Bieber-Nord school: Solutions developed for school route safety

The traffic situation at the Bieber-Nord school has been reviewed by the specialist departments following feedback from parents. Mayor Sabine Groß and city councillor Paul-Gerhard Weiß held a joint meeting with vice principal Isabel Hommel and parents' representative Jenny Gesser to develop solutions.

"We took a close look at the situation on site and, above all, had them explain where the school and parents' representatives see dangers in everyday practice. The consensus is that the main dangers are caused by parent cabs directly in front of the school," says Mayor and Head of Mobility Sabine Groß. "There is also a need for further improvements, for which we have also developed solutions," continued Groß.

"The road directly in front of the school is heavily used by parents to pick up and drop off their children by car. This makes the route to school dangerous for children who come to school by bike or on foot. We came up with the idea of closing the road at the usual pick-up and drop-off times. Many other local authorities are now doing the same at schools," continues Groß.

"We see dangerous situations for children on the way to school. Parent cabs are a major problem. The temporary closure of the road is a very good solution to defuse the situation. In order to implement it, we will now campaign among the parents to get involved as school pilots," said Vice Principal Isabel Hommel and parent representative Jenny Gesser.

Councillor Paul-Gerhard Weiß explains the concrete solutions: "We want a safe route to school and therefore we want to start with several elements: Temporary closure of the road directly in front of the school. To ensure that this is accepted from the outset, we will initially accompany it with checks by the traffic police. We are planning to start in May."

The closure is planned from 7.30 am to 8.30 am and from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm. As parents park their cars illegally on Dietesheimer Straße, even on the side of the cemetery, and let children in and out, the footpath traffic sign will be erected again opposite the school. This narrow footpath is not necessary as a route to the school. Schoolchildren can use the well laid out and sufficiently wide footpath on the opposite side along Dietesheimer Straße. The footpath is also wide and well laid out under the S-Bahn underpass. For children coming from the direction of Seligenstädter Straße, however, it is necessary for them to cross Dietesheimer Straße. The Office for Mobility will check where a crossing aid can be installed. This should be designed in such a way that it also contributes to compliance with the 30 km/h requirement.

Speed measurements show that the 30 km/h speed limit is largely observed. 85 percent of drivers adhere to the prescribed speed limit according to measurements taken by the road traffic authority's side radar in July / August 2023. Measurements taken with the traffic police's mobile radar system in January and February 2024 documented 161 violations out of almost 10,000 vehicles measured. Of these, 135 were in the range of 1 to 10 kilometers faster than 30 kilometers per hour.

The data from 2023 also shows that the number of vehicles has decreased: despite the construction work in the Bieber Nord development area, a comparison with previous years shows that fewer vehicles are driving there. The data is consistently within the usual range for a road with an access function and within a 30 km/h zone.

For April - after the Easter vacations - the school management and parents' representatives are planning a joint campaign in front of the school together with the public order office, in which exemplary behavior will be rewarded and traffic violations will be directly addressed and punished.