Kochel am See: Motorcycling desire and resident frustration on Kesselbergstrasse – Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

The Kesselberg is scenically attractive due to its location as the entrance gate to the Karwendel between Lake Kochel and Lake Walchen. The road route is also interesting from the history of motorsport. From the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, sports greats of the time such as Hans Stuck and Rudolf Caracciola competed for victory in the Kesselberg races. To this day, both aspects together primarily attract motorcyclists to the route, which largely follows the natural course of the terrain. “The mountain route par excellence” with 16 different curves and perfect radii is what the motorcycle club DOC Munich calls it on its website.

“The curves are attractive,” agrees Gábor Kovács, chairman of the non-profit association “Blue Peers”, which looks after victims of serious motorcycle accidents and works to prevent and avoid accidents. “These are very tight curves where the motorcycle can really be pushed into the curve. The motorcyclist enjoys that.” You can just be on the road quite normally and according to the regulations, like 98 percent of them – or overdo it.

This describes the problem at the Kesselberg. For local residents like Zeno Öttl, the noise is almost unbearable when a few motorcyclists race up and down the mountain as quickly as possible, open the throttle and cause misfires – even several times in quick succession. The house of the Walchenseer and his wife is below the top of the pass, directly between two hairpin bends down to Urfeld. He can see the street directly from the balcony. “Many are just too loud,” he says. In addition, the motorcyclists racing up and down endangered other lives through risky behavior. Things have gotten worse lately. “It’s just not possible anymore,” says Öttl.

But he doesn’t see himself as a troublemaker. “The normal traffic doesn’t bother me,” he assures me. “I’m not a misanthrope.” It’s only about the up and down speeders – the gas givers – it’s all about him. This basic problem has hardly changed for him for decades. The speeders did not adhere to the current speed limit of 60, nor to the overtaking ban or the right-hand drive requirement. The summary after his unsuccessful appeals to state authorities since the mid-1980s: “One should control better with the available means.”

One of them could be the right-hand drive requirement in Germany. Anyone who violates this will receive a point in the Flensburg traffic offender file. The driver’s license is revoked on the eighth. Öttl considers this a tried and tested means of controlling more efficiently. Motorcyclists who race through the curve in the middle of the road – even with their knees just above the surface – are endangering their own lives and those of others, says Öttl, who demands that vehicle owners be held liable in the event of violations.

Open detailed view

However, the authorities on the Kesselberg did not remain inactive to slow down the motorcyclists. Only a maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour is allowed. The applicable ban on overtaking should also be prevented by lane dividers with barges in the curves. Motorcyclists are not allowed to ride uphill on the route on weekends and public holidays. But the speeders didn’t follow the rules, says Öttl. This group knows exactly that the local police station in Kochel am See is no longer manned in the evenings. After 7 p.m., they did their rounds on the Kesselberg Pass road until sunset, weather permitting. Öttl demands that more police officers be on the route to check more often.

You don’t have to search long on social media to come across numerous photos and videos of motorcyclists in an extremely inclined position with sparks flying between their knees and the road surface on Kesselbergstrasse. Gábor Kovács of the Blue Peers organization speaks of “a few complete lunatics”. Such maneuvers have no place on the road for him – just like a wheelie, riding solely on the rear wheel. “We tell people if they want to let off steam, they should go to the race track.” Rasers are often young people in their “storm and urge phase”. Accidents usually happen because the first mistake is followed by a second one. If you misjudge the balance in a corner or brake incorrectly, try to correct it. “Then that’s it,” said Kovács. The “Blue Peers” have developed a special training to drive safely through the curves.

However, Kovács is strictly against making motorcyclists solely responsible for risky driving behavior and noise. “I say casually, in general, the participant in private transport is an egomaniac.” Motorcyclists are just as unreasonable as drivers. Sports car drivers made a lot more noise there than motorcyclists. And on the Kesselberg, even some racing cyclists let it run downhill at 80 km/h. In addition, the excursion traffic on the pass road is so heavy on nice days at the weekend that it’s no longer fun to ride a motorcycle there anyway. The half-way blocking is therefore pointless, Kovács thinks. “It’s up to politicians to ensure that traffic in general becomes cleaner and quieter.”

As a motorcyclist, he doesn’t want to be locked out of the Kesselberg in general. “It’s a beautiful area,” said the Blue Peers leader. “I like to use it as a trip into the Eng.” His main route leads over the Kreut-Alm, the Kesselberg and further over Vorderriss to the Eng and to the Ahornboden. “This is a wonderful tour.” Statistically, motorcyclists were no more conspicuous than other road users. The young people must be taught that they can also have fun if they are adapted to travel.

Only a few weeks ago, however, the new citizens’ initiative “Stop noise now!” went online. Their goal is to make traffic quieter and to protect the undisturbed experience of nature with the help of measures that sometimes sound drastic in the two-lake region around Kochel and Walchensee, according to the website. The demands: Tempo 30 should generally apply on Kesselberg and in Kochel am See. The limit should be checked all year round – by stationary speed cameras and random status checks. If that doesn’t work, the initiative calls for a general driving ban for so-called “noisemakers” in the region as a last resort. On the homepage, she advertises signing a corresponding petition for the measures.

Öttl, a direct, noisy resident on Kesselbergstrasse, finds some of the petition unrealistic. He will sign it anyway, he says. He recently received an unsatisfactory reply from the Bavarian Minister of the Interior, Joachim Herrmann. “The Kesselberg is by far the most controlled motorcycle route in the area of ​​​​the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South,” it says. The controls are appropriate in their current frequency and intensity. There is no larger scene of so-called “autoposers” on Kesselberg.

The Ministry of the Interior supports this assessment with statistics. Between 2018 and 2021, the motorcycle control group was deployed between 49 and 60 times on the Kesselberg. Most vehicles were checked in 2020 – 1359. This year there were 24 offences, 167 reported traffic violations and 429 warnings. For comparison: In 2018 there were a total of 746 checked vehicles, 38 offences, 113 traffic offenses and 146 warnings.

According to the press office of the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria, motorcycle accidents have recently tended to increase slightly over the past ten years. However, the number fluctuated greatly between 15 and 30 accidents per year. “Due to the number of accidents on motorcycle routes in Bavaria, the Kesselberg route should continue to be one of the hotspots,” writes the police headquarters. On average, the police detect around 500 violations per year. This includes criminal offenses such as driving without a license or license plate misuse as well as traffic offenses such as illegal overtaking or speeding. In the area of ​​responsibility, the Kesselberg route is by far the most intensively monitored motorcycle route.

Nevertheless, this remains unsatisfactory for Öttl. He expects more commitment from the mayor of Kochl, Thomas Holz (CSU), to the concerns of the noise-plagued residents. The head of the town hall should not withdraw to the fact that it is a federal road and that he is therefore not able to act in local politics. Öttl demands that speeders take away the fun of joy. “It’s life-threatening when you drive there.”