Background

BACKGROUND AND GOAL

In 2018, approximately 29,000 children were involved in road traffic accidents in Germany (Federal Statistical Office 2019). The cohorts with the highest number of accident victims were 11- to 14-year-olds, of whom, in turn, about half were involved in accidents by bicycle (about 6,200 children).

The number of bicyclists involved in accidents increases sharply after children move from elementary to secondary school. This is due to a change in mobility behavior after the change of school compared to the primary school period. Many students begin bicycling to school after transferring to secondary school. Although extensive behavioral changes occur with the onset of puberty and, for example, the willingness to take risks in road traffic increases, there are hardly any traffic education and mobility education measures at secondary schools overall.   

Figure 1: Children involved in traffic accidents in 2018, by age years, gender, and type of traffic involvement (Destatis 2019).

The aim of the project was to increase road safety for cyclists in the particularly conspicuous target group of 11- to 14-year-olds. To achieve this, a target group-specific road safety program was developed based on observation, self-reflection and personal responsibility. In particular, the program was intended to raise students' awareness of danger perception when cycling, lead to a greater sense of safety and ultimately reduce driving errors and traffic conflicts.

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

As the first project component, the driving behavior of the target group was surveyed with the help of video observations in order to determine dangerous situations and the perception of danger among young cyclists. These data were an essential basis for the road safety program developed in the second project module.

The second project component was the development of a traffic safety program for bicyclists between the ages of 11 and 14. The traffic safety program works with observation, self-reflection and personal responsibility among the target group. It uses different teaching techniques, such as Mirroring Method (Koivista & Mikkonen 1997) as well as Coaching Technique (Edwards 2011) and discusses different traffic situations as they are encountered by the students on a daily basis. The program was designed so that it can be used in all schools in Germany and can be carried out independently by a teacher within a double lesson.

The third project component was the testing of the traffic safety program in a model trial at two schools, which was then used to determine the short-term changes in behavior (through a renewed survey).

Figure 2: Sequence of the surveys and the road safety program.

RESULT

In the previous surveys, a total of 3,096 cyclists were observed in 17 different traffic situations (52% male, 48% female). On average, 0.06 traffic conflicts and 1.3 riding errors were committed per person and situation. The most frequent sources of errors were a lack of hand signals, not looking around sufficiently when turning, using the sidewalk on the wrong side, driving side by side with a conversation and not dismounting at crosswalks. The differences between the sexes were small. Boys gave hand signals less often than girls and more often drove at inappropriate speeds or with too little safety distance. Girls rode side by side significantly more often than boys and were distracted by conversations.

A total of 496 people (half of the target group from the two selected schools) took part in the pilot project. In the follow-up surveys, in which 4,182 cyclists were observed, the people participating in the program only committed half as many conflicts (0.015) and driving errors (0.64) per person and situation as the people in the control group (0.03 and 1.29 respectively). These results show that the road safety program developed is highly effective a few weeks after the program has been implemented.

The project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure as part of the National Cycling Plan (NRVP) 2020. The FG Traffic Planning and Traffic Systems at the University of Kassel was responsible for the project and was supported by the North Hesse Police, the Elisabeth-Selbert-Schule Zierenberg and the Wilhelmsgymnasium Kassel.