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 bicyclists were observed in 17 different traffic situations (52% male, 48% female). An average of 0.06 traffic conflicts and 1.3 driving errors were committed per person and situation. The most common sources of error were lack of hand signals, not looking around enough when turning, using the sidewalk on the wrong side, riding side-by-side with conversation, and not dismounting at a crosswalk. Gender differences were small. Boys were less likely than girls to give hand signals and more likely than girls to drive at inappropriate speeds or too close a safety distance. Girls were significantly more likely than boys to ride side-by-side and to be distracted by conversation.

A total of 496 individuals (half of the target group from the two selected schools) participated in the model test. In the post-surveys, in which 4,182 bicyclists were observed, those participating in the program committed only half as many conflicts (0.015) and riding errors (0.64) per person and situation as those in the control group (0.03 and 1.29, respectively). These results show that the developed traffic safety program has a high effectiveness a few weeks after the program implementation.

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