“Affle” and “Pferdle” at Stuttgart pedestrian traffic lights
Stuttgart (dpa) – The Swabian cult figures “Horses and Monkeys” have been regulating pedestrian traffic at Stuttgart Central Station since Saturday – at least at a traffic light. Red shows a standing «ape» and green shows a walking «horse».
The two are two Swabian-speaking cartoon characters that the Süddeutsche Rundfunk (predecessor of the SWR) had developed in the 1960s for short clips between commercial blocks. Your fan club had campaigned for such a special traffic light system since 2017. According to the information, the Ministry of Transport initially did not want to make any exceptions to the road traffic regulations. The state parliament of Baden-Württemberg finally approved a compromise in 2019 with a double traffic light: in addition to the “Pferdle und Äffle” traffic light, a normal traffic light also shows pedestrians the way.
The S-Bahn Stuttgart commented on the short message service Twitter on Saturday about the commissioning of the traffic lights: “The main station in #Stuttgart simply has everything that a main station in Stuttgart needs.” Among others, Minister of Transport Winfried Hermann (Greens), Mayor of Stuttgart Frank Nopper (CDU) and SWR director Kai Gniffke came to the celebration at the main station.
There are unusual traffic light men in some cities: Emden in Lower Saxony, for example, paid homage to a son of the city, Otto Waalkes, with a hopping figure of the comedian on a traffic light. In downtown Bamberg, Bavaria, the “Sams” shines on a traffic light, which is very close to the house where the “Sams” films were shot. The creator of the children’s book character, Paul Maar, also lives in Bamberg.