Status: 07/01/2023 5:13 p.m
In Stedesand, a parent initiative is fighting for a pedestrian traffic light. They have already collected over 2,600 signatures. On Saturday, the parents’ initiative demonstrated on the B5.
With a petition started a few weeks ago, the parents want to get the authorities in Stedesand (North Friesland district) to install a pedestrian traffic light on federal road 5. So far, the project has failed several times due to a federal directive that only provides for traffic lights if at least 50 pedestrians cross the street per hour. “Stedesand only has around 900 residents. 50 pedestrians per hour is utopian,” says Stefanie Matthiesen, chairwoman of the kindergarten development association, which is involved in a parents’ initiative for the traffic light. The busy federal highway 5 between Bredstedt and Niebüll is the main travel route for vacationers on Sylt.
If children want to go to the center of the village, they have to go via B5
Stefanie Matthiesen is afraid for her and other children in the community. Many young families live in the Mühlenfenne development area to the east of the main road. The “Stedesander Hof” of the Uhlebüll Foundation is also located there. The village center with facilities such as daycare, sports field and Dörpshuus is on the other side. According to Matthiesen, there are 35 households with 22 children in the residential area who repeatedly have to cross the B5. “Does something bad have to happen first?” asks the mother of two.
Mayor: “The situation sucks”
Sister-in-law Sandra Matthiesen takes a similar view: “The flow of traffic is clearly given priority over human safety.” Support also comes from Stedesand’s Mayor Stephan Koth (AWG). “The situation sucks,” says the recently re-elected community leader. Koth is – he openly admits – also emotionally affected, because his then four-year-old brother died in 1968 in a traffic accident on exactly this street.
Ministry: Crossing numbers missed
In a first statement, the Kiel Ministry of Transport pointed out to the Petitions Committee that the required number of crossings was “clearly missed”. The letter of June 23 also says: “According to the assessment of all the authorities involved, the establishment of a LSA on the B5 in Stedesand is therefore out of the question.” LSA means a traffic signal system, i.e. traffic light.
Stedesand’s mayor Koth does not want to accept that. According to his information, around 300 communities nationwide are in a similar situation. The regulation is nonsense, each individual case has to be checked, says Koth, who puts forward another argument: “The traffic light would cost around 45,000 euros – we’ll pay for it ourselves.” The parents’ initiative demonstrated for this on Saturday at the B5.
District of North Friesland remains skeptical
So far, the district has rejected all applications from the municipality for a traffic light. “The district administration has to reject the traffic light because federal legislation makes 50 pedestrian crossings per hour a prerequisite for a traffic light,” said the spokesman for the district of North Frisia, Hans-Martin Slopianka. After all, the district council in Husum has already asked politicians to reconsider this regulation. How things will continue now remains open, because the Petitions Committee can only forward the request in the end. The federal government then has the last word. “Or is there perhaps an exception?” Stefanie Matthiesen asks and hopes.
Further information
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Schleswig-Holstein Magazine | 07/01/2023 | 19:30 o’clock