Driving bans also in Cologne and Bonn!

Verwaltungsgericht Köln: otherwise not adhering to the nitrogen oxide limit

Also Cologne and Bonn must introduce driving prohibitions. This was decided by the Administrative Court of Cologne on November 8, 2018 (Az Cologne: 13 K 6684/15, Az .: Bonn: 13 K 6682/15). They are to apply from April 2019 for diesel passenger cars with Euro 4 standard and older and also for old gasoline engines (Euro 1 to 3), from September 2019 then - only partially in Bonn - also for diesel passenger cars with Euro 5 Engines.

Diesel driving bans in Cologne and Bonn! Dirty diesel cars contribute to more than 800,000 new cases of diabetes and asthma every year. (Image: WS-Design / fotolia.com)

On appeal by Deutsche Umwelthilfe, the Administrative Court found that in 2017 both cities would have failed to comply with the nitrogen oxides limit of 40 micrograms per cubic meter of air per year.

In Cologne, this applies to at least five measuring stations with a peak annual mean at the Clevisch Ring of 62 micrograms per cubic meter. In view of the high excesses, the city could only comply with the limit with driving bans in the previous "green environmental zone". The administrative court therefore obliged the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to update the clean air plan for the city of Cologne and to include a zone-based driving ban as a measure there.

In Bonn, an average annual value of 47 micrograms per cubic meter was measured at the Reuterstraße 2017, and 42 micrograms at the Belderberg 2016. Because of the small excess, diesel passenger cars with Euro 5 engines are not affected there. For this, however, the city bus fleet must be retrofitted with filters "promptly". For Bonn, the administrative court also obliged the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to update its clean air plan accordingly.

After the verdict was pronounced, Umwelthilfe in Berlin said: "Now that we've won ten cases in a row, nobody should think that driving bans are disproportionate and will not come. All the courts that have dealt with the subject so far see it differently. "

Overall, the environmental aid lawsuits have filed for "clean air" in so far 29 cities five more will follow in November 2018.

According to calculations by the European Environment Agency, nitrogen dioxide was already responsible for 13,100 premature deaths in Germany alone in 2015, emphasized the environmental aid. Dirty diesel cars contribute significantly to more than 800,000 new cases of diabetes and asthma every year.