Mobility projects at schools

More and more children are being taken to school or leisure activities by car. Parents often worry about their children's safety on the roads - but paradoxically, it is precisely the increase in pick-up and drop-off traffic that leads to dangerous situations in the immediate vicinity of schools. Above all, it endangers those children who are on foot, on scooters or on bicycles. At the same time, children's motor skills are declining due to the lack of exercise.

To counteract this, the city of Aachen, together with the police and a traffic planning office, has developed a comprehensive mobility project for primary and secondary schools as part of the city's "FahrRad in Aachen" campaign, which has been successfully implemented since 2008. The mobility project covers all modes of transportation.

Aims of the project

• Improving road safety in the school environment
• Reduction and compatible organization of delivery and collection traffic
• Promoting independent, healthy and environmentally friendly mobility
• Strengthening children's self-confidence, orientation and social behavior
• Sustainable anchoring of the project in schools

The "Safe to school & safe back" mobility project consists of various interlocking components:

1. information for parents

At the start of the project, parents are involved in an information event where they can learn about the project, ask questions and raise concerns and suggestions. In addition, letters to parents are distributed regularly and the accompanying project website provides information on the background, objectives and progress.

2nd survey

Both the children and their parents take part in a survey at the start of the project. Among other things, the pupils answer questions about how they get to school and whether they can ride a bike. Parents, on the other hand, are asked about their attitude towards walking to school, for example whether they are interested in walking communities.

3. reduction of drop-off and pick-up traffic through school communal routes

The volume of drop-off and pick-up traffic is reduced by means of school communal routes. To this end, the willingness of parents to take part in a school transport community (on foot, by car or by bus) is assessed. The results will be evaluated and potential school transport communities will be formed from the pool of interested parties. These suggestions are presented to the parents.

4. compatible organization of drop-off and pick-up traffic

Parent drop-off points are set up for children who need to be brought to school by car. Parents are asked to let their children out of the car at these designated stops so that the children can walk the rest of the way to school on their own or in a group. In this way, the particularly sensitive area directly in front of the school is relieved and at the same time the children are able to walk part of the way to school. As part of the mobility project, an individual concept for parent stops will be drawn up for each school.

Parent stops should ideally be located on the main routes of walking communities. It is important that the stops are chosen in such a way that sensitive residential areas are not additionally burdened. They should also be located in areas with low parking pressure and little external traffic so that the stops can be kept clear and monitored in the long term at a manageable cost. Conflicts with residents' parking should be avoided, and turning trips by cars should also be ruled out as far as possible.

5. bicycle training in a protected area and away from busy roads

The experience of the police and the road safety organization has shown that children's cycling safety has declined significantly in recent years. Children in the fourth year of school in particular, who take part in cycle training, often find it difficult to ride safely on the road. The police do not have the personnel to offer additional driver training at schools over and above the cycle training. For this reason, the concept of the mobility project provides for a so-called "safe space training", which can be organized and carried out independently by parents and teachers at the respective school. Interested parents are trained as multipliers by the police in a 90-minute course.

The schoolyard and the Florian's Village are the main practice areas available. School classes can book the Floriansdorf every Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or in the afternoon. In addition to practical bicycle training, the children also receive traffic instruction on important topics such as safe cycling, the need for a bicycle helmet, traffic signs, traffic rules and the so-called "blind spot". These lessons are free of charge and the bus ride is covered by the Mobility and Traffic Department. There is a charge of one euro per child for the Floriansdorf itself.

In addition, guided bike tours away from busy roads are offered to introduce children to cycling and nature. These tours also enable the children to cover longer distances safely and thus further improve their cycling skills.

6. traffic instruction

As part of the mobility project, both theoretical and practical lessons are offered to pupils in years one to four.

• For first-graders, the main focus is on awareness and crossing lanes safely.
• In the second class, the focus is on the "blind spot", an important safety aspect in road traffic.
• In the third grade, the lessons include both theoretical and practical components. In the theoretical part, the children work on a children's city map and deal with questions about orientation, the meaning of different street categories and crossing points. Practical exercises are carried out in which the children learn to estimate distances and speeds.

7. traffic safety measures

• Stamp campaign
  • The "How did you get to school today?" campaign was specially developed for elementary school to raise awareness of children's mobility behavior. Every morning, the pupils stamp the means of transport they used to get to school in a weekly calendar. There is a separate stamp for each mode of transport - be it the car, the car with a parent stop, the scooter, the bike, the bus or the footpath. The aim of this campaign is to encourage children to think about their own way of getting to school. Schools that have set up parent stops are obliged to carry out this stamp campaign at least once a year. In this way, it can be checked whether the parent stops are actually being used by families.
• Thinking and thank-you note campaign
  • To raise awareness, the fourth grade students, together with their teachers and under the supervision of the police, hand out reminders to road users who behave unsafely and thank-you notes, for example to parents who stop at the parent stops.
• High visibility vest campaign
  • The "See and be seen" campaign is intended to draw attention to the dangers that arise when bicycles are not adequately lit, particularly in the winter months. In addition, schoolchildren are encouraged to wear high-visibility vests or reflective clothing in order to be seen more easily. As part of the campaign, luminous collars will be distributed and a high-visibility vest campaign will take place, where every child will receive a small reward for wearing a high-visibility vest to school.

8 General

The project is implemented over the course of a school year by a project group set up specifically for this purpose. This is made up of representatives from the city administration (which is responsible for managing the project), the police, teachers, parents and a commissioned traffic planning office. In some schools, committed pupils from the pupil parliament are also actively involved in the project work. The project is deliberately designed to have a lasting effect once it has been introduced: The central building blocks can largely be continued independently by the schools in subsequent years and integrated into everyday school life.

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
  
• 2024-2025: GGS Gerlachschule
• 2024-2025: Karl-Kuck-School

In addition, a mobility project was or is also 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
• 2024-2025: Einhardgymnasium

Further topics