It is not uncommon for children to be let out to the side of the road from a stopped car and only due to lucky coincidences does an accident not occur. Since the end of the summer vacations, the problem of "parent cabs" has become even more acute. Especially in the dark and rainy season, many children are driven to school by their parents.
Parents have an important role model function with regard to children's behavior in road traffic. It is therefore all the more important for parents to support and guide children of primary school age in walking to school or letting them walk independently.
In order to improve the situation in front of elementary school and to minimize the danger to children from the many - often illegally - parked cars of parents, the police, the city and the elementary school are appealing to parents to refrain from bringing their children to school by car wherever possible and to observe the applicable traffic regulations.
Since the beginning of the year, the city has stepped up checks at schools and hired additional staff to ensure a constant presence, particularly at elementary school in the city. Since the beginning of the year, 719 violations (as of October) of the StVO have been punished in 225 checks outside schools. Parents often react with incomprehension and sometimes aggressively to the law enforcement officers and attentive teachers who point out misconduct.
Illegal parking on the hard shoulder or sidewalk as well as illegal parking and stopping in the second row currently result in a warning fine of 55.00 euros according to the national catalog of offenses. Higher fines are possible for endangering others. Parking and stopping or turning on private property and in teachers' parking spaces is also not permitted.
First City Councillor Eric Neiseke emphasizes: "Based on the experience of recent weeks, the police and we as a city will increase our presence at elementary school as part of action weeks from 01.12.2025 until the Christmas vacations and consistently punish violations of traffic rules. In the new year, the employees of the public order office will continue to regularly monitor schools in order to improve road safety in the long term. My appeal to parents of primary school children: Encourage your children's independence and accompany them part of the way on foot. Your child can also walk the last few meters to school completely on their own."
Kathrin Lacey, road safety advisor at the police station/Salzgitter/Peine, Wolfenbüttel, adds: "The police road safety advisor and elementary school work closely together in the area of road safety education. We want to introduce children to safe participation in road traffic with age-appropriate activities such as the pedestrian driving license, scooter training or the bicycle test. Unfortunately, parental cabs mean that children are less able to put what they have learned into practice. In other words, parents are not helping their children."
