For the fourth consecutive year, the beginning of the school will coincide with the road education campaign ” Firm wheels, children safe!”. Schoolchildren learn to cross the road only when the wheels of the vehicles are completely still. For their part, drivers are encouraged to totally block the vehicle, because sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the physiognomy of children in the rain or with reduced visibility.

The importance of being visible

Since 2013, TCS has distributed almost half a million safety vests to first grade students throughout Switzerland. In approaching the start of the 2018 schools, the TCS – accident prevention office and the police forces support for the fourth consecutive year in the campaign to prevent accidents on the road to the school ” Firm wheels, safe children!”, in collaboration with the Municipalities and Schools. A successful campaign, as 90% of motorists know it and understand its message well.

Despite this, every year road users are involved in dangerous situations because they realize the presence of children too late. With reduced visibility (in the morning and in the evening) the risk of not being seen is three times greater than in the middle of the day. It multiplies by ten in the event of rain or sleet. With darkness, a person dressed in dark clothing, for motorists, is only perceptible 25 meters away. This is sometimes too late. If the same person, wearing clothes with reflective tapes, could be seen 140 meters away, leaving more time for other users to react.

To make children more visible on the way to school. TCS has been distributing around 140 thousand reflective triangles for school children aged 4 to 7 years and funded by the Road Safety Fund. For older children (8-9 years), TCS has distributed more than 80,000 reflective safety vests for 2013 to first grade students in all of Switzerland, in cooperation with the TCS Sections and Local Authorities. Thus, in 2018, nearly 500,000 vests will have been distributed to improve their safety.

Trendy clothing and accessories for the older ones

The fashion industry is well aware that for reasons of practicality and aesthetics, yellow vests do not like them all. Thus, TCS and police have been promoting the MADE VISIBLE campaign since last year, to encourage the general public to wear accessories or reflective clothing and to propose fashionable products for every age. This label now appears on the new school patrol uniforms, whose mission is to ensure the safety of children in crossing the pedestrian crossings in the vicinity of schools, 3,000 vests, 1,000 jackets, 3,500 caps, will be made available of patrollers this year throughout Switzerland.