Visible and safe on the road
For children, the daily school house trip is a special experience. In autumn, when the days become shorter and there is often fog, parents should take care to protect the children so that they arrive safely to the destination, even in conditions of poor visibility.
On the way to school, children make many valuable experiences that have a positive influence on their development. After long hours of lessons, they can move in the open air and exchange ideas with their playmates. Depending on the length and difficulty, the road can be traveled on foot, by bicycle or by bus. However, home-school paths can also be dangerous. According to the Federal Office for the Prevention of Accidents (up), pedestrians between five and nine years and cyclists between ten and fourteen are at greater risk. This is why it is important for children to be sensitized as soon as possible to the dangers of road traffic.
Prevent accidents: prepare your children
• As parents, you should always behave in an exemplary way in traffic.
• Exercise the child to safely cross the road on the home school path, even before the first day of school.
• Choose which school home route, not the shortest, but the safest.
• Provide sufficient time for the child to be able to go to school calmly.
• If the child goes to school by bike, you should check that the state of the bicycle is suitable for the purpose and that the child always wears a helmet.
• Inform the child about the further dangers he may encounter along the way: warn him that he should never go with strangers and always keep a critical distance from strangers.
Light in the dark
When it's dark, drivers see a pedestrian or a cyclist only 25 meters away. For children, this means an increased risk of injury especially in the morning hours still dark in the winter months or at dusk. If it rains or snows, the risk of not being seen in road traffic is also ten times higher than during the day. In these cases, parents must take extra measures to ensure the safety of the children even in the dark: let the children who go to school wear light clothing and equip them with reflective material. You can apply bands on the arm, stickers or pendants to be fixed on shoes, jackets, and backpack. For bicycles, the spotlight is prescribed by law, as well as an illuminating system that works well.