For this purpose, around 100 Dortmund police emergency vehicles will be fitted with stickers at the rear for a period of one year, with pictograms indicating the safety distance of 1.5 meters prescribed by the German Road Traffic Act (StVO) when overtaking cyclists. The StVO was amended more than two years ago and extended to include this regulation.

"We often observe an alarming level of competition instead of cooperation"

Police Commissioner Gregor Lange affixed the first sticker to a Dortmund police patrol car during a media appointment on Wednesday morning (16 November) - the other vehicles will now be covered quickly. "I think this campaign makes a lot of sense because we as the police can actively do something to protect cyclists," says Chief Constable Gregor Lange, for whom another point is also very important: "In recent years, we have often observed an alarming level of antagonism in road traffic - especially between motorists and cyclists - rather than cooperation. We therefore expressly promote more mutual consideration."

Following the media event, Dortmund police traffic accident prevention officers carried out a preventive operation on this very topic in the Kreuzviertel district, specifically in the Kreuzstraße area near the local school center. The traffic situation was observed and both motorists and cyclists were made aware of the regulations. "The safety of cyclists is simply very important to us," says Chief Superintendent Sascha Schlusemann: "We are aware that the amendment to the road traffic regulations is sometimes difficult to implement in this respect and that many people simply haven't noticed this yet. This is where we come in with our preventative work."

LPD Ralf Ziegler: "I often travel by bike myself and know about the difficulties on the road"

In the period from January 1, 2020 to the present day, a total of 13 traffic accidents have occurred in Dortmund and Lünen due to insufficient safety distance when overtaking. The accident locations included Münsterstraße, Kurler Straße, Oesterstraße and Schäferstraße. In the vast majority of cases, the cyclists were "only" slightly injured, in one case seriously injured, and in some cases the parties responsible for the accident fled.

From January to September 2022, there were a total of 426 traffic accidents involving cyclists. By comparison, there were 399 in the same period last year

For Senior Police Director Ralf Ziegler, Head of the Traffic Directorate at Dortmund Police, the joint campaign with the ADFC is an important contribution "to achieving Vision Zero. This is the top priority and we want to get as close as possible to the goal of 'zero road deaths' every year. I am a frequent cyclist myself and am aware of the difficulties on the road. I therefore expressly support this campaign and am sure that even more people will become aware of the new road traffic regulations in the future."

The Dortmund emergency vehicles will now be successively equipped with the brand new, yellow distance stickers

From the perspective of cooperation partner ADFC, too, the sticker campaign, which is limited to one year, has only winners. ADFC representative Björn Künsting: "We are very pleased that we have literally knocked down open doors with the Dortmund police. We are very happy about the support and would like to raise awareness of this important issue together." Special attention is also being paid to the protection of schoolchildren. Björn Künsting: "More pupils riding bikes also means that there are fewer "parent cabs" on the road - and that means it will be safer on the streets and in front of schools."

The campaign aims to objectify the often shrill and loud public disputes between motorists and cyclists - whether on the road or digitally on social media. Everyone involved is aware that compliance with the new rule is sometimes difficult due to the cycle path infrastructure in Dortmund. In other NRW cities such as Cologne and Bonn, the respective police forces and the ADFC have also cooperated on the same campaign in recent years. Now the Dortmund patrol cars are also gradually being equipped with the brand new yellow distance stickers.