With great disappointment, the organizing partners “Safety for children in traffic” have taken note of the result of the last count of how many primary school children wear reflective safety vests or throws on the way to school.

 

The decline from already only 16 percent to only 5 percent!

Even more alarming is the sharp decline in the carrying rate. At the first counting action in November 2012, around 16 percent of the children in the morning school was still traveling with a safety vest. Now, with only about 5 percent, they are significantly less.

 

“The results show that the important issue of road safety through simple safety vests has not yet reached the level of those responsible,” says Reinhard Michels, coordinator of this action.

 

Counting at the 39 elementary schools in the urban area

The organizing partners had – as already 2012- observed in the “dark” season in the morning at all 39 primary schools in the city of Gelsenkirchen every 30 minutes until the beginning of school and counted how many children wear the now available at all schools free of charge safety vests with reflective materials.

 

Last year, prizes were awarded to the three best-performing schools. The hope of having children, parents, and teachers sensitized was not fulfilled. Rather, the number of Westerners born fell significantly from around 1,300 to under 500.

 

Krasses north-south gradient observed

The observed rates at the individual schools in the city area are very different. At a school in the south of Gelsenkirchen, not a single child wore a vest in both visual inspections despite the nationwide free supply of life-saving West. The Bülseschule in Scholven once again made a positive impression. There, about 25 percent of the children wore a vest. Already in 2012, the school had the highest carrying rate.

 

“This is not only disappointing but documented that the visibility in the dark is obviously underestimated” are the regulatory partners agree. “Warning vests with reflective tapes can prevent the worst accidents. Only on children, which are to be seen, can a driver consider and be ready to brake. Parents and also schools must have an interest in everything being done so that schoolchildren arrive safely at school and then back home. ”

 

Road safety is and will remain an issue

A look at the current accident figures shows how important school-path safety is. Compared to the previous year, the number of accidents involving children has risen significantly.