On the weekend of 18 September 2021, cross-generational demonstrations will be held in over 130 cities and towns across Germany to demand safe streets for all. The nationwide Kidical Mass campaign is being carried out for the second time this year on the initiative of Kidical Mass Cologne, which is supported by European Cyclists’ Federation Member Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (ADFC), Campact, Changing Cities, Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk, VCD and Unicef. At the local level, more than 200 regional initiatives form the core of the movement’s demands.

Kidical Mass is a worldwide movement for child-safe bike lanes that began in Oregon in 2008 and has been active in Germany since 2017, providing a venue for parents and children to learn how to ride safely. No matter your age, the ride is a blast for everyone as it introduces the next generation to the joy of bicycles. In 2021, Kidical Mass Cologne was awarded the German Bicycle Prize, a nationwide competition that has been honouring projects and measures that promote cycling.

One week before the federal election, the organizers want to use the demonstration to draw attention to the fact that the conditions for cycling for children are extremely poor in both the city and the countryside.

Their demands include the following actions:

• safe school cycling networks by 2030
• school streets and traffic-calmed areas in front of schools and day-care centres
• steady annual funding with concrete targets for the municipalities
• child-friendly road traffic laws with Vision Zero as the highest premise
• a speed limit of 30 km/h in built-up areas
• protected and structurally separated, wide cycle paths on main roads
• play streets and residential areas without through traffic.

ADFC Vice Chair Rebecca Peters said, “Up to now it has been the case that roads are there for cars, not for children. In the Road Traffic Act, car traffic is the most important thing – but that is not a law of nature. The new federal government must change this and put road safety and quality of life at the top of the agenda. We need more space for cycling, so that cycling feels like a Kidical Mass for children every day.”

From Gelsenkirchen to Hamburg, more than 140 bicycle demonstrations have been announced in over 130 cities. The event, which only started in Germany in 2017, will have 40 more cities participating when compared to the last Kidical Mass in September 2020.

Based on original article here.