Cologne’s busy, e-scooter-and-cyclist-addled streets aren’t the best for a relaxing stroll, according to residents.
In fact, according to a recent nationwide survey conducted by the German automobile association, ADAC, Cologne ranks as the worst city in Germany for pedestrians.
In Cologne, a third of pedestrians said they felt unsafe walking the streets.
Surveying more than 3,250 respondents in 16 large cities across Germany, the ADAC found that pedestrians in Cologne felt the most unsafe.
Factors the ADAC considered in its survey included whether a city was felt to have sufficient safe crossing facilities.
Another factor was whether the needs of all road users, including pedestrians, were taken into account equally in urban planning.
“Pedestrian traffic in Cologne has been neglected for years by politicians and administrators,” ADAC spokesperson Roman Suthold told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
“And because the accumulated problems cannot be solved overnight, the frustration is still great,” he added.
Across Germany, just over half of respondents felt safe on their streets.
Potsdam and Munich came up top as cities with the safest streets. Two-thirds of respondents in both cities described feeling safe.
E-scooters are the enemy to many
In Cologne, frustrations over e-scooters, cyclists, and motorbikes careening down pavements with no regard for pedestrians were voiced by 81 percent of those queried.
E-scooters came up top as the problem vehicle: 64 percent of respondents identified their drivers as the group least likely to pay attention to pedestrians.
Countrywide, e-scooters provoked the ire of many.
More than two-thirds of city dwellers find the sight of e-scooters blocking pavements, speeding, and overtaking seriously frustrating. The majority of respondents were also annoyed by observing similar behaviour among cyclists.
But the survey revealed that pedestrians also got annoyed by other pedestrians with the biggest problem being those who walk along without looking up from their smartphones.
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