FDP: 'Foolish' traffic sign changes must end
Patrick Döring, transportation expert for Germany's Free Democrats, said Thursday that nationwide changes to traffic signs put through the last government should be stopped because they are too expensive and some traffic violations can no longer be fined.
Döring called plans by former transport minister and Social Democrat Wolfgang Tiefensee to replace traffic signs a “really foolish act,” explaining that in the wake of the financial crisis community coffers are simply too strapped to afford it.
Street signs were already redesigned in 1992, and an interim ruling deemed them still valid. But the last government struck down the ruling last year, rendering hundreds of thousands of signs worthless, he said.
“Cities and municipalities must shell out enormous sums to exchange signs that are often hard to tell apart,” Döring said.
Meanwhile signs that aren’t changed become invalid, making it impossible for authorities to punish traffic violations.
“We must stop this lunacy,” the parliamentarian said, adding that the “previous laws should be reinstated as law to ensure the validity of old street signs.”
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Döring called plans by former transport minister and Social Democrat Wolfgang Tiefensee to replace traffic signs a “really foolish act,” explaining that in the wake of the financial crisis community coffers are simply too strapped to afford it.
Street signs were already redesigned in 1992, and an interim ruling deemed them still valid. But the last government struck down the ruling last year, rendering hundreds of thousands of signs worthless, he said.
“Cities and municipalities must shell out enormous sums to exchange signs that are often hard to tell apart,” Döring said.
Meanwhile signs that aren’t changed become invalid, making it impossible for authorities to punish traffic violations.
“We must stop this lunacy,” the parliamentarian said, adding that the “previous laws should be reinstated as law to ensure the validity of old street signs.”
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