Residents seek school-day car ban outside Vienna primary school

Residents are campaigning for a temporary car ban outside the Rittingergasse primary school in Vienna’s Floridsdorf district, ORF reported. They say parents driving children to the entrance are causing congestion and disruption in the otherwise quiet residential neighbourhood.

The residents have formed an initiative opposing the so-called parent taxis and have submitted a petition to the city. Philipp Strondl of the Rittingergasse citizens’ initiative said about 10 percent of parents caused most of the disorder, but that one vehicle behaving incorrectly could disrupt the entire system.

The initiative is seeking a school street, which would ban all vehicle access for 30 minutes in the morning. District politicians from all parties support the proposal, including district head Georg Papai of the Social Democratic Party and Freedom Party district councillor Karl Mareda.

Mareda said the measure would improve safety for children and reduce the burden on residents. Papai said someone would have to put up and remove barriers every morning and take reliable responsibility for the measure on every school day.

That task could be taken on by someone from the school, the parents or local residents. Vienna currently has 13 school streets, while two more are being developed, according to Petra Jens of the city’s Mobility Agency. The Rittingergasse proposal cannot proceed until someone agrees to oversee the safety measure each morning.