Anger in the village of Störmthal over an unexpected forest of signs

In the 500-inhabitant village of Störmthal, south of Leipzig, there has been a lack of understanding for a few weeks about an unexpected forest of signs. In the village street, 16 signs have been erected over a few hundred meters, announcing that parking is only permitted for a maximum of two hours in the parking bays there. The majority of residents don't like this, says village manager Marc Etzolt. The forest of blue signs destroys the image of the green village street.

Lake visitors cause traffic problems in the village

The initiative for signage came from the voluntary local council itself. The background to this is the neighboring Lake Störmthal, which attracts many visitors when the weather is nice. Instead of parking in a large paid parking lot, many drivers prefer to park their vehicles on the village street. The parking bays there could previously be used free of charge for an unlimited period.

"As a local council, we actually just wanted the parking zone, which has been signposted for a very long time, to be limited to parking times. Until now, it only said: "Parking in marked areas" and we wanted "Parking for two hours in marked areas"," says Etzold.

The local council had in mind one sign at the entrance to the village and one at the end of the village. But instead, Störmthal got a forest of blue signs two months ago. Setting up the signs cost 5,000 euros, says Etzold. Almost each of the parking bays is marked individually, with a sign marking the start of the two-hour parking period and a sign announcing its end.

Municipality invokes StVO

The municipality of Großpösna is responsible for this. It refers to the road traffic regulations. Only with the many signs could the parking bays have been marked in accordance with the law, says Großpösna's mayor Daniel Strobel. Unlike a continuous parking strip at the side of the road, bays would have to be signposted individually.

The mayor reports that discussions have already taken place with the local council. The first step now is to see whether the two-hour limit on the parking bays will encourage visitors to the lake to park their cars in the designated large parking spaces.

Success of the parking time limit to be reviewed

"We are not making any quick decisions. We'll first see if the basic idea works. And then we can sit down together again in a month or two," says Strobel.

Local manager Etzold hopes that one or two signs will disappear after all. "A sign like this could perhaps be reused elsewhere in a municipality that consists of many districts," he says. "It would be good for the beauty of our town or the design of our town if we had a few fewer signs."