According to the designated president of the traffic watchdog, Kirsten Lühmann, primary school children are becoming increasingly difficult to ride bicycles. The reason for this is often a lack of body awareness, as Lühmann told the German Press Agency. Many children have problems balancing, climbing or slalom running. «And if they don’t have the basics, then it will be difficult to ride a bike. And then it becomes difficult to drive safely.”
Lühmann referred to findings from the Federal Highway Research Institute that around half of all children had a balance bike before cycling – this has a very positive effect on mobility. Another finding, however, is that around a third of parents do not or only slightly support their children in learning to ride a bike.
Children’s motor problems are greater in cities than in rural areas
Many local traffic safety associations have therefore created their own materials to convey body awareness in kindergarten. “It’s about balancing, it’s about slalom running and all those things that we used to say: We have that on the playground or in the garden or somewhere else.” The problems are more serious in cities. “But we also notice in rural areas that children’s motor skills are declining.”
Another problem is that not all children have a bike anymore. The traffic police have therefore launched the “100 Years – 1,000 Bikes” fundraising campaign. To mark its 100th anniversary this year, the association is asking for donations so that it can equip youth traffic schools with new bicycles and helmets.
The Traffic Watch is an association with around 60,000 members that works to ensure that people of all ages can travel safely on the roads. It was founded on November 3, 1924 in Berlin and even then had the goal of promoting traffic safety and preventing traffic accidents.
Lühmann is expected to be elected as the new president of the traffic watchdog at today’s general meeting in Berlin. The 60-year-old police officer sat in the Bundestag for the SPD.
