Post photo: man with e-scooter | © Shutterstock
After my hometown has already claimed a special position in terms of pedestrian zones, in that you can chase pensioners and small children there with bicycles - regardless of whether they are motorized or not - e-scooters have now also been permitted since November 2020.
“The small electric vehicles have the potential to permanently improve the variety of mobility in Heilbronn as a fast means of transport over short distances and as a supplement to public transport. With the joint agreement, we are creating a good basis for a cooperative, trusting cooperation.”
Applicable rules for drivers [webpage no longer available]
The rules of the StVO and the eKFV also apply to the use of the e-scooters: Driving on sidewalks is prohibited. The exception is the Heilbronn pedestrian zone, where e-scooters are allowed to drive at walking speed. Otherwise they have to ride on bike lanes. Cycle lanes, cycle lanes and cycle zones may also be used with e-scooters. Only if there is no path of this type may the e-scooters be driven on the road.
Driving with several people or under the influence of alcohol is prohibited. Contrary to the general regulations, the three providers only allow drivers over the age of 18.
Ever since these e-scooters have been around in Heilbronn, I've been wondering why you need something like this at all. In the meantime, however, I believe that it is the fun factor: because the children, fathers or mothers with children, or up to three people on a scooter who I meet on the sidewalks or in the pedestrian zone clearly have fun with these scooters .
I can even understand that, since I was a passionate scooter rider myself at the age of three and four; and who knows, with an electric motor I would have liked the whole thing until the end of my childhood.
Only those who are not just out and about in Heilbronn for fun and are already walking cars and wheels have to dodge on the sidewalks, the new sidewalk users are not exactly convenient for them.
But since this is not a problem at all in Heilbronn, a fourth company is now making additional e-scooters available to the general public.
It's just a pity, because Heilbronn is actually, if you leave Biberach aside, a city where you can get around on foot quite well and by bike meanwhile also very comfortably.
"Trendy" modes of transportation, such as Segways or e-scooters, can certainly be an asset, provided that users abide by the set rules and the city government is also willing to enforce rules on everyone.
But in times when people pretend to like to take care of environmental protection themselves, the question remains whether it is good for the environment or whether it makes economic sense at all to fill Heilbronn with these e-scooters?
Heilbronn is a city worth living in, but you also have to recognize that we will never become a global city. Therefore, we should not follow every trend and can also walk quite well - and healthier - in Heilbronn.
"All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. "
Alexander Woollcott, The Knock at the Stage Door (Reader's Digest, December 1933)
Very fitting! Bravo!