Our author rarely drives a car, but she likes. Then she stands around with it on city streets, even though she wants to get ahead. With mobility researcher Philine Gaffron, she wanted to go exactly there: in slow-moving traffic.
The traffic researcher arrives with a small folding bike to our possibly halting conversation and can hardly be stopped. This concerns on the one hand the speed at which she thinks and on the other hand the energy with which she stands up for her convictions. Dr. Philine Gaffron works as a senior engineer at the Institute for Transport Planning and Logistics at the Technical University of Hamburg and is committed to sustainable mobility and climate protection.
BARBARA: You don't have a car, do you?
Dr. Philine Gaffron: No, I have four bicycles, which are enough – but that's how I've arranged my life. But I do use public transport, car sharing offers and sometimes borrow a car from a neighbor.
And how do you find driving so basically?
Sometimes I like to drive, although I find it unreasonable in the city. When I have to transport something heavy and I'm on the road in the borrowed car, I wonder why people do this to themselves – the constant stopping and looking for a parking space.
That's a good thing: The 50-year-old is not an exaggerated eco-activist who insults every driver as a climate killer – and then gets into my old Mercedes without grumbling. That drinks around 17 liters of fuel in city traffic. And which I would never give up, although I know that it is one of 47.7 million cars in Germany that stand around an average of 23 hours a day.
Ms. Gaffron, we're probably stuck in a traffic jam. Stupidly asked: Why do they even exist?
To put it simply, it has something to do with supply and demand.
There are more cars than space?
I agree. In the city, people use the technical language of intersections, in good German: intersections. Logically you have to stop there at a red light, for example, it comes to a standstill. And the rate of runoff, along with demand, determines how many vehicles can make it through the intersection. If there are too many, there is a backlog.
We drive towards the main station. The traffic on the six-lane main artery normally stands still, everything flows on this afternoon of all things, nobody honks their horns, nobody complains. Admittedly: We creep forward at 30 km / h. Exactly the speed that Ms. Gaffron would like to have anywhere in town – with a few exceptions, as she says. Because we often only drive from red light to red light anyway. And because it would be much quieter in the streets at slower speeds. Next to us, cyclists roll downhill on a divided lane towards the center. Otherwise they'll zoom past the slow traffic, today they are at the same speed as the cars. And it’s wetter today, because it’s raining.
Okay, we have too many cars. What could convince people to switch?
One could align tracks according to the speed. The slower bicycles would drive on the right – including the e-scooters if you like, although that's a completely different topic – and on the left, cars, e-bikes and pedelecs. That would be the safest and most efficient in terms of space. When the pace drops overall, there is often room for more tracks.
But what do you do, for example, as a person with two children and a heavy purchase?
At this very second, of all times, a mother cycles past on a cargo bike, with exactly two children sitting in front. Mrs. Gaffron laughs:
But I didn't order it!
Maybe we'd rather talk about traffic jams on highways. How do they come about?
We have the same problem with the quantity, plus other factors. When driving downhill or when vehicles are converging or when changing lanes, you brake – and then sometimes there are phantom traffic jams.
So what is that?
They arise without an apparent cause, i.e. without a construction site or accident. The reason is driving behavior. An example: I overtake at 120, someone comes behind me at 130 and has to brake. But it doesn't slow down to 120, but maybe to 110, the one behind it to 105 … And then a wave develops that continues backwards. At some point there will be a traffic jam or even a standstill. Those responsible do not notice anything because it happens behind them.
Are people too stupid to drive?
Well, we humans are not always able to drive at the same pace and with the same distance. That would cost a lot of concentration and would be extremely exhausting.
We talk briefly about the hotly debated topic of maximum speed on motorways, Ms. Gaffron explains that the faster the traffic jams, the greater the speed differences. If trucks overtake themselves and someone rushes at 200 from behind, they brake harder – bang, the traffic is slow.
So can you save yourself the question of whether you are for a speed limit?
130 would be a start, I could also imagine 120. Of course I know the counter-arguments, based on the motto, that is nonsense and that we are not saving the climate … But honestly? I can't think of a single rationally understandable argument not to do it.
Do you sometimes think that we stopped in the 1950s when it came to driving a car?
Let me put it this way: When you talk to representatives of the automotive industry, the attitude among the gentlemen is usually: "We are a pillar of society" and by no means "We have to do something fundamentally different".
Is it really desirable for something big to change?
We see in the surveys that people are aware of the problems – but too little happens. We need more speed to change. But changes are scary. And you have to take them seriously – to a certain extent. Sure, there will always be people you will never convince. But that's the minority.
Out of the city, up on the autobahn, we thread our way between creeping trucks that are heading for the Elbe tunnel. Ms. Gaffron is almost thrilled that the traffic is finally stalling:
Oh look! Traffic jam! Well, at least everyone drives a little slower. If we had one, we would have to say: "We are the traffic jam." Because we are part of it.
What Ms. Gaffron puts her finger on the sore spot: I'm the one who likes to drive into the city center on Saturdays to buy socks. I decide to go on the offensive.
Are you going to forbid me to drive? In any case, I don't want to give up my freedom!
But what freedom are we talking about?
Oh, now it's getting uncomfortable. Fortunately, we are driving into the tunnel at this moment. It gets very loud. Do I really want to explain to someone that I consider it my personal privilege to be in a tin box? I do not want to. Daylight finally appears at the end. We decide to make another detour and drive to the Köhlbrand Bridge. Here, too, nothing is building up, nobody knows why, but the view is wonderful: In the distance the city is under the clouds, the wind is whistling – a good time to ask about the future.
Ms. Gaffron, imagine that a fairy godmother asks you about your three wishes with regard to the traffic turnaround. So?
The first thing I would like to see is that we have over half fewer cars. Then that they drive with green electricity and many of them are sharing vehicles. Thirdly, I would like cities to become child-friendly – then they would be good for everyone: safe, clean, relatively quiet and climate-friendly.
And will your wishes be fulfilled in ten years?
Wait, I'll get my crystal ball out of my pocket, luckily I always have it with me.
Finally, let's have a coffee somewhere in town. Of course, Ms. Gaffron finds the suggestion to simply park in the second row directly in front of the café completely absurd. That's why we also take a little walk.
The first car from Dr. Philine Gaffron was a duck she fondly remembered. It was her last anyway.