Er...
Well, there’s always one, isn’t there? And here’s ours, where the cycleway to the next town crosses a road at a 90 degree angle. The sign under the red ‘Give way/Yield’ triangle says “Cyclists Dismount”. Yeah right. I don’t know if you noticed, but this is a road. And last time I looked a bicycle was considered to be a road vehicle under German law.
Following this instruction would waste my time and put me in danger. The cycleway on the other side follows an access road into a sport centre, so instead of moving with the traffic and pulling off to the cycleway within a few seconds, I’d have to stop on the road to remount my bike, right where cars will be pulling in. I don’t think so.
It’s typical of Ostfildern that they have this silly sign instead of a proper crossing for bikes, but fortunately it’s the sole example I’ve found so far.
4 comments
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February 20, 2009 at 10:34 pm
WestfieldWanderers
Ha!
And you think you’ve got
problems!
February 24, 2009 at 2:16 pm
jorge
“fortunately it’s the sole example I’ve found so far”
The reverse seems to be true in the UK: ‘Cyclists dismount’ seems to be the norm – even where it is quite clear this won’t happen
February 24, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Andy in Germany
@Westfieldwanderers: Oh good grief. I wonder how many people had to agree to that lunacy…
@Jorge: I think it’s basically the easy option instead of some real infrastructure or useful help for cyclists. Fortunately here there are a lot more to complain so it doesn’t happen as much, but if it’s going to happen, it’ll happen in Ostfildern.
October 23, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Xtra Variety « People Powered
[...] Circus school over, it’s part four: pick up Eldest Son and one of his Friends (Henceforth known as JQ) and ride with them to our village- it saves her mum an extra trip. They ride their own bikes and their bags go on the Xtracycle. As we ride at about 10km/h I don’t notice the difference in weight. I’ve got into trouble in the past for using vehicular cycling when riding with Eldest Son’s friends. Why is this a problem, you ask? Because although vehicular cycling is entirely legal it seems it isn’t well-known in Germany so other parents take a dim view of some of the ways we ride. Especially when I ignore signs like this. [...]