Under a federal administrative regulation, German road authorities work with an Unfallkommission, an accident commission. In North Rhine-Westphalia its permanent members are the road traffic authority, the road construction authority and the police. The commission must observe the development of road accidents continuously. When accidents cluster at one place within a set period, the place becomes an Unfallhäufungsstelle, an accident cluster spot. The commission then decides on measures to remove the factors that favor accidents. The measures must be suitable, appropriate and enforceable. Afterwards the commission checks whether they worked.
Words for a Fix That Will Not Last
die Flickschusterei — cobbler’s patching. DWDS: an improper, improvised repair, and also an attempt to improve a bad situation that does not bring the hoped-for result. Die Zeit wrote in 2008 of making a few new shoes for once, statt Flickschusterei, instead of patching.
das Stückwerk — piecework, something incomplete. Seine Bemühungen blieben nur Stückwerk, his efforts remained only piecework.
mit heißer Nadel genäht — sewn with a hot needle, done in a hurry and therefore without care.
Wer billig kauft, kauft zweimal. — Whoever buys cheap buys twice.
einen Mangel abstellen — to stop a defect, to remove it.
The Hardest Structure to Break
In Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, economy and society, published in 1921–22 after his death in 1920, the sociologist Max Weber wrote: “Eine einmal voll durchgeführte Bürokratie gehört zu den am schwersten zu zertrümmernden sozialen Gebilden.” A bureaucracy, once fully developed, is among the social structures hardest to smash. He called it a practically unbreakable form of rule.
A Ministry Founded After Chernobyl
In the spring of 1986, environmental protection in the federal government was divided among the ministries of the interior, agriculture and health. The Chernobyl reactor disaster led to the founding of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Reactor Safety on 6 June 1986. The ministry still exists, under changing names.
Pilot, Test, Then Permanent
The German Football League took part early in the international trials of the video assistant referee. In the 2016/17 season it tested the system offline at three Bundesliga matches per round. In the next season it was used live in all nine matches of each round. In March 2018 the 18 Bundesliga clubs decided, with one abstention, to keep the video assistant permanently. They named the wish for more sporting fairness as the reason. According to the league, by the 26th round of that season the video assistant had prevented 49 clear wrong decisions in 68 interventions.
A Surcharge Meant for One Year
The Solidaritätszuschlag, a surcharge on income tax, was first levied from 1 July 1991 to 30 June 1992. From 1995 it was levied again, without a time limit, to finance German unity. Since 2021 about 90 percent of those who paid it are fully exempt. In March 2025 the Federal Constitutional Court rejected a complaint against it. Such a surcharge need not be limited in time from the start, the court held. It must be abolished or adjusted only when the extra financial need behind it has evidently ended. Germans have a saying for this: Nichts hält länger als ein Provisorium, nothing lasts longer than a provisional arrangement.