Category Archives: Traffic Rights

..but I NEED my car….

Dependent on the car: who is it and what are their rights?

The parking situation in Bremen is a horror in many places: many drivers park their vehicles in the most impossible places – regardless of whether this endangers other road users or impairs the flow of traffic. In discussions about this, the argument “But I’m dependent on my vehicle – it has to be parked somewhere” is often used. But who really is?

In answering this question, I distinguish between people who believe they are dependent on a vehicle and those who really have a legal right to special parking arrangements.

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Accessibility (Part 3): Participation in Traffic

Introduction

The city of Bremen is facing a major challenge. It is obliged to design traffic space in an inclusive way, enabling equal participation of all road users and modes of transport. This follows from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which has been incorporated into federal and Bremen laws (see part 1).

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Pavement Parking and Accessibility

There is hardly an issue in Bremen that is as heated as the parking of cars in residential areas. Questions like these arise: Who does resident parking help? Is parking on pavements permissible? And if so, under what conditions? What rights do pedestrians have? The debate is characterised by assumptions and unsubstantiated claims on the part of both proponents and opponents of a sustainable traffic turnaround. Reason enough to take a look at the binding provisions of road and traffic law in a series of articles on Bremenize. Continue reading Pavement Parking and Accessibility →

Accessibility in Bremen Traffic (Part A: Road Law)

Part 1 : The legal Situation on Bremen’s Streets

Public space is always a scarce commodity in cities that have grown over time without central planning. Ever more, and ever bigger, vehicles are competing for the same amount of space. At the same time, private automobiles are continuing to push other modes of transport out of this public space. Currently, political as well as legal resistance to this situation is growing, supported by environmental organisations such as BUND, NABU, citizens‘ and neighbourhood initiatives, and transport organisations such as ADFC, VCD; Fuss e.V., Forum for Transportation Transformation („Forum Verkehrswende“), Autofreier Stadttraum („Auto Free City Space/City Dreams“) and Coalition for Transportation Transformation (“Bündnis Verkehrswende“). In addition, many citizens have filed suit against the city-state for its lack of action against vehicles parked illegally on sidewalks. This problem is further complicated by electric scooters parked on sidewalks In the summer of 2020, a visually impaired man was seriously injured in Bremen when he tripped over an electric scooter. He has filed suit against the city-state for not protecting him from injury.

Parking on the sidewalk in Mindener Strasse in Peterswerder in Bremen (foto: Olaf Dilling)

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