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Getting to school safely — aletto hotels are committed to ensuring students' road safety

The new school year is just around the corner or has already begun in some federal states. An exciting and important phase of life is imminent, especially for children who have just started school. Unfortunately, the excitement sometimes starts before that — on the way to school. Confusing intersections, non-functioning traffic lights or reckless road users often ensure that parents do not have a clear conscience when they send their protégés to school alone. What exactly is the whole thing now with the Aletto Hoteli You can find out what you have to do and how you can make your children's way to school a bit safer in our blog.

Abenteuer Schulweg

Reckless road users are the primary concern of parents and children

Even before the start of the last school year, the ADAC has a survey carried out on the subject of safety on the way to school. It determined what parents are most concerned about when it comes to road safety on the way to school. Almost half of the respondents said that the carelessness of other road users was their biggest concern. Only one in five had concerns that the children themselves were not paying proper attention along the way and thus getting into dicey situations. The children were also asked about their experiences and the majority of them also stated that the behavior of other road users made them the most insecure. And these fears are no coincidence: According to ADAC, most accidents involving children occur between Monday and Friday between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. — exactly when most children are on their way to school. It is therefore more than advisable to prepare new school children to participate in road traffic in such a way that they move confidently and safely on our roads. It is also just as important to raise awareness among other road users, in particular car drivers, in order to sustainably counteract the main concerns raised by parents and children. But how does that work?

Big cars, small students: Reckless drivers as the main concern of parents and children. Photo: Adobe Stock/Glaser

Prepare children properly for road traffic

Who can't remember the first trips to school that they had to go without their parents and kept asking themselves: Am I in the right place? Do the cars really stop at the crosswalk? Will I still make it on time? Is this my school now? Well, admittedly, very few went to the wrong school. Yet hardly anyone was a professional in road traffic from day one, but had weak knees at one point or another. All of these uncertainties are completely normal but should be taken seriously. Preparations for a safe journey to school should not only start on the first day of school, but a few weeks before that.

More safety through joint practice

It is very important to practice your way to school to create security and build self-confidence. The trail should be traveled together with the child until they know for sure where they are going. On many routes to school, there is at least one position with potential risks. These sections should be particularly focused and discussed. Explain to your children what they should pay attention to, what makes this area potentially dangerous and how they can best cross it. Parents should also put themselves in the shoes of their children. A person of 1.20 m has a completely different, much more limited overview than adults and therefore has to get closer to the road in many cases to observe the traffic. In contrast to children, for example, adults can look over parked cars, which is a huge advantage. So practice the path a few times until your child feels safe and at the end let the path run alone while you watch from a distance whether everything goes smoothly. In this way, you give your child a lot of self-confidence and prepare them optimally for the start of school. But as already mentioned, from the point of view of many, the problem lies more in the recklessness of other road users than in the insecurity of children. And that's where Aletto comes in.

Practicing the way to school together is essential to prepare children safely for road traffic. Photo: Adobe Stock

#SicherZurSchule

What does Aletto have to do with going to school?

You're probably wondering what Aletto has to do with safety on the way to school. As a hotel that welcomes many families and school classes as guests and also employs parents and older siblings in our team, this topic is very important to us. As the new school year was just around the corner, after a few internal discussions, it quickly became clear that we wanted to get involved here. Our campaign therefore starts on August 23 #SicherZurSchule. A competition on our Instagram profile is running until September 30, in which a radar system set worth around 5,000€ will be raffled off. This will be raffled off to a school to sensitize nearby road users to mindful driving.

Radar system competition for schools

Anyone can take part in the competition, whether parents, teachers, older siblings or the students themselves. All that needs to be done is to nominate a school including a postal code in the comments on the competition entry that would benefit from such a radar system and briefly describe why this is the case. In order to pay as much attention as possible to this important topic, an additional two people must be marked in the comment. The exact conditions of participation are set out in the corresponding Instagram post listed. Should you think of a school that you would like to nominate for the competition, it is also advisable to inform your circle of acquaintances and ask them to nominate the same school as well. Because in the end, one will be selected by lottery from all schools mentioned in the comments to which the radar system will be made available. So if your friends or family nominate the same school as you, the chance of winning increases accordingly.

photo: Irina Schmidt

A month dedicated to safety on the way to school

During the period until September 30, when the competition is running, we are also dedicating many other posts to the topic on our social media profiles. In doing so, we provide various information, conduct surveys on the topic among our guests and staff, and create, for example, a quiz that parents or teachers can play with new students in order to check the traffic knowledge of young people. In this way, we try to draw attention to the topic in as entertaining and playful a way as possible and to provide various tips and information to promote road safety on school routes.

Working together to make our children safer

Your commitment is required!

To make our campaign as successful as possible, we depend on your cooperation. In the end, all that planning is of no use if the topic doesn't get the attention it deserves. So it means participating, liking, sharing! Anyone who nominates a school in mainland Germany can take part in the competition. So it doesn't matter where you live and where the school is located, which you think needs a radar system. Even if your children have a safe way to school, it can help a lot to make other people aware of the campaign so that as many people as possible have the chance to take part in the competition and thus focus more on the topic.

A lifesaver on the bike: the helmet. A reflective vest and/or light-colored clothing further increase safety. Photo: Adobe/Jörch

What are your experiences?

Feel free to share your personal experiences with us so that we can share them with our community. This also informs and sensitizes people. While one person traveled on foot every day during school hours, another might have come by school bus or bicycle. The exchange of various experiences should also help to look at the topic from as many different perspectives as possible and to exchange ideas together. Feel free to write us down instagram, facebook and linkedin or talk to us directly if you are currently visiting Aletto. Let's work together to ensure that our kids' journeys to school are safer and that mutual awareness is strengthened. And always remember: Look left and right when you cross the street!

Bye!