“The composure in Munich’s traffic can still be improved,” said Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) at the presentation of the new traffic safety campaign entitled “Merci Dir”. The tongue-in-cheek slogans such as “More Amore on Munich’s streets”, “Treat instead of grumbling” or “Let’s relax instead of being the first” will be seen on billboards, postcards and in spots on the subway, bus and tram in the coming weeks. With this, the city wants to encourage the people of Munich to be more considerate in road traffic.
“Last year there were nine fatal accidents and almost 500 serious injuries. That’s just too many,” says Reiter. The city wants to reduce that number significantly. The goal is the so-called “Vision Zero”, i.e. as few fatalities and serious injuries as possible on Munich’s streets. Mobility officer Georg Dunkel believes that this is an ambitious but feasible goal. “Some Scandinavian cities have set an example with zero traffic fatalities. We want to go there too.”
In addition to infrastructure measures such as the expansion of cycle paths, smoother crossings and better signage as well as laws and regulations, the mobility department also believes that road users need to be cautious. The seven motifs are intended to promote this. The Munich transport company supports the “Merci Dir” campaign and provides its own advertising space for it – after all, it is itself a participant in road traffic with around 800 buses and trains at peak times.