Cycling with children

More and more children are being taken to school and leisure facilities by car. This is sometimes done out of convenience, but more often because parents think the journey is too dangerous for their child. At schools and daycare centers, dangerous situations arise in the morning and at lunchtime due to the increasing number of children being dropped off and picked up by car. This worsens road safety for those who continue to walk or cycle.

The Aachen mobility project at primary and secondary schools uses a wide range of measures to reduce the number of cars on the roads and thus increase road safety for children. In addition, the children learn to make their own journeys, which strengthens their self-confidence, health and social behavior and trains their orientation skills. The project makes the journey to school safer and encourages children and young people to walk and cycle. The mobility options for children and young people are to be improved through information, organization and improved services. The various measures must be tailored to the specific situation of the school. It is always important to work closely with teachers, parents, the police, traffic wardens and the children.

The concept

From March to October, pupils are encouraged to actively engage with the bicycle as a means of transportation. The continuity of the process aims to improve the sustainable impact of the project.

The aim is not only to reduce pick-up and drop-off traffic in front of the school, but also to motivate children to switch to more environmentally friendly means of transportation. They should come into contact with bicycles and scooters at an early age. The children will then also cycle more in their free time. This compensates for any lack of exercise. Mobility education should start as early as possible.

Parents who are mainly used for transportation services and who are responsible for picking up and dropping off children at school are also involved in the project. Due to the abolition of school boundaries, the school catchment area is very large and it is not possible for all parents to bring their child to school on foot or by bike. To remedy this situation, "parent stops" are being set up: Parking spaces will be created in the vicinity of the school where parents can leave their children in their cars between 7.30 am and 4.15 pm and the children can then walk or scoot to school safely.

Children's city maps

Preparatory and accompanying lessons as well as practical driving training are offered. During this time, a children's city map is developed together with the children. In contrast to a school route map, the children's city map also includes the children's main leisure destinations. The children learn how to find their way around and how to use the children's map as a basic tool. The school receives this children's city map on two large magnetic boards. These will be available to the teaching staff for mobility lessons in the future in order to show the children how they can also develop safe routes for their leisure activities.

Children's city maps of some schools can be downloaded from www.fahrrad-in-aachen.de.

Another component of the concept is a three-week project in which pupils from first to fourth grade take part. In addition to the bicycle, all environmentally friendly means of transportation are equally included. Due to the large catchment area, a combination of car and other means of transport is also required. Parents are asked to get their children out of the car at the parents' stops and from there to walk the rest of the way to school in a group. During this time, the pupils keep a project diary.

A questionnaire at the beginning and end of the process and a project diary make it possible to evaluate the success of the project and to record the road traffic-related strengths and weaknesses of the study area.

The project concludes with a bike party. There, the pupils receive a certificate for their successful participation in the project.

The project is designed in such a way that, once introduced, the school can carry it out independently in the coming years - it is literally re-cycled. To implement this project, teachers from the school, the city administration, the Aachen police and traffic watch and the Aachen traffic planning office "verkehrskonzept" joined forces to form a working group.

Which schools have already taken part?

Since 2008, comprehensive mobility projects to promote the independent mobility of pupils have been implemented at various elementary school in Aachen. The following schools have taken part so far:

• 2008-2009: GGS Oberforstbach
• 2009-2010: KGS Am Höfling
• 2010-2011: KGS Passstr.
• 2010-2011: KGS and MGS Reumontstraße
• 2011-2012: Cathedral singing school
• 2011-2013: GGS Richterich
• 2012-2013: KGS Hanbruch
• 2012-2013: KGS Verlautenheide
• 2014-2015: MGS and KGS Mataréstraße
• 2014-2015: GGS Vaalserquartier
• 2015-2016: MGS Eilendorf
• 2016-2017: GGS Brander Feld
• 2016-2017: KGS Beeckstraße
• 2017-2018: KGS Kornelimünster
• 2017-2018: KGS Bildchen
• 2018-2019: KGS Forster Linde
• 2019-2020: KGS Feldstraße
• 2019-2020: GGS Walheim
• 2019-2021: KGS Auf der Hörn
• 2021-2022: KGS Birkstraße
• 2021-2022: GGS Am Lousberg
• 2023-2024: GGS Brühlstraße
  

In addition, a mobility project has been or is being carried out at secondary schools:

• 2009-2010: Luise-Hensel-Realschule
• 2011-2014: Maria Montessori Comprehensive School
• 2014-2015: Couven-Gymnasium
• 2015-2016: Brand comprehensive school
• 2017-2019: Viktoriaschule
• 2021-2023: Free Waldorf School Aachen
• from 2024: Einhardgymnasium

Safety collars for Aachen kindergartens

Seeing and being seen and drawing attention to yourself are key prerequisites for the safety of cyclists in road traffic - and not just in the dark.

It is therefore important to ensure that children and young people are clearly visible on the way to nursery/school and on outings. This can be achieved by:

• Bright and reflective clothing and materials
• Reflective tags that can be attached to rucksacks or wheeled equipment.
• Wearing a high-visibility vest or safety collar

As part of the "FahrRad in Aachen" campaign, safety collars were therefore distributed to all kindergartens. Especially in the darker months of the year, it is important that children are clearly visible on outings.

These safety collars are designed to teach the children the importance of "being seen" from an early age. The collars remain in the daycare center and are handed out to the children by the teachers on every excursion. In this way, this behavior becomes ingrained; when the children then go to first grade, the yellow caps do not stay at home, but are worn every morning.

This campaign is part of the"Rolling Daycare Center" project.

See and be seen

The Working Group of Bicycle-Friendly Cities, Municipalities and Districts in NRW (AGFS) developed the "Black Box" campaign. This is a campaign in which the two functions of bicycle lighting "see and be seen" can be experienced in an impressive and active way. Every year, the box tours numerous schools in NRW shortly before the dark season.

Every year, the "FahrRad in Aachen" campaign tries to bring this campaign to Aachen so that third and fourth grade pupils at an Aachen school have the opportunity to explore this "black box" with the three themed modules. The themed modules deal comprehensively with the topic of "bicycle lighting" and focus more on the aspects of "being seen".

The "See and be seen - it doesn't get any better" module aims to show pupils the components of bicycle lighting that are prescribed under Section 67 of the German Road Traffic Licensing Regulations (StVZO). Using the bicycle lighting checklist, the deficiencies should be identified and discussed by the students.

In addition to "seeing", the issue of "being seen" plays at least as important a role for participation in road traffic. At dusk, in the dark and in poor visibility conditions, people's visual acuity is reduced by up to 80 percent. This means that a lot of information from the road environment is lost. For this reason, this module aims to familiarize students with the importance and effectiveness of reflective materials.

The "Repair course - tips and tricks for self-help" module aims to show students possible defects in their bicycle lighting and how to rectify them with simple repairs

Parent stop

Parental pick-up and drop-off services by car have contributed significantly to morning and afternoon traffic congestion around schools for several years. Last but not least, they also pollute the environment and endanger children who come to school on foot, by bike or scooter.

As part of the "FahrRad in Aachen" campaign, a mobility project to "improve traffic behavior at schools and on the way to school" has therefore been implemented at various schools since 2008.

The aim is to increase road safety at schools and in the school environment and to reduce school-related pick-up and drop-off traffic or make it more compatible. To this end, so-called parent stops have been set up at some schools. Parents are asked to let their children out of the car at these stops. From there, the children then walk the rest of the way to school alone or in a group. In this way, the sensitive area around the school is relieved and the children walk to school together.

As a rule, the parent stop has the following requirement profile:

• Walking distance of 5-10 minutes to school with a safe remaining school route
• From there, the children should initially be accompanied by parents and learn to walk the rest of the way to school safely in a group of children. Accompaniment should be gradually withdrawn.
• Ideally, the locations should be on the main routes of walking communities.
• If possible, the locations should be chosen in such a way that sensitive residential areas are not additionally burdened.
• If possible, in areas with little parking pressure and third-party traffic, so that it can be kept free in the medium term with manageable monitoring effort.
• Competition with resident parking should be avoided.
• U-turns should be avoided wherever possible.
• Each parent support concept is adapted to the respective school.

Parents are not allowed to park there so that the parent stops work. They are only allowed to stop, let the children out and drive on.

Restricted stopping zones (delivery and loading areas) have been set up for these areas. These areas are of course not just reserved for parents. Anyone can carry out delivery and loading activities there.

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