Kidical Mass successfully affects change

Conference of Transport Ministers in Germany

With the backing of 90,000 people on the streets during the Kidical Mass action days in May and September 2022 & over 90,000 signatories of the petition “child-friendly road traffic law”, the German alliance of Kidical Mass were in Aachen at the Transport Ministers’ Conference and had the opportunity to personally remind Oliver Krischer, NRW Transport Minister and Chair Conferenz of Transport Ministers of Germany, of our demands.

“We are adapting our children to an environment with more and more cars and putting them in high-visibility waistcoats instead of improving the infrastructure. For the traffic turnaround to succeed, it is important that everyone can move safely by bike or on foot,” says Simone Kraus from the Kidical Mass action alliance.

#KidicalMass #StreetsforEveryone #StreetsforKids

Conference of Transport Ministers – Kidical Mass successfully affects change

The Kidical Mass action alliance had already handed over the petition to Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing and the transport ministers of the federal states at the conference of transport ministers in Bremerhaven in October 2022. Support has already been signalled by some of the federal states.
By means of a motion by Bettina Jarasch from Berlin, the topic was also put on the agenda, but then postponed to the next conference of transport ministers in Aachen in spring 2023.

Now the time had come. The Conference of Transport Ministers supports a reform of the road traffic law with a focus on child-friendly mobility. This is the first important building block on the way to child- and bicycle-friendly places throughout the count

Excerpt from the resolution of the Conference of Transport Ministers

A child-friendly transport system is a prerequisite for the independent active mobility of children and other vulnerable groups.
The Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport & Volker Wissing are requested to submit a reform proposal for the Road traffic law as soon as possible.

The complete resolution and the minutes can be found on pages 47 – 48 Link Minutes of the Conference of Transport Ministers, only in German language

Child-friendly road traffic law

Cities and municipalities should create child- and bicycle-friendly places. To do this, they simply have to introduce a 30 km/h speed limit, for example, or install wide, structurally separated cycle paths.

The new Road Traffic Law must firstly focus on the vulnerability of children and have Vision Zero – zero traffic fatalities – as its goal. Secondly, it must enable children’s independent mobility.

Cities and municipalities must be given the freedom to implement child- and bicycle-friendly measures not only at individual danger spots, but throughout the entire urban area. This includes, for example:

protected or structurally separated, wide cycle lanes on main roads as well as protected intersections (following the Dutch model).
30 km/h speed limits on main roads in towns
School streets and no-vehicle zones (temporary bans on vehicles passing through)
Cycle lanes and cycle zones as a comprehensive network and basis for a safe network of routes to and from school
Roads without through traffic in residential areas (e.g. Kiezblocks Berlin, Superblocks Barcelona)

In child-friendly, green cities and communities, there are many and varied open spaces for play and for social interaction between all generations. The federal government can lay the foundations for this.

Now we have to keep up the pressure. We need child- and bicycle-friendly places in Germany and around the globe.

Kidical Mass Action Days 2023

05.05. – 07.05.2023 & 22.09. – 24.09.2023

In addition to the classic Kidical Mass rides, different action formats can be integrated, e.g. school streets or Bike School Bus/Bikebus/BiciBus, which already take place on Friday. In September we will take the car-free day on 22.9.

Be a part of it and organise a Kidical Mass at your place. We will support you. Simply contact us at kontakt@kinderaufsrad.org

Review of September: It can be so beautiful on the streets.