkehrswende expressed strong criticism in an immediate response to the surprising majority rejection of the reform to the Road Traffic Act (StVG) and the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO) proposed by Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing (FDP) in the Bundesrat. The reform unexpectedly failed due to the blockade of states led by the Union, such as Bavaria. Previously, the Bundesrat had unanimously demanded an even more extensive reform. This should have legally anchored goals like the "Vision Zero," aiming for "Zero Traffic Deaths". They also advocated for social criteria in parking fees. The justification for the rejection now states that the goal of traffic safety should not be weakened by other objectives like climate protection.
“The failure of the planned reform of the Road Traffic Act (StVG) and its implementation in the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO) in the Bundesrat is a severe blow for cities, municipalities, and districts," said Christian Hochfeld, Director of Agora Verkehrswende.
The reform had been supported across parties at the municipal level, but in the end, it appears that party-political interests at the federal and state levels prevailed. This damages the trust of citizens in democracy and the ability of politics and administration to act, warns Hochfeld. Municipalities are essential for shaping mobility and public space locally. However, they need the necessary leeway within the legal framework.
"The current legal framework has long been considered a major obstacle to better mobility and livable cities. Due to the failure of the reform, municipalities' room for maneuver in numerous projects for the improvement of public welfare and quality of life remains severely restricted," Hochfeld further criticized.
Time-consuming bureaucratic procedures and legal uncertainties overload municipal administrations, which often already lack sufficient personnel. According to the head of Agora, essential transformation processes towards safe, healthy, and modern mobility for everyone are thus further hindered.
"The proposed changes to the StVG and StVO already represent a long-negotiated minimal compromise, which from the perspective of many municipalities should go much further," Hochfeld continued to criticize.
The German Association of Cities also criticizes that the reform of the Road Traffic Act failed in the Bundesrat. The federal government and states must now quickly find solutions to ensure that the reform can still be adopted in this legislative period.
"Without a modern Road Traffic Act, the traffic transformation in the cities will be stalled. The planned reform might not have been the big breakthrough that the cities had hoped for. But it would have been a first step in giving cities more leeway in traffic planning and traffic management on the ground," said Helmut Dedy, Chief Executive of the German Association of Cities.
The right way would have been to improve the reform draft in the mediation committee and grant cities more decision-making freedom. Instead, the Bundesrat has put the mobility transformation on hold indefinitely. The federal government and states must now pull together and find a solution as quickly as possible to ensure that the reform can be adopted promptly in this legislative period. A reform of the Road Traffic Act with more design freedoms for cities would be a building block for the traffic transformation that would practically cost the federal government and states nothing, Dedy believes.
Pragmatic solutions needed
This would also be possible without problems following the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on the federal budget. If cities, for example, could decide for themselves and without complicated procedures where to introduce speed limits of 30 km/h, billions are not needed for that. And yet it is a contribution to climate protection, traffic safety, and health protection that can be implemented quickly on the ground.
"These are the pragmatic solutions we need now after the Constitutional Court ruling on the Climate and Transformation Fund," says Dedy.
The German Bicycle Industry Association (ZIV) was equally disappointed: The StVG amendment was already a minimal consensus, and like many other associations, they had hoped for more. But it would have been a step in the right direction. The rejection of the StVG reform and thus the StVO reform is a slap in the face for numerous municipalities that want to move towards safe, sustainable mobility and are now still very limited in their possibilities for traffic design, the imposition of 30 km/h zones, and more. The rejection means that a central traffic policy project from the coalition agreement of the traffic light coalition will not be implemented. The municipalities will not be pleased, forecasts ZIV.
Ba-Wü Minister: Reform stumbled
Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Transport, Winfried Hermann (Greens), whose green-black government abstained, criticized the rejection and called the pretexts incomprehensible. The reform would precisely improve traffic safety. "Then the Bundesrat has stumbled upon an opportunity for a modest reform," the Green Minister complained. He considers the new rules long overdue; years have been spent working on the compromise. In his view, even a mediation committee could not have found a better solution, which the federal government could now call upon. They had already "mediated" intensively in advance, according to the minister.
"Black Day for All Municipalities"
Immediate criticism also came from the municipalities. For Germany's largest municipality, the green-red-led Bavarian state capital Munich, city councilor and mobility coordinator of the faction Gudrun Lux (Green) stated that everything remains the same instead of creating more leeway for municipalities and improving traffic safety.
"We want to enable better and safer mobility for everyone on site, we want a livable, humane city – but too often our hands are tied at the municipal level. The small progress that was supposed to come through the reform of the legal framework has now failed. This slows down the traffic transition, this slows down climate protection and traffic safety. The proposed reform was already just a small reform, an attempt to agree on the lowest common denominator," Lux judged harshly.
That even this proposal failed in the Bundesrat is "truly shocking." Lux spoke of a "black day for Munich as for all municipalities," since they demanded more leeway, legal certainty, and self-responsibility. Across party lines, cities, towns, and districts had advanced and supported the reform.
"But now our room for maneuver remains severely limited, it remains at cumbersome bureaucratic procedures that must be followed even for small changes, which burden and overload our administration and effectively prevent rapid, targeted improvements," regretted the local politician.
Agora CEO Hochfeld explained that after the agreement in the coalition contract, municipalities had firmly prepared for a reform of road traffic law. The additional goals in the road traffic law would have facilitated measures to improve climate protection, traffic safety, quality of stay, and mobility without a private car, believes the mobility expert. Corresponding measures did not arise from the interests of individual parties but have already been continuously decided at the municipal level with democratic majorities. Ultimately, it is primarily about finally granting municipalities more room for decision-making and creating legal certainty for a forward-looking traffic policy.
Translated automatically from German."Today's decision throws everything back to square one. Municipalities must continue to grapple with a highly unsatisfactory legal situation. Today's blockade of the reform can only be temporary. A policy that tackles the real problems of the municipalities will have to put the long-overdue reform back on the agenda," appealed Hochfeld.
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