Protection for the most vulnerable and inexperienced road users
For many families, starting school is a real watershed moment – not least because it is often the first time that children will regularly be out and about on their own. When children take to the roads for the first time by themselves, this is a crucial time for them to develop their road safety skills. But it is also a time fraught with worry for many parents. For the past 15 years, expert organization DEKRA has dedicated itself to the safety of school-starters with its “A head for safety” campaign.
Campaign representatives have handed out a total of around 2.75 million caps in Germany since 2004. At the start of the 2019/2020 school year, this figure will have risen by another 200,000. DEKRA subsidiaries in other countries – including Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and South Africa – are now also taking part in the campaign.
In 2019, experts from the DEKRA branches – in many cases in partnership with regional partners – will once again be teaching first-graders about the dangers of road traffic and how to stay safe on the roads. As part of this campaign, school-starters will be given bright-red safety caps. The children are not only given caps, but also taught the most important road safety rules. DEKRA also advises all parents to place retroreflective, eye-catching strips on their children’s clothing, footwear and school bags. This makes children more visible to drivers – especially in the twilight, at night or in the dim light of fall.
“DEKRA is the global partner for a safer world. This overarching aim will be achieved through numerous small steps taken directly at local level,” said Guido Kutschera, Chairman of the Management Board of DEKRA Automobil GmbH. He believes that the bright-red caps are a simple but highly effective way of protecting children on the roads: “Not only do the caps look cool, but they also make children much more visible to other road users. In daylight, the bright-red color makes the little ones stand out, while in the twilight and at night, the retroreflective, luminescent strip that runs around the cap enhances visibility.”