„They seem to ignore the regulations“, says an annoyed passerby, who does not want to read her name in a newspaper article. „Several times, I nearly got knocked over“, she reports - and many others complained about the traffic bullies amongst the cyclists when asked in a survey.

The city council is well aware of the problem, the press office explains when asked by the General-Anzeiger. „Unfortunately, the local public order agency informed us that there are many reckless cyclists in the city centre“, says Isabel Klotz from the press office. They are cycling „much too fast“ and are thus endangering the pedestrians. When checked they are most unreasonable and unaware how much they are risking the safety of walkers in the city.

Axel Mörer-Funk from the German Cycling Club (ADFC) disagrees. „Each day, there are approximately 100,000 cyclists on the roads in Bonn. If maybe 20 of those cycle through the pedestrian zones, I don’t consider that as ‚dramatic‘“, he says.

He thinks the matter is getting hyped up. Most cyclists, as most pedestrians, are respecting each other - „a few louts will always be among those“, says Mörer-Funk. „Just like there will always be pedestrians jay-walking too.“ He says he can understand though that pedestrians feel harassed by the cyclists. That could be partly because of not knowing that parts of the pedestrian zone are open to cyclists.

The area between the train station and the Münsterplatz and the area around the Friedensplatz and Sterntor, for example. From the Münsterplatz towards the market square and Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz, cyclists have to push their bikes. According to the city council, the problem with reckless cyclists occurs very much in the „probihited areas as well as the permitted zones“.

Violating the regulations can lead to fines of different amounts, depending on the intention of the cyclists and if the safety of others was risked. „At first, the local public order agency warns the cyclists. If they react reasonably, that’s it. But if the reactions are aggressive, the colleagues are allowed to issue a fine“, explains Klotz.

The fine can range from minimum15 Euro, to 20 Euro if somebody is causing a hindrance. If somebody gets „endangered“, the fine goes up to 25 Euro. The police are checking on foot and by bike along the affected routes. There are no statistics about the frequency of the checks. The City Marketing organization is demanding that: „Cycling in non-cycling areas needs to be controlled more regularly“, says director Maike Reinhardt.

It would be so important to connect the city’s South with the Altstadt with proper cycling paths. „But we consider the bikers’ respect towards the pedestrians to be extremely important.“ Also, the parking habits directly in front of shop fronts has to change - „in front of the shop windows is not ideal“, says Reinhardt.

(Original text: Peter Gassner; Translation: Mareike Graepel)