The Limmer road in Hannover-Linden is actually not a place where people fear for their lives. Cars are prohibited in the pedestrian zone. It Trams travel. Buses and bikes, many bikes. As Ilya T. cross on Monday of last week the street, he does what has become for many pedestrians, of course: He doesn’t look at his Smartphone, pays attention to the traffic and runs prompt a cyclist in the way. “Look where you’re going!”, roars of the. “What is the matter with you?” It comes to a scramble. A Passer-by intervened and separated the men. T., 30 meters, maybe. Further, he does not come, then a fist hits him on the head so often that T. finally goes to the ground. Above him, the cyclist. T. tried to straighten up. As he stands back on his feet, hits him, the 28-Year-old in the face again. T. breaks down bleeding. He is no longer in the hospital. Three days later, T. is dead.

survival of the fittest

That a man dies as a result of a dispute in the transport, is rare. On the street, fought, screamed and tussled, everyday. In clause 1, paragraph 1 of the road traffic act, it means: Take “mutual respect”. This commandment is less and less people seem to hold. Who is on the German Asphalt on the road, experienced pushy, speeders, hooligans, the Donald Trumps of the streets. Rules? Are for losers.

again and again it is hand. In Mannheim, a driver with a beat recently four stroller, because it is not fast enough to dodged. In Titisee-Neustadt in the black forest vermöbelten pedestrian, a motorist, because they saw him provoked. In Berlin, was recently sentenced to a “pavement cyclists”. He had injured a passer-by in the district of Friedrichshain, shock, hard, after he had set up a reminder to “Ey” afterwards. The former Minister of transport Peter Ramsauer (CSU) has referred to such Rambos once as a “combat cyclists”.

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At the station of Münster have parked hundreds of your wheels. Nearly 40 percent of all trips by residents of the city on the bike.

©Imago

experts say that neither the number of Flensburg points collected, the number of accidents had risen even more, and also the convictions for insults or assaults in road transport have not increased significantly. More and more frequently, accidents with Bicycle riders and a General prevailing sense of threat to be registered. A feeling not enjoyed arises out of a crash with serious injuries and insults, which you should absolutely view, but from daily experience in dealing with the rabid time. According to a survey conducted by the German road safety Council (DVR), Aggression in traffic for 80 percent of the respondents a salient Element.

“The road is a mirror image of our society,” explains Carla Bormann from the DVR. “It is partly Darwinian conditions,” says Dresden traffic psychologist Jens Schade. “You will be rewarded, those who set the rules.” Only the Stronger one survives and can continue. Even if only slowly.

One reason for the growing anger of increasing lack of space. On the streets it is always full and close, especially in the cities. So the traffic has increased in the past ten years, traffic in cities around 300 million passenger-kilometres per day – an increase of almost 20 percent. On the Land it went back. 46.5 million cars today on the road in Germany, 11.4 percent more than in 2008. Larger they were also Were new cars in 1990, an average of 1.68 meters wide, measure today is 1.80 meters. Also, the cyclists have been upgraded, with fast E-Bikes, huge cargo bikes and robust mountain bikes are plowing their way through the conurbations, often with the sense of moral Superiority: We’re the Good guys, we are driving eco-friendly.

723,000 in jams

all of This creates Stress. In the case of pedestrians, if you are on narrow sidewalks to trash cans, and incorrectly parked cars need to squeeze; in the case of cyclists, if you are sharing the truck in a roadway and in front of them, the warning lights in the second row of the parked DHL Transporter flash. In the case of car drivers, the Stress arises especially when you are forced, before the traffic lights, in a traffic jam. For 2017, the ADAC has reported 723,000 in traffic jams, an all-time high.

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The drivers of older cars also have to pay the toll a 10-pound fees, if you want to in the City. An incentive for the switch on the wheel.

©Imago

The image of the free travel by free, almost deserted landscapes and cities, from the advertising to be drawn, was “an Illusion”, says the Hamburg transport psychologist Jörg-Michael Sohn. “The reality is different. We’re stuck, in traffic, in dense traffic. We can’t find a Parking space.” Such frustration must be – “are you Crazy, there at the front?” – out. Every one of us has moved into its personal filter bubble. Cyclists and pedestrians wearing headphones and staring at their phones, in the car, there is usually no acoustic feedback with the. Crucial elements of human communication are missing.

Instead, to fight for, wherever you look. Especially in the metropolises, it is no longer just about affordable housing, it also goes to the scarce resource of road. The mobile question is a social question: Who should go? What is fair? Over the decades, ruled in Germany, the drivers. Cities were planned and designed from the “windshield perspective”: the width of roads, many lanes, free Parking. The roots of this road right back to the ‘ 30s. The beetle, the Volkswagen, the Nazis promised the riser of each of the people enjoyed the company. The philosophy of the young West tied German Republic, as they built their ruined cities. Should “car” be, and the Ride comfortable. Right-of-way for the internal combustion engine, which for decades was the motto.

But the pressure on politics and economy, to invent mass mobility, is growing. Firstly, because the car emitted pollutants such as particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen are threatening the health of the townspeople. Courts enforce nationwide driving bans. The EU will also reduce the climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by 2030 to 35 percent.

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in the evening, the flow of commuters moves on the Wuppertal road (in the image horizontally) from eating out to the southern Ruhr area

©Action Press

giving the interests of non-motorized: Bicycle riders and even pedestrians have a Lobby that is pushing for a “traffic turnaround” Give us some space! The Berlin house of representatives has a mobility law is adopted, a path for dto beat ie wheels. In Frankfurt am Main, Bielefeld, and Kassel, people’s decisions are in preparation. Still crunches and crashes it vigorously. However, something like a New Deal of the road, a Pact between citizens and the policy is currently being created. How could they look like, this new order of peace?

Heinrich Strößenreuther has a clear answer. “If we want to save the climate, then more people require from the car to the wheel,” says Germany’s lobbyist, perhaps the most powerful Bike. In the next two years are going to be put in Berlin € 100 million in Bicycle traffic, by 2030, 100 kilometers will arise quickly way and 100,000 Bicycle Parking spaces. A Revolution that is, at least on paper.

New traffic concept is not without resistance

“people change only when they feel comfortable on the bike paths safe, so sure that they would even allow their children to travel,” says Strößenreuther. How can it look exactly, in Berlin, at Karl-Marx-Allee can be observed. There they began in the summer, to build a bike path to the new type. In the middle of the car, then a Parking strip, and finally the bike path. On each side of the four-Meter wide, bright green paint, from the Park strip, one and a half meters away and through a metal bollard protected. The motorist will have to settle for two instead of three lanes in each direction.

On a former railway line in North Rhine-Westphalia has already been abbreviated opened the Radschnellweg Ruhr, “RS1”, from Mülheim to Essen, and it continues to grow. It Ultrabet is a Piste de luxe, four feet wide, lit, bomb disposal, with Winter. You should entice commuters from car to E-Bike switch. Also much healthier! In Hamburg you want to increase the proportion of cyclists are now from 12 to 25 per cent, and in Munich from 17 to 20 percent, in Stuttgart from 10 percent to 20 percent.

no resistance to this new order, however, nowhere to be implement. Because in the cities there are mostly Parking lots, the soft, the large, silent room reserve. Advocates of a shift in Traffic will find useful. “It is not acceptable, that value will be blocked full of public space, which is also intended for the movement and stay, with cars that are just,” says the mobility of a researcher, Uta Bauer, from the German Institute for Urbanistics in Berlin. A minimum of twelve square meters of Park space required by a car in a cut, that it is then more than 95 percent of the time there unused. For the Federal environment Agency Builder’s Institute, has written a report. It is the goal of reducing the average land area for Park space per capita in the coming decades, from 4.5 to 1.5 square meters.

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On the Venloer Straße in Cologne a wrong Parking forcing cars cyclists delivery to take risky evasive maneuvers

©Matthias Jung/star

Many local residents keep this Form of land acquisition for a disaster. Because what sounds great in the planning theory so nice and relaxing, is, in practice, first and foremost, that the search of the Parking lot is even more stressful. Commuters who have no other choice than to ride the car, to be burdened by more expensive Parking. Is that fair?

In Stuttgart, Germany blocked the CDU for the construction of a single route, even so no Parking is lost. “Stuttgart is like no other city in Germany, with the automobile,” says Alexander Kotz, the leader of the Faction. “That is why it is for prosperity, jobs and security is extremely important, that our auto industry sold a lot of cars. But we have too many cars in Stuttgart, and driving around in the area, in the case of an unsatisfactory road infrastructure. If you are in the Garage, you are most dear to us, because they have no negative effects, but nevertheless, the business location of Stuttgart’s strengths.” It is an industry-friendly Position, which is outlined in Kotz. Also in the attitude of the Federal government it reflects.

On the Land is not the car without the Alternative

only cyclists are demanding more space. Suddenly, silent groups, which act only on the first glance, to be a little curious to mobilize yet. Last week, about a train with a few Hundred demonstrators at the Brandenburg gate in Berlin marched past, in a so-called Walking Parade. “Go!”, on the posters, or: “To walk – but secure!” It was mainly participants in the “2. German foot traffic Congress”, which took to the streets, experts, activists, politicians. They argue similar to the cyclists. In the cities the roads are often short. In order for people to do without a car, you must care about the cities plan safer and more convenient than it is now. The peace on the streets and Because of that Faith, he comes to the foot.

It is clear to almost everyone that the world would be strange, to put citizens on wheels or to recommend them to friendly, but to run please. Too high demands on mobility are, to great convenience, which guarantees the car still. On the country sound, many of the transport lavish ideas already plenty of esoteric. Over 90 percent of the households have good reasons for still at least one car, 60 percent are in the cities. Pedestrian Congress? Get away from me!

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local authorities hope to be able to in the future, traffic jams like this here on the Middle Ring in Munich, through the use of intelligent control systems to avoid

©Ralph Peters/Imago

Crucial for more space in the traffic, less cars, will also be the logistical supply of cities and companies with goods in the future organize. And how good the public transport is equipped, how smart, convenient and cheap, the citizens can actually take the Bus and Tram, with car-sharing, Mietrollern and bikes – and not only on Sunny days with light Luggage, but also in the rain with the whole family in tow.

In Hamburg’s “City Nord”, large construction equipment digging through the ground. On a surface between U broke-, S – and freight train tracks to build the Hamburger hochbahn, the largest public transport provider of the city, here a new depot. At the entrance to a 110,000-Volt is the mast high-voltage, a gigantic outlet. “The line current, such as for a small town”, says rail chief Henrik Falk in an inspection. So much power is also necessary, because on the site in the future to 240 E are to be charged buses. Climate-friendly. Quiet. At the very front of it. Already in April 2019.

the mobility mix

The E-buses are one of the projects with which Hamburg will rise to a center for new mobility. In 2021 the city of the ITS world Congress will host the largest trade fair for intelligent transport systems. In Front Of Tens Of Thousands Ofn visitors want you then have to do the self-the bella figura: the buses will travel in a climate-friendly, even Autonomous. To do this, hundreds of Shuttle buses through the city, whizzing, Companion between bus and Taxi is to be ordered via the App. “Efficient public transport system, it must always be,” says Falk. “But, in addition, the city of the future needs and mobility mix.”

Also with intelligent control systems, German municipalities are experimenting now, in order to direct traffic flows better. This means, for example, that motorists are diverted in Stuttgart, in the case of high particulate pollution with panels free transport offers or traffic light phases will be adapted to the traffic.

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The Bicycle road at the Hamburger may Außenalster of motorcycles and cars

©Daniel Bockwoldt/DPA

be shared If the result is actually fast for peace on the streets? Traffic psychologist Jens Schade is skeptical. He does not believe that the peak of the conflict is reached. “The cities continue to grow. And for many to drawn, from near or far, is the car still a Symbol of prosperity. You will not give yourself with a bike satisfied,” he says. Traffic forecasts cover losses evaluation. Thus, the car traffic will grow by 2030, rather, Bicycle traffic and pedestrian traffic will remain stable. It is quite possible that it is initially close to the road and you would do well to prepare for it. Schade Hamburg-based colleague, Jörg-Michael, the son has a very specific tip. “Often it helps,” he says, “to try, at least, in the other’s shoes. Why can he do that? Can he not help it? He might actually beginners? Hardly an incident that is perceived as an attack, meant as an attack,” says son.

“remembrance”

remains On the sidewalk in the Limmer road in Hannover-Linden witnesses of pale blood stains four days after the fact, what can happen if a dispute escalates. Compassionate citizens have brought sun flowers, dahlias, roses, candles. And also a stone: “the memory remains”, it says. The 28-year-old cyclist is now accused of manslaughter, he sits in custody. Two men, both in their mid 50’s, standing at the place where Ilya T. was crushed. “The city needs to finally do something!” one of them says. “Otherwise it will happen again soon.” The city has made already a lot of. On the ground she has painted symbols, they point to the pedestrian zone. Cyclists are allowed to drive. But it is only at a walking pace. Everyone knows that. The peace is actually clear. Only you have to keep in mind.