One in four primary school children is chauffeured to school by their parents. According to a survey conducted by the ADAC Foundation among more than 1,000 parents, 23 percent drive their child to school by car at least three times a week in spring and summer, and as many as 28 percent in autumn and winter.
The majority of other parents criticize this: They fear an additional risk of accidents from the “parent taxis.” 62 percent of all respondents say that there are too many cars in the immediate vicinity of the school in the morning and after classes have finished.
The reasons often given for parents to pick up and drop off their children are appointments and saving time, but also bad weather, the fact that school is on the way to work anyway, or simply convenience. Only eleven percent of parents who regularly drive their children to school cite road safety as the reason.
Students most often have accidents in the morning on weekdays
Last year, around 27,000 children were injured in traffic accidents in Germany. According to the Federal Statistical Office, 6- to 14-year-olds are most likely to have accidents on their bicycles, and most of them happen in the mornings on weekdays.
The CEO of the ADAC Foundation, Christina Tillmann, says: “Children develop a sense of road traffic and its dangers as active participants, not in the back seat of a car. Walking or cycling to school is an important daily training exercise for moving safely and independently in traffic.”
In Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the summer holidays end next week. School is already back in session in the other federal states.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240906-930-224581/1
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