For a good cause, the Minister of Transport immediately went to the ground: Bernd Buchholz perched on Monday morning in the auditorium of the Claus School to talk on equal terms with first graders on the subject of safety in traffic. It was the start of the nationwide ADAC warning vests campaign.
“I’m here today so you can safely get to school in the morning,” the visitor explained to about 75 girls and boys. Not only do they belong to the smallest road users: because children have a smaller field of view and a poor locating ability. They cannot perceive dangerous situations as well as older ones. Besides, they do not react so fast.
Therefore, it is all the more important that the other road users recognize the offspring in time. So that the first graders with reflective tapes can be seen more quickly in the dark, the ADAC Foundation launched the West Action in 2010. The motto: “100 meters ahead, who can decide.”
Sometimes the advantage of the all-round reflective vest is even greater, the ADAC calculates: in dark clothes, children in the dark can only be recognized from a distance of about 25 meters – wearing reflective clothing – after all, it’s already 40 meters. With the reflective safety vest, it even reaches 140 meters. Due to the eye-catching hood and the long cut the donated luminous clothing also protrudes from the back beyond the satchel.
“You promise me that you always put them on,” Minister Buchholz admonished his young listeners. Over the next few days, more than 22,000 reflective vests will be distributed in Schleswig-Holstein.