Why parent taxis are perfectly fine – even though they are also annoying

For my first way, the parent taxi was never up for debate. I come from the country, the elementary school was exactly one street. The route is annoying by car anyway, because it is still a often controlled Tempo 30 zone, the sidewalk is very wide for this. So my working mother was able to let me go quite carefree – I knew the residents, somehow everyone in the village a little bit everyone on everyone. My mom was not worried that I couldn’t get.

But now many parents see it differently. According to a survey by the ADAC Foundation, 19 percent of elementary school students are driven daily, another 9 percent on at least every second day. The so -called parent taxis. At the same time, 56 percent of the parents surveyed complain about too many cars in front of the schools.

There are many reasons to criticize this practice: the cars clog the streets – sometimes there is considerable traffic jams. Quite a few schools have therefore issued a ban on which parents prohibit the delivery of the children in certain areas around the school. Wherever it is allowed, the residents scold the accumulation of the cars. Because often parent taxis have no choice but to block or keep on bike paths – especially in cities, the infrastructure does not give anything else. “I’m gone right away,” it just says.

I also observe at least one avoidable problem: If you already bring the children to the door of the school or daycare center, then you don’t have to accompany the little ones into the buildings. They are not completely underage. You have to keep it, as with the drop-off at the airport: stop, door open, child out, door closed.

The rest is completely fine. Basically, I can understand every parent that has no nerves to leave the child to their own devices from the front door. When I moved from the village to the big city, I was quite overwhelmed despite my 23 years with traffic in Hamburg at the time. It happens an incredible amount in a very short time. Not to accompany a child here seems negligent to me. And if the school is not accessible on foot, you just take the car.

What about public transport, you may object at this point: true, of course the child could also take the bus or train. But the kids also have to arrive there somehow. That would be two traffic lights from my apartment and a four-lane road with truck traffic-and I already live close to a stop. So that too: a considerable risk. Also: show me a school bus that is not completely overcrowded. A good start to the day looks different.

But back to the way to school, because the number of accidents support my attitude. According to this, around 27,000 children were injured in traffic in Germany in 2023. According to the Federal Statistical Office, 6- to 14-year-olds have most frequently crushed on her bike and mostly in the morning on working days. So that should be the way to school if I’m not mistaken.

The Crux: This is a hen egg problem. The CEO of the ADAC Foundation, Christina Tillmann, also warns of this. She says: “Fear for road traffic and its dangers, children develop as active participants, not on the back seat of a car. The footpath or the bike ride to school are an important daily training to move safely and independently on road traffic.”

In this statement, however, there are some ideal ideas: the way to school has to give it up to be able to cover it on foot or by bike. It also takes a lot of time to accompany the child in this way. As a self -taught, you don’t learn the behavior in road traffic – especially not in the city, where a red pedestrian light is perceived by many adults as a recommendation and then cheerfully run.

Then prefer to spend this mostly hectic part of the day comfortably in the car, where, shielded from loud traffic, you still have a little time with the offspring before you start the day. With a rule to the kindness: just let out, but please do not mime the butler, as in the picture. This strains too much the patience of the other road users in the clogged streets.

As for traffic education, the ADAC Foundation is of course right. But you don’t have to do them in hectic everyday morning, but can take the time and explain to children what is going on out there. If the impression arises at some point that the child is able to correctly assess dangers, you can still leave the taxi standing.