way to school

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thai elementary school students on their way to school

The way to school is the way between home and school . As a rule, it is covered on foot, by bike or by public transport (e.g. also with the school bus ). In recent years, children are also often by their parents with the car brought to school, which a greatly increased traffic in front of the schools, the so-called school-rush hour causes.

Pedibus is one way of making the way to school in groups of children accompanied by adults .

From a legal point of view, a way to school is the shortest safe route between a student's home and their school or classroom. The way to school starts at the front door of the residential building and ends at the "closest entrance to the school property" (Section 97, Paragraph 4 of the NRW School Act).

Increasing distances

Falling numbers of pupils and changes in educational policy objectives lead to school closings and the establishment of school centers. This also makes the way to school longer.

A study carried out by researchers at the University of Dortmund in 1998 showed that a third of 690 children of different age groups questioned no longer knew how to go to school because their parents brought and picked them up by car. Parental transport of children to and from school, as well as to activities outside of school, is also known as a parent taxi . Some parents form walking or car pools .

The actions initiated by schools to ensure that the way to school is made safe also includes the establishment of so-called parent stops , which are, for example, a few hundred meters away from the school. The parents 'stops are designed to ensure that children can get on and off safely, as well as a safe walk from the parents' stop to the school. At the same time, the schools usually also point out the advantages of having the child walk to school.

As a day of action against the trend to travel to school in the car, September 22nd was named international walk to school day .

Accident hazards

With this picture Margret Hofheinz-Döring shows the way to school (1953) the hopes and concerns of an observing mother

The road is an accident-prone movement space for children after leaving the protective parental home. Schoolchildren are particularly exposed to high dangers on their way to school. These result to a small extent from excesses of violence , primarily from the threat posed by the constantly increasing vehicle traffic. Many parents therefore still believe that they can save their children the risks by driving them to school in the form of the so-called parents' taxi. This security is deceptive, as the official records of the Federal Statistical Office, which have been kept for decades and published annually, clearly show: According to official statistics, accidents with riders in motor vehicles have overtaken pedestrian accidents with children for several years. They counteract the otherwise positive trend in the number of accidents:

Safety on the school routes has increased since the late 1970s as part of the reorientation of traffic education and traffic didactics , with the introduction of pedestrian diploma improved steadily and clearly and support measures of the educational and road construction Branch: up to that time children are still the main victims of traffic accidents , with the number of accidents increasing every year and the focus on accidents on the way to school, today (2015), measured by their proportion of the population, they have a significantly lower risk of road accidents than other age groups: The proportion of children under 15 years of age in all road accident victims was in 2015 only 7.1%, while their share of the population was 13.2%. In 1978 there were 468 children with accidents for every 100,000 inhabitants of their age group, this number fell to 264 in 2015. The risk of perishing in traffic fell from 94 children per million inhabitants to eight children in 2015. On the other hand, 38.0% of the children killed in an accident in 2015 were injured as occupants in a car, and of the children killed in 2015, most lost their lives as passengers in a car (40.5%).

Many children today learn too late or not at all to correctly assess road traffic hazards and to deal with them appropriately. Traffic experts blame the fact that too many children remain underage due to excessive vehicle transport, cycling too early and often a lack of systematic traffic education. As the statistics show, the endangerment of children on the way to school is largely due to the artificial condensation of motor traffic in the vicinity of the schools, the so-called school rush hour , and the preschool stress this creates for parents and children. The bad habit of the parents' taxi counteracts the efforts of traffic education to make the children independent and gain competence for their own safety and the otherwise already successful reduction in accidents. Accordingly, it has been proven that it is not helpful and really protective to incapacitate the child in the form of a passivation as a road user through external transport, but only to introduce the child to active, competent participation in traffic life as early as possible according to his level of development and his learning progress. Specifically, this means the ability to walk independently and responsibly to school as a pedestrian, which is seen as an essential characteristic of the school-leaving qualification of the first grader, or an ability to be an independent cyclist after passing the cycling test in the third or fourth school year.

insurance

Insurance law not only insures the direct, safe route to school. If a student has an accident on a “detour”, the insurance only pays for “age-typical behavior” (Federal Social Court: B 2 U 29/06 R). The insurance is financed from municipal and state funds.

aid

Regular training on the way to school and, especially in winter, light-reflecting clothing are important measures to ensure a safe journey to school. At some intersections and pedestrian crossings, there is a municipal or police route to school security (warnings by signs and stopping of vehicles). In addition, traffic aids such as school guides are also active to secure the way to school . Well-visible, light-colored clothing can also ensure more safety in road traffic.

Preschoolers enjoy the familiar environment and closeness of their parents. In elementary school age, however, they step by step break away from their parents' home, increasingly trust each other and cover new, more difficult paths. In order to provide parents, children and the responsible authorities with adequate support, the Accident Research of Insurers (UDV) has developed a media package. This gives recommendations for getting to school on foot, by bike, by bus or even by car.

Based on the didactic model of traffic education from the child , a standard program and several child-appropriate methods were developed at the Karlsruhe University of Education , which are specifically geared to the preparation and training of preschoolers and school beginners as independent road users: Even first graders should be driven as little as possible in cars and instead take an active part in traffic as a pedestrian. The Karlsruhe 12-step program aims to enable preschoolers to go it alone safely in the immediate vicinity in a short time. The pedestrian diploma based on this deals with the safe cope with the way to school for school beginners. Other projects designed to suit children, such as the game on the way to school , aim to deepen and consolidate the children's knowledge and skills.

Cost subsidies

Free or discounted student tickets for the way to school are only available if the student lives outside a certain area around his school. The exact provisions are a matter for the federal states, but the ministers of education have agreed on a common definition. For example, grants are to be granted if the single distance to school is more than 2 km for the primary level pupil , more than 3.5 km for the lower secondary level and more than 5 km for the upper secondary level II or if the pupil is off must use a means of transport for health reasons.

literature

  • Andrea Dittrich-Wesbuer, Erhard Erl: Out and about on foot - what is worth knowing and what is desirable about an underestimated means of transport . In: Handbook of municipal transport planning. Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-87907-400-3 .
  • MA Haller: Traffic education in preschool age as preparation for the way to school according to the Karlsruhe 12-step program . Scientific state examination work GHS, Karlsruhe 2001.
  • P. Spitta: Learn continuously. The way to school in first grade . In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 30 (2002), pp. 17-22.
  • Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, ISBN 978-3-8246-1049-5 (row 7: traffic accidents / annual results)
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz: Traffic as a hazard area , In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act . 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009, ISBN 978-3-8340-0563-2 , pp. 10-21.
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz: Are traffic accidents 'tragic' coincidences? In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 102 (2009), pp. 42–50.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Way to school  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Informationsdienst ruhr: Subject school: Many children do not know their way to school , 1998
  2. ↑ Take part ! Walk to school without a parents taxi. Action day on September 22nd , Hamburger Abendblatt (accessed on May 11, 2008)
  3. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Traffic as a hazard area , In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act . 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009, pp. 10-21
  4. ^ Maria Limbourg: Children on the move in traffic. Risks and dangers on children's paths , In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 47 (2002) pp. 9-16
  5. ↑ Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, (row 7: traffic accidents / annual results)
  6. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Traffic accidents. Child traffic accidents . Wiesbaden 2007
  7. ↑ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, p. 5
  8. ↑ ibid p. 6
  9. ↑ ibid p. 8
  10. ↑ Hardy Holte: Profiles in road traffic of children and adolescents who have had an accident , reports of the Federal Highway Research Institute, sub-series Human and Safety, Issue M 206, 2010
  11. ^ Maria Limbourg: Children in traffic . Ed .: Community accident insurance association Westphalia-Lippe, Münster 1996
  12. ↑ a b S.A. Warwitz: Children in the problem area of ​​school rush hour . In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 86 (2007), pp. 52–60
  13. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Traffic as a learning area , In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act . 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009, pp. 21-28
  14. ↑ Accident research by insurers: Media for securing the way to school
  15. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Traffic education from the child. Perceiving - playing - thinking - acting . 6th edition, Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2009
  16. ^ R. Pfeiffer: We GO to school . Vienna 2007
  17. ^ G. Schreiber: The Karlsruhe 12-Step Program. A training attempt with school beginners . Scientific state examination work GHS. Karlsruhe 2002
  18. ↑ P. Wegener: The 'pedestrian diploma' method as a didactic concept for improving the roadworthiness of school beginners . Scientific state examination thesis GHS Karlsruhe 2001
  19. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: We create a game for ourselves on the way to school. First grader in an interdisciplinary project . In: Case-Word-Number 30 (2002), pp. 23-27