Hurry, get out, grab your stuff – speed is of the essence.
Hurry, get out, grab your stuff – speed is of the essence.
Going straight home after school to do their homework, then off to a sports club, swimming lessons, jazz dancing, or perhaps musical instrument lessons – the schedules of many children and teenagers are packed, leaving little time for anything else. The amount of time parents have to find for all of this, especially with multiple children, is enormous. Who has to be where at what time? On foot, by bus or train? Or do we need a car? And if so, can we arrange a ride together?
”Unfortunately, the resulting stress is all too often at the expense of safety," says DEKRA accident researcher Markus Egelhaaf. "Three child seats do not fit on every backseat, and it is not a good idea to leave the children buckled up and throw bulky hockey sticks etc. in the back of the estate car." Because parents' schedules are often packed and finding a parking space is hell, cars are sometimes left on the sidewalk or double parked.
We all know the routine: hurry, get out, grab your stuff – speed is of the essence. Open the doors and get out. Perhaps if under less stress and the parking situation were better, the parent might consider only letting the children out of the car on the sidewalk side and would pay more attention to passing cyclists or pedestrians, but in the heat of the moment all these considerations go out the window. ”It is precisely situations like these that generate the greatest risk of accident for the driver’s own children and for other road users,” explains Egelhaaf.
When things become hectic, no child looks to see if somebody is coming before opening the car door.
Markus Egelhaaf
Exiting on the side facing the road quickly leads to unwelcome encounters with passing vehicles, unloading the trunk in passing traffic likewise presents considerable potential for accidents, especially as it is precisely here that the attention of other road users is restricted – they, too, are in a rush to disembark their children.
”Despite all the stress that child logistics entails, the standards of safe road use should be maintained,” underscores the accident researcher.” And this includes every person in the car being correctly belted in and if required to be occupying a suitable child seat. It also means only allowing children to alight on the road side after the parent has checked that the door can be opened safely, that the cargo is correctly secured and that a suitable car parking space is sought out at the destination.