What would happen if the mountain biker
would accept the 2 meters rule?
Oh my god,
I hope he will
be faster
downhill than
uphill.
More than 2 meters,
you are allowed to ride.
Hey,
who is
the snail now?
Lobby for trail access,
building critical mass
Weg mit der 2 Meter Regel in BaWü
Get rid of the 2 meters rule in BaWü
Started August 2013, still going on
Deutsche Initiative Mountain Bike e.V.
Heiko Mittelstädt
Project leader
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg Details
Heidelberg
Karlsruhe
Ulm
Schwarzwald
Black Forest
Schwäbische Alb
(Württemberg)
(Baden)
Freiburg
Impressions
First 3 min film
U21 CC Biker Pirmin Kuß
Near Freiburg
http://vimeo.com/82170186
Law in Germany
§14Bundeswaldgesetz
(1) Das Betreten des Waldes zum Zwecke der Erholung ist gestattet. Das
Radfahren, das Fahren mit Krankenfahrstühlen und das Reiten im Walde ist nur
auf Straßen und Wegen gestattet.
(2) Die Länder regeln die Einzelheiten. Sie können das Betreten des Waldes
aus wichtigem Grund, insbesondere des Forstschutzes, der Wald- oder
Wildbewirtschaftung, zum Schutz der Waldbesucher oder zur Vermeidung
erheblicher Schäden oder zur Wahrung anderer schutzwürdiger Interessen des
Waldbesitzers, einschränken und andere Benutzungsarten ganz oder teilweise
dem Betreten gleichstellen.
Cycling in the forest is allowed only on the streets or paths.
The states can regulate the details and restrict this law if
necessary.
Law in Baden Württemberg
§ 37 Landeswaldgesetz BaWü (1995)
"Nicht gestattet sind das Reiten auf gekennzeichneten Wanderwegen unter 3 m
Breite und auf Fußwegen, das Radfahren auf Wegen unter 2m Breite sowie das
Reiten und Radfahren auf Sport- und Lehrpfade" … die Forstbehörde kann
Ausnahmen zulassen
Cycling is prohibited on paths less than 2 meters wide. … The forestry
commission office can allow exceptions.
How does the law work in reality?
- The locals ignore the 2 meter law or don´t know about it.
- The law is not enforced.
- There have been very few penalties.
- No conflicts in the forest.
- The hikers don’t know about the law either.
=> Why cange the law after 18 years?
Tourism 10% compromise
- Unattractive tracks on the touristic MTB routes. Only 80 km
official Singletrail in whole BaWü. 8500 km forestry roads
- Bad image of the black forest
=> Less guests because of the restriction
→ Compromise: 10% exceptions on the official MTB routes
=> 850 km singel trails.
=> That means a consolidation of the 2 meters rule and a lot
of bureaucracy
Small Parliament Question
A offical question from a member of parliament about the
need of the 2 meter rule:
→ The forest ministery will keep the 2 meter rule.
Justification: conflicts and deadly accidents.
Other Reasons
- First green and socialist coalition in BaWü, since 1952
- Discussion about MTB pacours and Ultrabike Marathon in
Kirchzarten
- Blocked route at the MTB Marathon in Offenburg
- Successfull intervention by the DIMB in Hessen
Our goal
●
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Down with the 2 meter rule. Open any street or path for
cyclists
Individual trail closures are accepted if reasonable
Campaigns to share the trails, showing respect fo all users
(trail rules)
Cyclist should help to keep the trails intact
Designated freeride tracks are necessary for the gravity
cyclists
Install a round table
Two levels of action
●
●
Arguments
- based on scientific studies
Public realtions
- supporters
- opponents
Opponent Arguments
●
Deadly accidents
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Enviroment protection
●
Wildlife protection
●
Trail damage and erosion
●
Liability of landowner in case of accident
●
User conflict (Hiker)
Collecting Arguments
The 2 Meter Rule:
- discriminates all cyclists, not only mountainbikers
- penalties can occur
- conflict only occur because the law is on the hikers’ side
- it is impossible to measure the 2 meter correctly
- Local cyclists should be able to ride from home
Collecting Arguments
- trainer and guides are in a legal gray area. (liability in case
of an accident, risk of costs)
- hard to get a permit for official sport events
- tourism got less guests
- bad image of Baden-Württemberg
- the rule ist possibly illegal by itself
Statements
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Using pathways together
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The 2 meter law and the constitution
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Open letter to the Prime Minister
cycling in the forest
Website www.dimb.de
- Campaign website
- libary with scientific studies
Public Relations
Not only the arguments counts.
You have to find a majority among the decicion
makers
●
The opponents are good organized and traditionaly
involved in politics
●
Cyclists are rarly organized
●
We are a young sport
●
Public image of the cyclists is bad
Instruments for Public Relation
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Other Associations (Supporters & Opponents)
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Petition
●
Leaflets and Poster
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Press Releases, TV and News
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Discussion with politicians (on- and offline)
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Image campaign
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Using social media
Alliance with cycling associations
BRV Badischer Radsportverband (18.000)
WRSV Württembergischer Radsportverband (21.000)
ADFC Allgemeiner deutscher Fahrradclub (18.000/138.000)
DIMB Deutsche Initiative Mountain Bike (13.000/60.000)
=> they do politics within their organisations
Press Conference
Eurobike 2.Sept. 2013
Hans Lutz (WRSV), Herbert Jacob (BRV), Thomas Kleinjohann (DIMB),
Dr. Gudrun Zühlke (ADFC), Michael Winkler (DIMB)
Resolution
Other sport and nature associations
Supporters:
●
Deutscher Alpenverein
●
Naturfreunde BaWü
●
IG Klettern
=> Press Releases and PR by themselves
Hiking associations
●
Schwarzwaldverein
●
Schwäbischer Albverein
- Visit the chairman. A lot prejudice is obsolete if you have
a personal contact.
- Write e-mails to the local groups
- Trail maintainace together with local groups
- A lot of hiking club members ride bikes by themselves
Other association
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Tourism
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Hunters
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Nature Protection (BUND, NABU)
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Landowner
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Forestry commision
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Cycling industrie and dealers
Petition
●
Anybody can start a Petition
●
No fixed number of subscribers is needed.
●
The parliamentary commission has to hear you
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Parliament has to decide about the Petition
●
Our goal was to collect about 50.000 subscriptions
●
We did the collection for about 3 months
●
In June we have our first hearing at the parliamentary
commision
OpenPetition.de
Online Petition Time Curve
Online Petition Germany
Online Petition BaWü
How to get online subscribers?
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Building a website with arguments
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Getting links from other Websites, list them as supporters
●
Threads at MTB-News.de and other forums
●
Posts and comments on Facebook
●
Press releases
=> for more information on how we use the social media
see below
Collecting Subscribers Offline
- Offline form at Openpetition.de
- Leaflets (50.000) and poster (2.000)
- Bike events
- Bike hotspots
- Bike shops
=> We got 4.000 offline and 54.000 online subscribers
Offline Form
Leaflets and poster
Bike Events
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Eurobike
Bike Events
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Schwarzwald Marathon Furtwangen
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Albgold Marathon Albstadt
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4X German Masters
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Regional Races
Cyclists Hot Spots
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Freiburg Borderline (Free ride track)
Press releases and interviews
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Press release needs a good statement and a picture
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Reporters call back and you have to react quickly
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Talk to reporters like you talk to friends. An interview takes
me 30-60 min.
Ask if they ride themselves. Ask for their experience with
mountainbikers
Ask for their e-mail and send more information after the
call
Read the article in the news and give thanks to the
reporter
Make an adress book of positive reporters and feed them
with exclusiv information
List all the articles on your website
Letters to the editor
●
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●
Write letters to the editor. That is very important
- give the editor a feedback
- correct wrong information
Write comments online and paper letters
Activate the followers on FB or MTB-News to write letters
and comments
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Lead the discussion in a good direction
●
Avoid confrontation with opponents
TV
●
Be prepared! It ist your cinema and you are the actor
●
For a 3 min TV spot, the TV Team need about 2h
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You need one day in advance to organize the set
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Look for the right location
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Organize a good mixture of cyclists
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Come with light equipment. Ride slowly
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Brief the biker about common questions and arrange
standart answers
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ZDF Heute Nacht
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SWR Landesschau
Politics
- Look for local politcal events and send followers
- Using polls and election campaigns to get in contact
- Look at the political program of the party
- Read the coalition contract
- Find biker in the party that will support you
- Invite politicians to bike events
Asking polititicians online
Abgeordnetenwatch.de
Image campaign
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We are mountinbiker
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Trail maintainance
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Trail rules
We are mountain bikers
http://www.wir-sind-mountainbiker.de/
Trail Maintainance
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Cyclists help hiking club working on a trail
Trail Rules
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Rules of the Trail
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1. Ride on open trails only.
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2. Leave no trace.
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3. Control your bicycle.
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4. Always yield trail.
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5. Never spook animals.
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6. Plan ahead.
Using social media
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Website
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Public MTB-News-Forum
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Internal MTB-News Forum
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Facebook (Twitter, Google+, etc)
Our campaign website
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www.dimb.de
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→ show the Website
Facebook Open Trails
https://www.facebook.com/DIMB.OpenTrails
→ Show the Facebook Site.
MTB News.de:
- Forum with over 120.000 registrated users
- News section
- Subforum for Open Trails moderated by DIMB
- Subforum for regional topics
MTB-News.de
organize and communicate
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Be quick
E-Mail and telephone conferences are used in the inner
circle
Wider circel is organized in an internal forum on MTBNews.de
-Invite people with good comments and opinions to the
internal forum
- Invite other bike associations
All requests have to be answered in 24h
Thank you