A study by the ADAC Foundation indicates that a significant number of children in Germany lack the necessary safety skills when cycling in traffic. While 96% of children between the ages of four and twelve can ride a bicycle, the study highlights serious deficiencies in essential traffic safety knowledge.
The findings show that only around 60% of children aged seven to nine possess fundamental skills such as looking over their shoulder, signaling with their hands, and safely riding with one hand. This lack of mastery is pronounced, with 38% of this age group unable to perform a safe shoulder check, cannot ride with one hand, and consequently cannot give clear hand signals. This issue persists even among older children; over 20% of those aged ten to twelve exhibited this deficit, despite many having completed formal bike riding instruction in school. In response to these findings, the ADAC Foundation advises families to use the summer break to practice safe cycling together.
Regarding who bears the responsibility for traffic education, the survey revealed that parents primarily place the burden on themselves, with 52% feeling they are mainly responsible for teaching their children safe road behavior. Thirty-six percent view traffic education as a joint effort between the family and the school, while only about ten percent assign the responsibility predominantly to the school. Parent feedback on formal schooling is largely positive; 83% believe that mandated school biking lessons successfully impart essential traffic competence.
These outcomes align with observations from a spring survey targeting teachers conducted by the ADAC Foundation. According to the educators, 47% of the children they teach suffer from significant attention deficits when navigating traffic, and 36% struggle to react appropriately when confronted with critical road situations.
