School
City Council on “Parent Taxis”: More leeway for municipalities
According to the city council, in order to counteract the “parent taxis”, individual solutions must be found – for example temporary road closures. photo
© Christoph Reichwein/dpa
It is clear to the city council: too many parents bring their children to school by car. “Parent taxis” are sometimes dangerous. City Council President Lewe brings temporary road closures into play.
“We municipalities know best how traffic can be regulated more relaxed on site because we know the situation. There is no blueprint for this, but individual solutions must be found,” Lewe continued. The cities and municipalities should decide for themselves, in consultation with schools and parents, what makes sense, “without always having to go to great lengths to prove a specific danger situation.” Lewe also brought up the temporary closure of roads: Regulating this through a state decree could help in certain areas. At the same time, he made it clear: “We need a nationwide and legally secure solution.”
Lewe, who is also the mayor of Münster, called for more discretion for the municipalities in traffic planning and control. “That’s why we appeal to the states and the federal government to finally call the mediation committee and get the urgently needed amendment to the Road Traffic Act back on track.”
Reform failed in the Federal Council
The law passed by the Bundestag on new road traffic regulations did not achieve the required majority in the Bundesrat. The reform of the road traffic law and the amendment to the road traffic regulations based on it are intended to give cities and municipalities more leeway, for example for the establishment of bus lanes and 30 km/h zones. The federal government or Bundestag now have the opportunity to call the mediation committee to negotiate compromises on the road traffic law with the states.
However, after the reform failed in the Federal Council, the Federal Ministry of Transport signaled in December that it initially saw no point in calling the Mediation Committee. The ministry said that the states would first have to position themselves and explain what they wanted.