Munich (dpa/lby) – To protect against the significantly increasing number of accidents on the way to school, the approximately 127,000 future first graders will again receive reflective throws this year. The luminous safety paraphernalia is intended to prevent other road users from overlooking the school children on their way in traffic.
After the pandemic-related decline in accident statistics in the past two years, the number of accidents on the way to school rose significantly again in 2022 from 30 to 142 by the end of April compared to the previous year, the Ministry of the Interior said at the request of the German Press Agency. The number of injured school children increased in the first four months of the year from 31 to 173 compared to the same period last year. Fortunately, there have been no fatal accidents on the way to school so far this year.
For comparison: in 2019 – i.e. the last year before the pandemic – there were 179 accidents on the way to school with 219 injured school children by the end of April. In the past two years, however, the police statistics have recorded an unusually low level of accidents on the way to school due to the pandemic: in 2020 there were a total of 411, in 2021 458. The number of injured school children rose from 479 (2020) to 500 (2021). While one student died in 2020, there was no fatal accident on the way to school in 2021.
For many school children – even if not on the first day of school – the time when they have to cross streets, bike paths or railway tracks alone begins with the start of school. The Ministry of Culture, the AOK Bavaria and the Bavarian State Traffic Watch are hoping for more security from the warning throws. By the start of the school year in September, all new Bavarian first graders are to receive the brightly shining reflector throws.
