Diesel driving bans in Stuttgart: city is merciless!
Between April and June it was still possible to drive in Baden-Württemberg under certain conditions with a pollutant class that was actually already banned. But the state does not want to extend the regulation now.
These regulations affected chronically ill people or people who were particularly at risk from the virus. Now, however, the citizens' initiative "Against driving bans - for free mobility in Germany" demands that, for example in the metropolis of Stuttgart, this same exception regulation should be reintroduced. The state, on the other hand, is vehemently opposed to the reintroduction of the exception. Ministerial Director Uwe Lahl finds clear words for the initiative's efforts: "Public transport is back in regular operation so that full capacity is available. (...) Exemptions are not considered necessary at present". The actual motivation for this special regulation is quite logical and sensible. In pandemic weddings, the risk of getting infected with the corona virus in densely packed public transport was exponentially high on all sides. In view of the current daily case numbers, which are much higher than those of the rest of 2020, a reactivation of the special status for at-risk groups would certainly be appropriate. Thus, the collective head-shaking is not long in coming due to Lahl's statement from the initiative. Spokeswoman Christa Papsdorf even goes a step further and attacks the Ministerial Council in the strongest possible terms for its statement and its categorical "No": "Apart from the fact that Mr Lahl is not even entitled to this consideration, I consider this to be a mockery of the tens of thousands of corona deaths worldwide - in Germany too we have about 10,000 dead. Not to mention the people who suffer serious consequential damage". However, the city of Stuttgart has not yet reacted to these harsh remarks.
A total of 93 of these described individual exceptions have been exhibited so far. However, the chances are more than bad that a turnaround in the matter is in sight - despite alarming Covid-19 case numbers.