School roads

A quick stop and dropping the child off at school. Many families see this as a safe solution. When school starts every day, this often leads to dangerous situations for all children. Time pressure, congested roads, limited stopping options. It can quickly become confusing for children and adults. To increase safety on the way to school, the city of Aachen tested school roads at four elementary school during European Mobility Week 2024. Experiences and feedback were collected and the results evaluated. The permanent establishment of school streets is currently still being examined on a case-by-case basis.

Background

Early in the morning, cars bringing children to and from school often create dangerous situations. The large number of cars that rush in front of schools almost simultaneously under time pressure and sometimes make reckless U-turns pose a massive risk to children and young people.

The City of Aachen's offer to let children who are brought to school by car out of the car at the designated parents' stops in the vicinity of the school is still underused. From there, the children should walk the remaining distance to school on their own. Experience shows that children often enjoy these last few meters of independent mobility. They use these routes to talk to their classmates.
Parents who use these stops help to reduce pick-up and drop-off traffic in front of schools and increase road safety for everyone.

Remission and applications

Since January 2024, a decree from the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport (MUNV) - as the highest road authority in the state - has supported the creation of new school roads. The decree specifies the possibilities for cities and municipalities to set up school streets with legal certainty. With the help of school streets, car traffic in the vicinity of schools is reduced and the use of parent stops is made even more attractive.

In concrete terms, "school road" means that the road in front of the school is closed to traffic for 45 minutes around the start of lessons, for example. This makes the route to school safer for everyone. Residents can continue to drive out of the street. The road remains open to all non-motorized traffic.

Before and after the decree, there were several applications to set up school streets in Aachen:

• Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group from 4.3.2024: "Children in road traffic need our special protection "vTraffic calming in front of elementary school in Laurensberg: temporary closure
• Council motion SPD and Greens of 20.03.2024, School roads: Safe routes for our schoolchildren
• Motion by the CDU, Greens, SPD and FDP dated 19.04.2024: Examination of the establishment of a temporary road closure in Karl-Kuck-Straße at school start time
• Citizens' forum on 23.04.2024: Safeguarding the Mataréstraße school route
• Karl-Kuck-School: School conference resolution Schulstraße 13.05.24
• Children's citizenship application from KGS Am Römerhof
• Rhein-Maas-Gymnasium: Concept for the safer redesign of Rhein-Maas Straße, 6.9.2023

The wording of the proposals can be found in the annex to the Jan. 2025 submission.

Test at four schools in fall 2024

Due to suitable framework conditions, four elementary school were selected for the "Experience School Streets!" event. During the European Mobility Week 2024, private motorized traffic was denied access to the schools on certain access routes from Monday, 16.09. to Friday, 20.09., between 7:30 am and 8:15 am. Parents were asked to drop their children off at the designated parent stops. Residents were offered the opportunity to apply in advance to the road traffic authority for a special permit to enter the affected road sections for the 45-minute closure periods during the week. It was still possible for all motorized vehicles to exit the road without a special permit. In addition, the road remained open to all non-motorized traffic as usual.

The elementary school selected for this were the Brühlstraße Community Primary School (Eilendorf), the Hanbruch Catholic Primary School (Mitte), the Höfchensweg Catholic Primary School (Mitte) and the Am Höfling Community Primary School (Mitte).

Despite occasional criticism, the campaign has met with widespread approval. It has shown that traffic volumes can be reduced by designating school streets and that school streets can therefore be an instrument for increasing road safety in front of schools. By calming traffic directly in front of schools, the route to school becomes clearer and safer for children. However, the campaign also shows that not all parents and children adapt their mobility behavior.

The WDR and the Aachener Zeitung, among others, reported on this.

What happens next?

In January 2025, the Mobility Committee received a detailed report on the experience gained and was informed of the following outlook, among other things:

• The permanent establishment of school streets - whether as a permanent feature at the pilot schools of the event or at other schools - requires an examination in each individual case and a legal order. Events or traffic trials are possible on a temporary basis; on a permanent basis, partial road reclamation is usually necessary.
• In consultation with all those involved, the administration will first check for the four elementary school that took part in the Mobility Week event whether the continuation is sensible and desirable and whether the legal requirements are met.
• In addition, a concept for the successive examination and prioritization of applications from other schools is being developed. This also includes considering at which schools it will be possible to gain insights for a possible permanent establishment by means of trial events.
• In particular, examining the legal requirements in individual cases is very time-consuming and will take some time given the number of schools. In addition, the current decree is not yet sufficiently specific on some issues arising from the survey results. The road traffic authority has already passed on the relevant information via the district government.

Cycling to Aachen's schools

The city's "FahrRad in Aachen" campaign offers schools the opportunity to practise cycling with small groups of pupils. The training includes the following points:

• The most important rules are discussed (right before left, blind spot),
• Driving technique exercises in the schoolyard
• Cycling to and from school.

Cycling tips for starting school

Children who are active are more balanced and concentrated than those who are sedentary. Exercise not only stimulates the mind, it is also important for physical coordination. It also strengthens children's self-confidence and social behavior when they ride together with other children.

Cycling safely

The shortest route to school is not always the best. Parents can choose a route to school with as little traffic as possible, with few junctions, driveways and crossings, and practise this with their children. Children up to the age of 8 must use the sidewalk. From the age of 10, children must use the road or cycle path. Parents decide how their child gets to school.

Parents should ride the route with their child several times in the morning during rush hour to check whether they are up to the challenge. They should pay particular attention to keeping a sufficient distance from parked vehicles (approx. 1 m), anticipate misbehavior by turning vehicles at junctions when driving straight ahead and only approach blind driveways when ready to brake. In this way, they eliminate key accident risks. A properly fitted helmet protects against serious head injuries in the event of a fall.

All pupils are covered by statutory accident insurance when traveling to and from school. This insurance cover exists regardless of age and means of transportation - even if children travel by bike.

Find the best cycle route

To find such a route, the NRW cycle route planner can be helpful. There you can enter the start, destination and also intermediate points, select direct routes or use the cycle network. When you are practicing, you can use the NRW route planner to find the best cycle routes in the city. The NRW cycle route planner is also available as an app.

The City of Aachen has compiled the following for every school in Aachen:

a) Accessibility in 10 minutes

A link to the BikeCitizens application, which can be used to show which roads can be reached within 10 minutes of a school. Each school can customize the default settings as desired.

b) Route proposal from three good providers

The routing program opens and the destination address of the school is already entered. All you have to do is enter your home address and you will receive a suggested route. The providers differ in their routing algorithms and individual setting options. The NRW cycle route planner offers the best customization options. You can find your school in the download area by selecting the relevant pdf and clicking on the links there.

Further topics