The new school year is already underway and with the return of children and adolescents to the classrooms, routine has once again been established in the homes of millions of families throughout Spain. As usual, there are many parents who accompany their children to school by car. Although this is a common practice that in most cases we do not give much importance to, it is essential to remember that the safety of schoolchildren on the way to school must be a constant priority.
As we already know, all children must be adequately secured with child restraint systems (CRS) appropriate to their weight and age. According to regulations, children up to 135 centimeters tall must use approved restraint systems, such as child seats or boosters, depending on their size and weight. It is worth remembering that children under 12 years of age should not travel in the front seat for safety reasons, except in very specific cases.
In addition to ensuring that children travel safely in the car, it is essential to pay attention to another important detail for their safety: where they should place their backpacks. Although it is most common for minors to get into the car with their backpacks and place them on the seat or on the floor, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) recommends that they place them in the trunk to avoid the so-called 'elephant effect'.
In a message published on the social network . "If you take them by car, put their backpack in the trunk, park correctly and have them exit on the sidewalk," the message states.
The habit of carrying backpacks inside the cabin is an extremely dangerous practice. In accordance with article 14 of the General Traffic Regulations, it is essential that any load we transport in the car is adequately secured to prevent it from moving in a dangerous manner.
In situations of sudden braking or accidents, loose objects can become high-risk projectiles, since their weight can be up to 30 or 40 times greater than their own mass, even at relatively low speeds, such as 50 km/h. This is what is known as the 'elephant effect'.
Therefore, it is crucial to adopt the practice of placing backpacks and other objects in the trunk of the vehicle and making sure to collect the belongings once we have gotten out of the car. When getting out of the vehicle, as indicated by the DGT in the message, it is recommended to do so on the side of the sidewalk whenever possible and, if not, make sure that no vehicle is approaching that could represent a danger before getting out of the car. .
This measure contributes significantly to the safety of both vehicle occupants and other road users.
Likewise, the Spanish Alliance for Children's Road Safety (AESVi) has called on those in charge of taking minors to school to take extreme precautions when traveling to schools in the face of the increase in child fatalities on the roads.
As the organization has warned in a message collected by Europa Press, a "radical change" in the road safety strategy is urgently needed in the face of what it has described as a "terrifying" scenario: "from January 1 to July 13, 2022, six died "children under the age of 14. In the same period of this year, 2023, twelve minors died."
