Attention Osnabrück: Environmental zone declares fine dust alert!
In the event of high air pollution, intelligent displays will inform citizens and encourage them to use public transport. This should prevent driving bans.
Since July this year, the city of Osnabrück has been relying on its citizens to act responsibly. Intelligent displays warn of high air pollution and ask people to use public transport instead of their cars. Last week, the system kicked in for the first time. For example, citizens in the Fledder district read "Tomorrow Petersburger Wall high pollution - please use public transport." The city has set up nine such display boards.
The air values are measured at 35 locations. If these are above the limit values, the "environmentally sensitive traffic management system" is activated fully automatically to warn citizens. In addition to the warnings, the traffic lights are also adjusted so that green phases on access roads are shortened and traffic on the inner city ring road runs as smoothly as possible.
With the new traffic management system, the city of Osnabrück is trying to avoid additional driving bans, for example for older diesel vehicles. Osnabrück already has an environmental zone, as is the case in other German cities. Nevertheless, the limit values are exceeded time and again. Similar systems are already in use in other cities. In Stuttgart, where a so-called fine dust alarm has been repeatedly declared until 2020, there are now additional driving bans for diesel vehicles with Euro standards 4 and 5 in particularly polluted areas.
The Osnabrück pilot project thus relies on the personal responsibility of the citizens, which is actually a good thing. Whether they will follow the call to avoid diesel driving bans remains to be seen. Additional incentives for citizens could be the free use of public transport or an improvement of park-and-ride facilities. An expansion of the bicycle network could also help to encourage citizens to give up their cars.
Critics might think that the city is making it too easy for itself by abdicating responsibility. Or is it just trying to delay the threat of diesel driving bans? After all, the citizens will continue to suffer from air pollution for the time being if the car-driving citizens of Osnabrück do not fulfil their now assigned responsibility.