Kick scooters are becoming increasingly popular. Many children now use them to go to school. “But handling the scooter also has to be practiced,” says ÖAMTC traffic psychologist Marion Seidenberger. For example, children would have to experience how to jump off in the event of an impending fall.
It is important to make the difference between leisure time use and road traffic clear, says ÖAMTC country director Harald Großauer. “The rules are different in the park than on the street,” he says. Children are only allowed to use the scooter on the sidewalk, alone only from the age of eight. Even then, however, the legal guardians would have to decide whether the child is already mature enough, says Seidenberger. In general, it is important to practice the way to school with children and to give them precise instructions. “It’s not enough to look left, right and left again. Parents have to tell their children to watch out for cars,” says Seidenberger.
It is also of great importance that children use reflectors, for example, to make themselves visible. “And that other road users pay more attention to the school children in the first few weeks of school. After the holidays, they have to get used to the new conditions on the road again,” says Großauer.
Source: Nachrichten
