Last Tuesday, I went to attend an ADFC lunch meeting. Starring: Munic Principal Mayor Christian Ude as principal speaker.
It was a dynamic lunch-break event. First, there was a short introduction by the chairman of the Bavarian Biker’s Association Armin Falkenhein. Then Christian Ude assured everybody of his really strong commitment for biking, as well as soft mobility and reasonable, resource-aware politics. And finally there was a good discussion. It was accompanied by a very simple but totally sufficient, tasty snack (butter pretzels and mini salami). I found it all very down-to-earth and attractive.
What I consider worthy of writing about are firstly the visitors. That is to say, the many lobbyists among them. Looking at the name tags, you saw quite a few titles, such as. “World Association of Sports Gear Manufacturers“ or “Managing Director of the E-Mobility Association“. Consequently, the political part of the discussion gave the impression that, today, politics is basically nothing but a “Race of Lobbyists“. And when all is said and done, the lobbyists are those who determine what the state has to do.
As opposed to this, I rather liked two sentences by Christian Ude: the first was about having to wear a helmet when riding a bike. What was his opinion?
His answer was:
“If even someone as reasonable as I (Ude) does not wear a helmet, then I feel it is really worth thinking about making the helmet obligatory.”
And when asked about the plebiscite:
“We abolished smoking, so I assume the affair with the cars is also something we can do, isn’t it?”
Especially with respect to the second issue, I am writing it down in my own words, which means that it is probably not totally verbatim. But what a nice vision. How about having a plebiscite – and driving a car would only be permitted as an “ultima ratio”. That would be putting a stop to the massive waste of time and destruction of environment. A lot less air pollution and noise. And fewer fatal traffic accidents.
🙁 But, unfortunately, it is nowhere near as easy as that.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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