My practical test (as a long-time driver): 1 year of #bringing #children to #school by #bike. What can I report?

First things first: until age 8, kids have to ride their bikes on the sidewalk. But how well does it work when kids ride on the sidewalk? What have I observed?

1. I perceive inconsiderate behavior by motorists quite differently than I used to. One example is parking at the sight and transition areas of intersections. This is probably the greatest safety risk on the way to school. Because it was precisely the swerving around the intersection that I experienced as the critical zone last year (Fig. 2 and Fig. 5).

2. I also took a new look at the behavior of cyclists. For example, avoiding the "dooring zone," the area of potentially open car doors on one side, and avoiding driveway zones on the other. Both of these lead to riding behavior on a bike that is not very predictable to others.

3. there seem to be people who do not know the function of the sidewalk for bicycling children. Thus, the sidewalk is sometimes crowded - be it with garbage cans, overhanging front and rear garbage cans or bulky waste - or all combined (Figure 1).

4 These bottlenecks are particularly inconvenient when children are trying to make their way to school in groups. Parked bicycles also frequently protrude onto the sidewalk (Fig. 3). Not to mention e-scooters lying across or in the middle, which thus restrict the children's path of travel.

In addition, there are structural restrictions such as street signs (Fig. 4) or power boxes (Fig. 5), for which we seem to have socially accepted that the sidewalk must provide space and that street space/parking spaces or private areas must not be used.

Last but not least, edges, especially along the direction of travel, lead to a considerable risk of falling (Figs. 2 and 4). The same applies to very high curbs, which are also problematic for strollers and wheelchairs.

All in all, the ride - with at peak times five children in a neighborly group and two adults - reminded me of computer games like Super Mario: We tested our reaction times, developed reactive problem solutions and sharpened all our senses in order to get to school for a school year largely without injury or accident.

It was adventurous at times, but overall a very gratifying experience. The children are now well trained for road traffic, and when I'm behind the wheel again, I now drive much more mindfully and considerately than I used to.

From which point of view do you look at our city? What do you enjoy, what could be improved in #Stuttgart? If you've already read this far, feel free to write a comment and tell us about your experiences.