What awaits you on some days when you leave the house and are so bold as to want to travel by car or train is not always pleasant. These are so-called vehicles, but very often they are not moving at all, but rather standing still. Because the train has to wait for another train, because the streets in the big cities are not designed for two tank-like cars to pass each other. Or because the holidays are starting again and all the travelers seem to have agreed to set off at exactly the same time and then stand together.
To avoid such experiences, you can walk or simply stay at home. However, anyone who looks at Passau these days will find that even at home, traffic chaos can catch up with you. This is what is happening to the owner of a fitness studio on Alte Straße in Passau. Whether because of her age or for other reasons, Alte Straße is closed due to construction work. Signs indicate this. The crossbar on the dead-end sign is red, a sweeping arrow indicates that it is best not to continue here but to turn off, the “U” reveals why: diversion.
Perhaps they learned about the signs a long time ago from their driving test, perhaps they are driven by an irrepressible curiosity, perhaps it is also because the place that the signs say is closed only comes much later and some think they can drive to the next intersection. One thing is certain: every day, many drivers drive past a dead-end sign only to realize: What the heck, this is a dead-end! So they turn around, right in front of the gym of the 68-year-old Passau woman, who is “downright desperate,” as she puts it to the Passauer Neue Presse and also how many cars she gets to admire every day: more than 1000.
Sometimes four cars are maneuvering at the same time, sometimes a truck tries to wriggle around, sometimes one is bold and simply speeds past the construction site on the bike path. It may sound entertaining, but it is pretty annoying in the long run, and it is expected to continue like this for about another three weeks. So, a request to all Passau residents: when driving, maybe read the signs or – even better – take the bike.