Safety on the way to school
In traffic education , safety on the way to school means the remaining risk of danger for children and young people on their way between home and school premises after protective measures. It is a relative security that represents the state of affairs after excluding all avoidable risks. It represents a statistic measurable quantity that can be represented in numbers and thus provides objective information that is valid for a defined period and certain traffic zones.
The term is usually reduced to the threats posed by road traffic . However, they also affect other dangers in everyday life that arise from acts of violence among students or (less often) from attacks by adults. The actual safety on the way to school differs regionally and locally and is subject to fluctuations.
Historical
Even in the early days of motorization, the responsible authorities were concerned with the endangered safety of children on the way to school. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, a decree from 1906 by the Prussian "Minister for Spiritual Affairs" gave schools the responsibility for the safety of children when crossing the street in order to reduce the increasing number of accidents. The related letter to all school inspectors states:
“The care for schoolchildren makes it necessary to point out the dangers associated with careless or intentional approach to automobile vehicles that are in motion. It has been observed repeatedly how schoolchildren have run up to such a vehicle or tried to cross the street at the last moment immediately before it approached. I cause the royal government to provide the directors concerned with instructions that the pupils are made aware from time to time by the teachers in an appropriate manner of the dangers in which they can be caused by carelessness, excessive curiosity or the approach of automobiles reckless daring. "
This "traffic instruction" was carried out in the spirit of the times as a discipline of the students to comply with the rules with the sole claim to protect them from the dangers of a traffic accident. Compulsory so-called traffic instruction with the task of accident prevention was then anchored in 1930 by the Prussian minister of education as an integral part of the Prussian education system. The goals were to learn traffic rules, raise them to be a roadworthy child who complies with the rules, and ensure an accident-free journey to school.
In view of the increasing number of accidents on the way to school with the "Recommendations of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs " of July 7, 1972 as an educational mandate, the ministerial initiatives reached schools and universities throughout the Federal Republic. They were updated in 1994 and 2012 to reflect the new level of knowledge. This was followed by public campaigns and appeals to adults for more road safety on the way to school, which were mainly carried out by the German Traffic Guard, in which the German Federal Post Office also got involved in 1983 with the issue of its own postage stamp.
Since 1978, the Federal Statistical Office of the Federal Republic of Germany has also regularly monitored the development of accidents among children and young people, systematically calculated them, presented them in relative figures and made them available to the public once a year. Accidents on the way to school play the main role in the various types of transport. Other countries such as Austria and Switzerland also have comparable statistics .
Hazard potential
Pupils face dangers on their way to school in very different forms, with different frequencies and different intensities. They are not given across the board, but can be based on individual parameters: They range from physical and psychological threats from other children and adolescents, to speeches by drug dealers, sexual harassment or kidnapping by adults, to accidents due to vehicle traffic. They can result in injuries of various degrees and even death. The accidents can in turn be external caused by the action of others or self-inflicted, for example through improper behavior in road traffic or excessive demands due to premature participation as a cyclist. By far the most significant share of the journeys to school comes from vehicle traffic. Here, too, according to the surveys published annually by the Federal Statistical Office, differentiated statements can be made about the effects of different ways of using the way to school as pedestrians, cyclists, motorists or passengers on a school bus or private car. The actual endangerment of each type of traffic, in turn, is largely determined by the individual requirements of the child, the skills they have acquired and the willingness to take personal responsibility for their own safety.
A potential risk that is still underestimated by many parents, but has been proven to be relevant, comes from the so-called school rush hour , the mostly time-crowded and thus stress-ridden increase in vehicle traffic in the immediate vicinity of schools. This results in a chaotic accumulation of cars, cyclists, mopeds, school buses, pedestrians, children getting out and maneuvering vehicles in a confined space, which not only leads to agitation and behavior that is illegal, such as getting out of the car the wrong way, but also to psychological charge for all involved. In addition, there is the prevention of practical experience in dealing with traffic and the hindrance of a corresponding gain in competence by the children.
Accident statistics
The statistical accident curve with children reached a climax in the number of accidents in the mid-1970s, parallel to the development of motorized traffic in a steady upward trend. Accidents on the way to school took first place in the accident statistics, and Germany surpassed all other European countries in terms of the dangerousness of its roads. This situation forced an energetic turnaround in the country's transport policy and education, which also succeeded:
While in the 1950s there were still more than 1,000 killed children per year, this figure was below 100 for the fifth time in a row in 2015. In 1972, 71,278 children were harmed on German streets, 35,038 of them as pedestrians, and this number increased If the number of children who had had accidents was once again to 72,129 by 1978, the number curve fell in a continuous downward trend by 2015 to just 28,235 accidents involving children under 15 years of age. The statistical comparison of figures also shows that the FRG had meanwhile expanded to include the former GDR and that motor vehicle traffic had once again increased significantly.
Various factors contributed to the trend reversal towards the end of the 1970s, statistically recognizable and in some cases isolatable, which were complemented in a concerted action of transport policy, transport pedagogy, urban development and vehicle technology measures. It is statistically striking that the frequency of accidents on the way to school with children, in contrast to that of the other groups of people, shows a clearly disproportionate counter-trend: If the accidents on the way to school were still at the top of the scale until the trend reversal, they have gradually moved downwards In a positive sense, it is reversed: According to official statistics, children under 15 years of age, who were still the top victims of accidents in 1978, have a significantly lower accident risk (7.1%) compared to their share of the population (13.2%) other age groups. Since this improvement is especially due to the schoolchildren, it is obvious to ascribe this fact to the didactic reorientation of traffic education that took place in the mid-1970s and the gradual establishment of the pedestrian diploma introduced in 1976 and further didactic and methodical improvements. The official Statistical Yearbook of 2016 expressly notes: " The situation among child pedestrians has improved in particular: In 2015, 27 children were killed as pedestrians, in 1978 there were 701 children, around twenty-six times as many Children fell from 468 casualties per 100,000 inhabitants of their age group in 1978 to 264 children in 2015. "
In 2015, too, the way to school was still at the center of accidents among 6 to 14-year-old children, who are most likely to be in traffic at these times. Measured by their share of the population (51.3%), boys are more at risk of accidents with 56.1% than girls (48.7%) with only 43.9%. However, more girls (52.5%) than boys (47.5%) were injured as car occupants.
In an international comparison, the Federal Republic of Germany was in twelfth place in the European Union in 2014 with seven children killed in road traffic per million inhabitants under the age of 15.
Safeguards
Traffic education distinguishes between external security and internal security or between passive and active security measures. For example, she understands external safeguarding or passive initiatives to be safety zones such as pedestrian paths, traffic lights or zebra crossings provided by others, such as authorities or road construction authorities, or influencing the driving behavior of adult road users. Responsible or active security concerns the personal behavior that the individual child and adolescent has contributed to their own integrity.
Road construction measures
Road engineering measures such as pedestrian areas , walkways , pedestrian bridges , pedestrian tunnels , pedestrian crossings , traffic islands , pedestrian signals , pedestrians sign or play streets are important protection zones or tools that facilitate children and young people secure traffic to and from school.
Even the best so-called "passive" security measures by third-party security, which are also installed to slow down vehicle traffic in inner-city areas, do not replace the task of enabling children to recognize, avoid or cope with dangers themselves.
Traffic regulations
The traffic regulations that are intended to protect the immediate access area to the school premises include, for example, speed limits for motor vehicles at walking pace, stopping bans or driving bans. These are measures that make the legislature, the police and adult road users responsible for safety on the way to school.
Traffic regulations are also only of relative importance for the safety of the way to school. They only contribute to security insofar as they are complied with. This can be hoped and sanctioned in the event of violations, but not guaranteed. The lack of discipline among drivers is widely criticized by schools and the police. With regard to the reliability of traffic regulations, Warwitz quotes the cynical saying: "On his tombstone it says: He had the right of way."
School bus
When the dwarf schools in rural areas gradually disappeared and the distances to the central schools were considerably lengthened, the school bus transport system developed . They save the children from getting up too early, from a long and tiring hike and the younger ones from cycling independently, which is not yet beneficial for them. They should also help reduce the risk of accidents for everyone.
According to official statistics, 1151 injuries and one death occurred among under 15 year olds in connection with bus transport. The injuries are largely caused by the compulsion to sit and the resulting strife between the children.
Pedibus
The term Pedibus is derived from the Latin pes (foot, to foot) and takes on the plural form of the dative ( pedibus ) the meaning of “with the feet”, “to move with the feet”. The association with the word "school bus", which is obvious from the consonance of the words, only makes sense insofar as the children move around in a closed formation on the way to school. (See picture) The starting point is collection points where children from the same neighborhood meet Find the time to walk together to school under the supervision and accompaniment of two experienced adults. The establishment of the Pedibus as a protective measure for the children on the way to school, as a guide to walking independently as soon as possible and to avoid the dangerous school rush hour has spread in many countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Great Britain belong. There are no public statistics on the number of accidents from these private initiatives.
Route to school
The school route map is a sketch with the not necessarily closest, but safest way for the child to go to school. It contains the danger points that come across on the way, but also the safety aids that can be used.
In the ideal case, the individual school route plan is worked out by the child or children on the same route to school with the educators in discovery learning and designed into a school route game . This is a board game that grows out of exploring the traffic on site and can be played again and again at home with different event cards and thus mentally trained.
School helpers
Following the example of the USA , a so-called student pilot service was introduced in Germany at the beginning of 1953 . The specially trained, equipped with a neon yellow pilot clothes and a signal trowel, officially called "traffic helper" designated school assistants have the task of ensuring children at certain neuralgic points traffic safely crossing the street. Your area of application is preferably in the vicinity of schools at the beginning and end of classes. In Austria , since 1964, people doing community service , equipped with a reflective yellow jacket and signal trowel, have been used to secure the way to school. In Switzerland , adolescents and young adults united in their own association as so-called " traffic cadets " ensure that traffic flows smoothly. In the USA , adult guides are used as so-called crossing guards to safely cross the lanes during rush hour school traffic.
The facility “school path helper” appears factually sensible. However, there are no statistically recorded findings on the effectiveness of the special measure for this either.
Parents taxi
For many parents, the so-called parent taxi , the transport of children in their own vehicle, still seems to be the safest way to get their children to school unscathed. However, this belief is deceptive:
For 2015, the statistics registered a total of 10,855 injured children under the age of 15 as passengers in cars and motorcycles and 34 deaths. Thereafter, contrary to the generally positive trend of reducing the number of accidents on the way to school, the danger of “ride-on accidents” reached a peak. In 2015, 38.0% of the injured children were injured as occupants in a car, 32.1% on a bicycle and 23.3% as pedestrians. Most of the children killed in 2015 lost their lives as passengers in a car (40.5%). 32.1% of the children died as pedestrians and 20.2% of the children as cyclists.
Parent education
Parents have a primary responsibility for the safety of their child as part of their general upbringing duties, which the state can demand. For the Federal Republic of Germany it is anchored in the Basic Law, Art. 6, Paragraph 2 and for Switzerland in the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB), Art. 296 , and in Austria it is referred to as “ custody ”. However, not all parents meet this obligation:
In its annual report from 2016, the Federal Statistical Office stated: “ In 2015, the police recorded a total of 3,478 misconduct by pedestrians and 6,178 incorrect behavior by cyclists between the ages of 6 and 14 in road traffic accidents with personal injury. Most pedestrians made mistakes when crossing the lane (88.8%). Of these, crossing the lane without paying attention to vehicle traffic was the most common mistake (56.7%). The second most common misconduct was crossing the lane by suddenly stepping out from behind visual obstacles (26.7%) ”.
This indicates that there are still considerable deficits in the form of a lack of or at least ineffectively carried out traffic education, which should begin in the parents' home and with the first encounter with traffic. Obviously, many parents have so little confidence in their children and their own educational measures that they prefer to move their children in their own car, which is usually uncomfortable for them. According to the current state of knowledge, the so-called parents' taxi in connection with neglected or neglected traffic education by adults is the main cause of accidents involving children on the way to school. Teachers and parent representatives complain that the parents concerned cannot be reached for school and educational talks, police officers complain that traffic regulations, traffic signs and even warnings hardly change parenting behavior, institutions such as the German Traffic Guard criticize the limited success of their actions at the start of school.
According to Warwitz, the goals of parent education essentially consist of the following points:
- Information about the child's performance in traffic (first graders can already be trained to be independent pedestrians, but not to be safe cyclists)
- Presentation of the accident statistics on the dangerousness of the school rush hour and the parents' taxi
- Conveying the indispensability of traffic-related learning processes and independent action in traffic
- Education about the importance of the active way to school for child development and the start of lessons
- Information on teaching materials on how to get to school safely
As a rule, schools already address the issue of getting to and from school and the parents 'share of responsibility when they first contact the parents as part of the first graders' enrollment.
Traffic education
Accidents on the way to school are not a fateful occurrence to which the children are helpless, as some road traffic educators believed with resignation in view of the steadily increasing number of accidents and the rapid development of traffic until the 1970s and beyond. The fatalistic notion that children are not up to road traffic and that only the behavior of adult road users can save them from accidents misunderstood the learning potential of children and was still attached to an outdated conception of the helpless "deficient child".
" Traffic accidents are not tragic coincidences ", emphasizes the traffic didactic Siegbert A. Warwitz. In his opinion, they are homemade and largely avoidable. Children are capable of learning and willing to learn, who can be led to a level of self-responsibility and self-assurance that corresponds to their level of development with modern didactics and attractive child-appropriate methods. The accident statistics confirm these statements with the broken upward trend in the number of accidents since the late 1970s and the change to a steady downward trend.
Appropriate traffic education based on the child's experience horizon, which does not overwhelm them (e.g. as a cyclist), but encourages active participation in traffic, must begin at home and at preschool age, explains the pedagogue Roland Gorges. As everyday practice shows, is already the normally developed first grader will be able to walk a twenty-minute walk to school independently and responsibly as a pedestrian, following appropriate child-oriented instructions.
According to Warwitz, traffic education is "help for self-help" and has been proven to be the most effective contribution to a safe journey to school: All road construction requirements and personal assistance are ineffective if the child has not understood them and only performs rituals, refuses them or simply in the form of Transport participation is still overwhelmed. It is crucial that the child gradually grows into active participation in traffic and that they gradually take on responsibility for their own safety. The systematically and continuously built up traffic competence must do justice to the play instinct and lead to joy and recognition in order to motivate to take on personal responsibility.
Problems
Safety on the way to school can only be optimally designed in conjunction with all of the above measures. Traffic education is of great importance here. The school possibilities, however, reach their limits if the child’s self-assurance activating traffic education is not supported by the parents or is even counteracted by their behavior. The following counterproductive experiences are most frequently mentioned:
- The lack of an early, appropriate confrontation of the children with the traffic life, based on the child's experience and activating the joy of discovery and design, even before they start school in their parents' home and kindergarten. This first traffic education must not be limited to the first encounters with public road traffic, but must understand "traffic" as a compatible "dealing with one another" in an overall educational complex, since vices such as beneficial thinking and virtues such as willingness to help are forms of general human interaction that are only reflected in road traffic.
- Both children and adults have to understand that traffic lights, zebra crossings and consideration for others are useful but not necessarily reliable aids for their own safety, that even adults can make mistakes and cannot stop cars spontaneously. An Austrian study from 2010 found that around 40% of drivers ignored the pedestrian crossing.
- The most serious problem, however, is seen by the police and schools as the bad habit of the parents' taxi, which they vehemently opposed, and the artificially created school rush hour with its reckless endangerment of their own and other children.
Although the acquired pedestrian diploma and the passed cycling test document a reasonable level of competence of the children as safe pedestrians or cyclists, some parents still lack the courage to trust the increased abilities of their children. Because of these starting points, a further improvement in school route safety has primarily failed to date, although the police, traffic watch and schools regularly provide information to the public and teaching and learning aids are abundantly available, also for parents and preschool teachers.
literature
- 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.
- R. Pfeiffer: We GO to school . Vienna 2007
- 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: The pedestrian diploma as a project in the entrance level . In: SA Warwitz, A. Rudolf: Project teaching - didactic principles and models . Schorndorf 1977, pp. 101-113, ISBN 3-7780-9161-1 .
- Siegbert A .: Warwitz: Traffic education from the child. Perceiving-playing-thinking-acting , Verlag Schneider, 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009, ISBN 978-3-8340-0563-2 .
See also
Web links
- Jurisprudence on parents' duty to supervise children on their way to school - accessed May 24, 2017
- The Pedestrian Diploma - From Playroom to Traffic Space, Traffic Education Network Vienna - Accessed May 25, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ cit. n. "Radmarkt" magazine No. 772, 1906, p. 43
- ↑ Ministry of Culture and Sport BaWü (ed.) (1994): KMK recommendation on traffic education in schools from July 28, 1994, In: Kultus und Studium 15/1994. Stuttgart
- ↑ Decision of the KMK from 07/07/1972 as amended from 10/05/2012: Recommendation on mobility and traffic education in schools
- ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Statistical Yearbook 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016
- ^ Maria Limbourg: Children on the move in traffic. Risks and dangers on children's paths . In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 47 (2002), pp. 9-16
- ^ 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
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Children in the problem field of school rush hour . In: Thing-Word-Number 86 (2007) p. 52-60
- ↑ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, p. 5
- ^ ADAC (Ed.): Traffic accidents. Child accidents in 1972 . Mitteilungsblatt o.O. 1973. p. 4 ff
- ↑ Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, p. 6
- ↑ ibid. P. 5
- ↑ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, p. 5
- ↑ ibid p. 6
- ↑ ibid. P. 10
- ↑ ibid p. 9
- ↑ ibid p. 13
- ^ MA Haller: Traffic education in pre-school age as preparation for the way to school according to the Karlsruhe 12-step program . Scientific state examination work GHS, Karlsruhe 2001
- ↑ P. Wegener: The 'pedestrian diploma' method as a didactic concept for improving the roadworthiness of school beginners . Scientific state examination thesis GHS Karlsruhe 2001
- ↑ School defends itself against parent taxis in front of the school (accessed on May 25, 2017)
- ↑ WDR: Parent taxis annoy the police in the Ruhr area (accessed on May 25, 2017)
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The traffic fable or how one can address traffic problems . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act . Schneider, 3rd edition, Baltmannsweiler 1998. p. 275
- ↑ Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistical Yearbook 2016. Road traffic accidents 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, p. 599
- ↑ Pedibus - the “school bus on feet” Information from the Swiss Transport Club , accessed on May 24, 2017
- ↑ School route planner
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Das Schulwegspiel , In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child . 6th edition, Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2009. pp. 190–215, pp. 216–221
- ^ People doing community service as school guides Federal Ministry of the Interior, 14 January 2011
- ^ Website of the Zürcher Verkehrskadetten-Verband , accessed on May 22, 2017
- ↑ ADAC study: Parents' taxi to school is a risk , accessed on May 25, 2017
- ↑ Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, p. 599
- ↑ ibid p. 8
- ↑ Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, p. 11
- ↑ Roland Gorges: Traffic education begins in kindergarten . Braunschweig 1984
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Are traffic accidents 'tragic' coincidences? In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 102 (2009), pp. 42–50
- ↑ R. Streyhammer: The school is around the corner ... teaching aid, Vienna 2007
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The way to the first solo effort . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child . Baltmannsweiler, 6th edition 2009, pp. 190–215
- ^ I. Peter-Habermann: Children have to have an accident . Reinbek 1979
- ↑ Hartmut Binder: Unloved and inevitable - Can traffic education be education? In: karlsruher pedagogical contributions, Karlsruhe 28/1992, pp. 26–41
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The skills of the child . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act . Baltmannsweiler 2009. pp. 37-49
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Are traffic accidents 'tragic' coincidences? In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 102 (2009) pp. 42-50
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The development of traffic senses, traffic intelligence and traffic behavior in school beginners. The Karlsruhe model . In: Z. f. Traffic Education 4 (1986) pp. 93-98
- ↑ Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistisches Jahrbuch 2016. Child accidents in road traffic 2015 , Wiesbaden 2016, series 7: Traffic accidents / annual results
- ↑ Roland Gorges: Traffic education begins in kindergarten. Braunschweig 1984
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The way to the first solo effort . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child . Schneider, 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009, pp. 190–215
- ^ Deutsche Verkehrswacht (Ed.): Step by step more security . Braunschweig undated
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The systematic structure of traffic education , In: Ders .: Traffic education from child. Perceiving-Playing-Thinking-Acting , 6th edition, Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2009, pp. 72–75
- ↑ Roland Gorges: Traffic education begins in kindergarten . Braunschweig 1984
- ^ Siegbert A .: Warwitz: Traffic education from the child. Perceiving-Playing-Thinking-Acting , Verlag Schneider, 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009
- ↑ Michael Möseneder: Forty percent of drivers ignore Schutzweg. In: derStandard.at. June 8, 2010, accessed May 24, 2017 .
- ↑ School defends itself against parent taxis in front of the school (accessed on May 22, 2017)
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Are traffic accidents 'tragic' coincidences? In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 102 (2009), pp. 42–50
- ^ MA Haller: Traffic education in pre-school age as preparation for the way to school according to the Karlsruhe 12-step program . Scientific state examination work GHS. Karlsruhe 2001
- ^ R. Pfeiffer: We GO to school . Vienna 2007
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act . 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009
- ↑ Phillip Spitta: Learn continuously. The way to school in first grade . In: Ding-Wort-Zahl 30 (2002), pp. 17-22