Around two-thirds of the children examined (69 percent) only reflexively looked left and right before crossing a street. Only 29 percent showed the correct sequence of gazes. This was shown by an empirical study by the traffic psychology institute “safe on the road” in cooperation with the University of Vienna. Almost all respondents knew about basic traffic rules, but were not able to use their knowledge properly.
Almost all of the preschoolers who took part knew what a red or green pedestrian light meant, but more than a fifth gave the wrong answer when asked whether they were allowed to walk when it was green. The study was carried out with 69 kindergarten and preschool children aged between five and six at two kindergartens in Vienna.
Only two children out of a total of 69 correctly reversed all five steps when crossing a lane, 44 percent only took two steps out of five. The average number of steps taken was 2.6.
More endangered in leisure time than on the way to school
Another study by the Verkehrsclub Österreich (VCÖ) showed that school children are more often injured in traffic during their free time than on the way to school. In the past three years, for example, six times as many children between the ages of six and 14 were injured in traffic during their free time than on the way to school. A total of 5,848 children in this age group were injured in traffic accidents in Austria between 2019 and 2021, 951 of them on the way to school, according to data from Statistics Austria.
“The road safety on the way to school is higher. School traffic controllers and law enforcement officers secure crossings. “The way to school is a chance for children to learn how to behave correctly on the road in a safe environment,” says VCÖ expert Lina Mosshammer.
Safe learning of the way to school
Since school starts again at the beginning of September, for some children the independent participation in road traffic starts with the way to school. The way to school should be practiced together and all situations discussed in the last weeks of vacation. “The way to school is not learned in one day, but it takes around six to ten repetitions until all dangerous situations on the way to school are recognized as such,” says ARBÖ traffic psychologist Mag. Patricia Prunner.
ARBÖ Oberösterreich has summarized these ten tips for learning how to get to school:
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Source: Nachrichten
