The road safety advisors regularly visit pre-school children with the traffic puppet stage. In elementary school, the advisors conduct cycling training in the fourth grade so that children are safer on their bikes.
Our colleagues from the district service have recognized that, in addition to the police visit to the kindergarten, it also makes sense to go deeper into road safety education with pre-school children.
The 2021 traffic accident statistics confirm this:
In 2021, there was an increase of 23 percent in accidents involving children (up to 14 years). While there were 86 accidents in 2019 and 84 in 2020, the number has risen significantly to 104 in 2021. There were 93 accidents involving children (+25), eleven were seriously injured and 82 were slightly injured.
During the pandemic, children have had few points of contact with road traffic due to all the time spent at home. Police prevention programs at kindergartens and schools proved difficult, even though some parents' initiatives even carried out private cycling training sessions with their children in cooperation with the police. Schools report that pupils' motor skills have been impaired after the pandemic, making it difficult for children to react to the dangers of road traffic. Pupils have to get used to traffic again after the lockdown times and novice drivers have to gain driving experience.
Jointly for uniform prevention work:
The district service officers have therefore worked together with the road safety advisors to develop a concept for pre-school children, through which the district service can contribute to greater child safety in its district. In addition to pedestrian training for children in kindergarten and subsequent practice walking in first grade, they have therefore developed new measures.
In addition to the traffic puppet stage, the following activities are now available for pre-school children:
- Flyers for parents, explaining what the district officers practise with the children and reminding them that parents are largely responsible for their children's road safety
. - A pedestrian driving license, which includes the child's name and a photo and confirms the child's roadworthy behavior. This is practiced and checked beforehand with the district officers.
- A brochure informs educators about sensitive police work
- The "Red Knight Mobile" was sponsored for the road safety advisors by Unfallhilfe Hamburg via the Teilen e.V. association and can be requested from the district service. After a briefing, the trailer remains in a kindergarten for a week so that the children can work with all the didactic materials together with their teachers. This allows motor deficits to be worked on.
That's what's inside the “Red Knight Mobile”:
- Vehicles: city scooters, balance bikes, scooters, big bikes;
- Motor play equipment: including pedalo, stilts, skipping rope, balance board;
- Demonstration materials: light/dark box, mini helmet test, mini belt sled;
- Materials for simulating road traffic: traffic signs, traffic practice traffic lights;
- Coloring books from the cooperation partners Verkehrswacht and Provinzial, which bring the topic of road safety closer with their motifs
Important!
In addition to road safety education and the work of the road safety advisory service and the district service, the police offer prevention services for all age groups. It is important to note that the police can only make a contribution to road safety. Parents are primarily responsible for ensuring that their children are safe on the road and for practicing road safety together with their children.