The state capital is concerned with mobility like no other.

And it polarizes.

The city council met for more than three hours on Thursday evening, some heatedly and sometimes emotionally.

There was talk of a “fight against the car”, of “mocking” the people, of repression and harassment, of ideology and politics with a crowbar.

The occasion was a joint application, also decided by the Greens, the SPD, the Left Party and Volt, to introduce Tempo 40 on the Wiesbaden main traffic axes with an initial pilot test limited to 18 months.

In some streets, the speed limit should even be limited to 30 kilometers per hour at night.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis and for Wiesbaden.

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As in Helsinki, this should increase road safety.

As in the Mainzer Rheinallee, it should improve the air quality and - comparable to the Frankfurter Alleenring - make the noise pollution more bearable for the residents.

Opinions differed widely as to whether such a pilot test is even legally permissible.

It was remarkable that even the full-time department heads contradicted each other in a public meeting.

"Not broken above the knee"

Legal Secretary Oliver Franz (CDU) said that the decision could not be legally made because the municipality was not responsible. Such a speed limit is not the responsibility of local self-government. The mayor must therefore object to a corresponding vote, said Franz. At least the legal department will propose this to the mayor.

The mayor did not want to simply adopt this legal opinion of his magistrate colleague. Of course there will be a legal test, said Gert-Uwe Mende, but this will "not be broken over the knee". Traffic department head Andreas Kowol (The Greens) pointed out that there are a large number of speed restrictions in Wiesbaden that have been decided by the city committees. The matter is not as clear as Franz explains.

Nevertheless, Mende will have to decide in the next few days whether he will contradict the decision and thereby override his own legal office. In the discussion, Christian Diers (FDP) spoke of a “fight against the car” in Wiesbaden, of “parking lot robbery”, poor construction site management and the conscious acceptance of many traffic jams. The guideline of the head of the transport department Kowol is: "How do I spoil people driving a car," said Marc Dahlen (CDU). Alexander Winkelmann called Kowol an "anti-car department head". All speakers of the two factions missed scientific and serious studies on the alleged welfare effects of the speed limit. They assumed that the four majority parliamentary groups were in fact preparing a nationwide tempo of 30 for all of Wiesbaden. It is about whipping through red-green traffic ideology.In addition, the application is legally inadmissible before the road traffic regulations have been changed at the federal level. In the event that the pilot test begins earlier, Diers expects a wave of lawsuits against possible fines.

Harmonious flow of traffic

Christiane Hinninger (The Greens) expects a rapid change in the road traffic regulations after the federal election: “Then we can start.” However, according to Silas Gottwald (SPD), the start should only take place when the “state of emergency” of the closed Salzbachtal bridge has ended.

Accordingly, it will probably be 2023 before such a scientifically supported pilot test can begin.

Like other spokesmen for the four factions, Hinninger referred to the more than 2000 people who live on the first ring.

They too are entitled to a reduction in emissions, good air and quiet at night.

Her parliamentary group colleague Martin Kraft called speed restrictions "a tried and tested means for a fair balance of interests" that preserves mobility and at the same time reduces noise, air pollution and the risk of accidents. Tempo 40 is “a good compromise” in this regard. Hardly anything will change in the actual travel time through the city, but in the driving style. The flow of traffic will be more harmonious. The majority groups hope that the experiment, which will then be assessed with no outcome, will also increase the quality of stay and quality of life in the city center and relocate through traffic out of the city. Nina Schild (Left Party) expects an improvement in the overall situation in Wiesbaden and referred to a recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO),to reduce the regular speed in built-up areas.

While the Greens, SPD, Linke and Volt pushed through their application regardless of the legal concerns, they failed an application from the CDU and FDP entitled “Incentives instead of repression”. In terms of content, it was only about a concept for an express bus line between Mainz and Wiesbaden and the examination of tangential connections between the city districts, but the majority saw themselves provoked, especially since Dahlen called the "demonization of the car" a wrong path when explaining the application. Green spokesman Kraft spoke of linguistic "war folklore". Silas Gottwald (SPD) said the choice of words "poisoned the debate" and was unworthy. Therefore, the four parliamentary groups countered with an "alternative motion",who describes the expansion of public transport as the "key to the energy transition" and, in addition to an express bus to Mainz and the extension of two bus routes, also calls for a new bus route for the east of Wiesbaden, which is to connect a total of eleven districts.