German fascination with snow clearing

Anybody know why there is such a immediacy in clearing the snow away from paths as soon as the first flake falls? Is there a german law or something that states that the path has be clearded in front of your house/shop?

Just went out, and nearly broke my neck several times because i was sliding on the path that has been cleared and then snowed on again and then compressed and then turned to mush. Why don't they just leave it? Its easier to walk on fresh snow as it scrunches under foot, or am i the only weirdo here?

Anybody know where i can get some mini crampons?

Yes, I believe there is. Not quite sure what it extends to, but you're obliged to keep it clear, and if somebody takes a tumble on your bit and it's not been cleared, you're liable.

Hmm. I would happen to agree with you here davek. After they clear the snow, then it snows again, it's actually gets worse. It would be better if they left it. Or they put down so much gravel that you end up with it stuck on your shoes and scratching floors to death.

There is in fact a law about it. See ARD Rechtratgeber (German only). The legal text is WEG § 27 Section 1(2) (Property Ownership Law).
If someone falls arse over tit, the property owner can be held liable if the bit of the pavement deemed to belong to the property has not been cleared properly.
Katrina

Hmmm, I think we are walking on different paths here in Munich. I have yet to come across any pavement that has been cleared and it is driving me mad.

There is. The owner of the house or the facility management has to take care nobody can slip. I don't know how it is in town, but it is like that in the little villages.
If you break ur neck ur family can claim the funeral expenses from the owner of the house.

Yes, this gets me too.

There is a single flake of snow and suddenly all the pensioners are out on the street with their wooden shovels scratching at the pavements.

I can always tell in the mornings if it has snowed during the night. I don't need to look out of the window. I just listen for the scraping and scratching.

Very strange.

Makes me laugh though. In this weather there are only two things which can happen:

1) You clear all the snow. An hour later there is a foot of fresh snow on top of the space you just cleared.

2) It warms up during the day and the snow has melted anyway.

Either way, the whole shenanigans is an exercise in futility.

A typical case of "Ordnung muss sein". Snow must not cover the pavements.

Agree with you about compressing the snow to ice. Fresh snow is easier to walk in.

How bizaare! So then i can sue if they've done nothing, but i can't if they have done something, ie made it worse, which is why i fell in the first place ('cus they cleared it)? How does that work? So then your saying that if i don't drive my car, i can be sued for breaking a traffic law, but not if i do?

Hmmm...dunk the witch in the water, if she survies she's a witch, if she dies she's not?

My hausmeister starts at bloody 5am to scratch the snow away. Its annoying !

Has to be complete before 7am on a work day so that people can go to work or school unhindered. And shovels are used as gritting not done by the council is mostly outlawed due to enviromental protection laws (i.e. the salt damages the enviroment).

ooops..no wonder i got annoyed looks when i was at my old place...salt on the pavement...cleared it though, and no ice or snow..no danger of people slipping arse over tit..

According to this article, you have between 7am and 8am (latest) to start cleaning off the snow. On Sundays and holidays, you have until 10am. Just because you are working when it starts to snow doesn't free you from your obligation to clear the sidewalk, you have to get someone to do it for you then. They suggest a neighbour. But you can't start clearing the snow before 6am with anything that's noisy. Probably a broom or shovel would be okay, but a snowblower is not. You don't necessarily have to shovel away the snow, but you have to make it safe to walk on, so if people have already crushed down the snow and made it too hard-packed to remove, you can instead scatter gravel on it to prevent slipping.

As an aside, apparently most heart attacks in North American cities happen the day after that city's first major snowfall of the season. The strain of shovelling the snow gets them.

Small consilation. Like walking across the street with the green man without checking traffic, getting plowed by an audi, and being in the right. Yes, you are right. You are dead right.

Here is a classic case of Quality of Life vs. Life. Choose Life. Throw some salt down. Live in a slightly salted world.

:offtopic: Quick look at Heart Attacks on Monday mornings from the British Medical Journal due to drinking. Probably not due to drinking but to having to get up and return to work.

danger of people slipping arse over tit
I just have to laugh. That's a new one for me.

Just because it's your legal obligation to clear the snow in front of your house, that doesn't mean that you actually have to do it. Right?

Oh wait. This is Germany. And in Germany they have rules. Rulez vich must be obeyed at all timez.

I think I prefer the snow clearing methods here to those employed in the UK.

The road planners in the UK are dreadful, perish the thought it might snow, melt and then snow again in one day. And yes that means you must grit again once the snow has melted. Simple theory really but failed miserably in the UK

P

Apparently none of you have lived in a city where neither the citizens nor the city are bothered with the snow. Trudge to work once through snow up to your knees and you'll never complain again. I really appreciate the snow clearing as it's the first time I've lived in a city where the sidewalks are always cleared. To me, the gravel's a great idea because in the states, salt is the default solution--which makes things ten times worse.

Nope it has sunk in that we are liable if someone slips outside our house. I agree that it is stupid as it is safer if ot stays on the pavement. But hey these are the rules and we will lose money if we don't stick to them.

all I know is that this is the first winter of my life in which I haven't had a pair of shoes or boots ruined by salt. And I'm happy about it.

I may be spoiled because we have the little municipal plow trucks clear the sidewalks on all the streets in my hood.

yeah i have one of those mad little gits in my 'hood ( i believe it is apostrophed as it's an abbreviation ), what's the law say on if one of those run you down on the pavement(the bit for people that walk...pedestrians), whilst they're clearing the snow, and perish the thought clearing the snow that somebody else should have cleared outside their house. What a law suit!

I'd heard that its a requirement to clear the snow by 7am (but find refrozen 1mm ice harder to cross than 3mm snow), and a subsequent requirement to clear every two hours.

So, wouldn't that really mean that you just have to stay at home and clear the snow, all day??

:::off topic:::

Hood is acceptable slang and a very widespread coloquial phrase that needs no apostrophy but could have one.
Mad little gits, however...

gettin' me coat!