Bad Godesberg pupils submit citizens' petition Primary school kids call for crosswalk in Mehlem
Mehlem · The children of the Domhof School in Mehlem want a crosswalk in front of their school. For this they have submitted a citizen's petition to the city. The administration has now responded to the request.
The children of the Am Domhof elementary school in Mehlem are persistent and, with a little luck, they will be successful: As reported, the children, the school and also the parents want a crosswalk on the Langenbergsweg. The demand was not new, there had already been several attempts, but there are already different measures in the area to make it more traffic-calmed.
To express their wish, on World Children's Day last year the children drew a crosswalk with chalk where they wanted it. But that was not all: On November 2, the children submitted a "Citizen's Petition for a Crosswalk" with a letter they had written themselves. The children had already written a letter to the former mayor Ashok Sridharan (CDU). Sridharan replied to the children and encouraged them to submit a citizen's petition.
Pilot service helps students in front of the elementary school
They wrote it by hand and decorated it with little hearts. "The morning situation at our school on Langenbergsweg is a pure disaster without the pilot service and often even dangerous," the students wrote, "cars drive in both directions, which makes crossing the street confusing. There are also buses driving by. In winter, this is a challenge." As a result, the students hope a traffic count can be conducted to consider installing a crosswalk.
Despite pilotage, dangerous situations occur
An attached letter from the principal of Am Domhof Catholic Elementary School lends weight to the students' request. "A daily pilot service, organized by the parents, helps to guide our students more safely across the road, but dangerous situations with motorists still occur every day," the school management says. Therefore, according to the school administration, a crosswalk would "enormously increase" traffic safety on site.
Administration proposes traffic census
Now the Bonn city administration has commented on the request in a statement. The application of the children and the school is to be discussed at the meeting of the district council Bad Godesberg on Wednesday evening. In the process, the administration proposes in advance that a traffic count be carried out on site to check whether a crosswalk is possible from a legal point of view. "The administration recommends to first commission a traffic count - motor vehicles and pedestrians - in the area of Langenbergsweg and Antoniterstraße," writes the administration. In this way, it could be discussed whether a crosswalk is necessary or whether the already existing crosswalk must be "moved."
Many traffic counts were postponed in 2020
The administration suggests the summer half-year outside the vacations (March to October) as a survey period. This is because in the winter half-year the traffic load would deviate from the average due to weather conditions. "Due to the traffic impact of the Corona pandemic, planned traffic surveys in 2020 have been postponed. Currently, a number of surveys are pending as a result," city officials said. As a result, the survey for students from Mehlem cannot take place until March 2021, the city said.
Original text: Maximilian Mühlens
Translation: Mareike Graepel
