"Why do you drive so fast in front of our school" by Ulla Reinhard
8. Mai 2009 (Hamburger Abendblatt) (permission applied for)
Pupils accompany traffic police during speed controls and talk to drivers about their infractions. "They are very embrassed when they are being caught" says Greta (9).
Pupils Bruno and Mahdi (both 10 years old) ask Heiko Schöwig (29), why he clocked 54 when the speed limit was 30 kmh (=approx 20 mph)
Foto Copyright: Juergen Joost
792 children were hurt in traffic accidents in Hamburg last year, 95 suffered severe injuries. 697 were hurt lightly. The number of injured kids has been going down since 2002, when the total was 1109. Nevertheless, the police is conducting more frequent controls in front of schools and kindergardens. One of their prime goals is to reduce accidents numbers for children. Each kid which is hurt is one kid too many says police chief Werner Janotsch at the start of the enforcment event entitled “Look out for kids – home again.” The event will take place in the vicinity of Hamburg schools during the next few weeks.
Thursday 11.00am : Greta Priebe (9) and her friends are not attending class. The wait on the sidewalk in front their elementary school on Richardstreet in Eilbek. Today there are more important things than lessons. Fourth grade students are
teachers today - traffic safety teachers to be precise. They educate the car drivers who exceed the speed limit in front of their school.
“This is really exciting” says Greta. “Many drivers are really embarassed when we speak to them.” The pupils have received a questionaire from the police. Going through the questions they discuss the speeding offence with the driver.
“Can you explain why you exceeded the speed limit?” asks Greta the building contractor Bernd Reiher. He was clocked with 44 kmh where only 30 are allowed. “In my thoughts I was already at my next appointment. I just did not see the sign” says the 64 year old. “In their thoughts, that what they all say,” Greta wisecracks. Next question: “Could you have come to a stop if a kid suddenly ran onto the street?” The contractor hesitates: Then he says: “I am not sure”. He is one of the few drivers who show this hesitation. Most think they would be able to stop in time. But driving instructor Michael Körner (46) adds: “This is what everybody learns when they get their license: Braking distance = half the speed on the dial.” No, the car would not have been able to stop in time.
Traffic Police has conducted 458 speed control events in front of schools, kindergardens, playgrounds. Results: 3822 tickets for speeding, plus an additional 611 tickets where children were not wearing seat-belts or defective child seats. While the number of accidents went down, those with children actually went up by 3,7 %.
Yesterday the students from Richardstrasse Elementary spoke to 10 drivers. Almost all of them were remorseful, and applauded the effort. “Man, I can tell you, when a kid is asking you these questions, it really gets you” says Heiko Schöwing (29). “You are bound to think about it differently.” The student clocked 54 kmh and was the “winner” of the day.
Until the end of May another 700 events are scheduled in front of Hamburg schools. Today the police is covering the areas of Schnelsen, Barmbek-Nord and Neugraben-Fischbek.
(translation Michael Cahn)
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