Bimbi sicuri
(Safe kids) Children, parents, and vehicle drivers can follow useful tips for the safety of young ones on the home-to-school route.
With the beginning of the school year, the Police of the City of Lugano promotes the "Bimbi sicuri" (Safe Kids) operation with the aim of ensuring the safety of schoolchildren on the roads along the home-to-school route. Road safety inevitably depends on the behavior of all road users: vehicle drivers, drivers accompanying children, parents, and children themselves.
Thus, Lugano also participates in the national campaign "Attenzione, i bambini sono imprevedibili" for a safe home-to-school route, a campaign developed by the National Accident Prevention Office, the Road Safety Fund, and the Swiss police forces.
Planned information and prevention measures
The "Bimbi sicuri" operation includes various concrete information and prevention measures, also thanks to the collaboration with the municipal school institute.
- Police advice to the parents of schoolchildren in the city of Lugano through a circular
- Speed checks on the roads near school premises during the week before the start of the schools and during the first week of the new school year
- High-visibility "vest" given to first-grade schoolchildren on the first day of school to make them visible on the home-school route
- Neighborhood officers' proximity action near school centers, to ensure the safety of children and observe behaviors on the road, particularly regarding pedestrian priority, child transport in vehicles, vehicle parking at schools, and road crossing. During the first week of the school year, neighborhood officers educate and inform those who fail to adopt the correct behavior on the road; starting from the second week, significant violations are sanctioned. For the safety of children, the City, in addition to the Police, works with private security companies to monitor pedestrian crossings on the home-school route and in particularly risky areas.
Advice for vehicle drivers
- Attention: children are unpredictable
- Slow down
- Be ready to brake
- Come to a complete stop in front of the crosswalk
- Double your attention near schools
Advice for parents
- Set a good example. Show your child the safest route to school by practicing it safely together in advance, and repeat the practice, not just on the first day of school.
- Choose the safest route, not the shortest. Teach and practice the safe use of overpasses/underpasses, sidewalks, and pedestrian crossings, which should only be crossed when the traffic light is green.
- Send your child to school with enough time in advance, dressing them in easily visible clothing, including reflective elements.
- Try not to drive your child to school by car. Walking to school is an important experience. In this regard, the Police of the City of Lugano supports the Pedibus program and recommends that various parent committees stay updated by consulting the dedicated website or school boards for various information and materials.
- Children under 14 years old should not be entrusted with electric bikes or scooters. Electric scooters and bikes can only be ridden from 14 years old (with Category M or G), and after 16 years old without a license.
Advice for children
- Do not run or play on the road
- Do not get distracted
- Respect others
- Always pay attention to traffic
Advice for drivers accompanying children
- Don't be in a hurry
- Always fasten the children's seatbelts
- Use the car seat or booster seat: it is mandatory for children up to 12 years old or shorter than 150 cm
- Do not endanger the children by parking or stopping where it is prohibited or where visibility is poor
- Park in designated parking areas, not elsewhere
- Make sure children get out on the sidewalk side
- Every time you start the vehicle, check that there are no children in front or behind your vehicle
The Command of the City of Lugano Police can rely on an educational service for schoolchildren with two units, including Corporal Patrick Brühwiler, who has been meeting with over 3,500 students from the city of Lugano for several years to teach them the correct behavior to adopt on the road when going to school, both on foot and by bicycle.
In Lugano, according to data provided by the Cantonal Police regarding traffic accidents involving children, every year 5 children up to 14 years old are injured, 3 of them while walking (average values from recent years), with 60% of the cases occurring on the way to and from school.
In the age group between 5 and 9 years old, children are involved in accidents mainly while crossing the street: 20% are injured near a pedestrian crossing, and in 40% of cases, they themselves cause the accident due to their behavior on the street.
For the start of the 2022-2023 school year, the Police of Lugano conducted activities for the "Bimbi Sicuri" campaign. The operation involved 23 police officers, for a total of 261.5 service hours, with the following results:
- 3,000 circulars with safety advice from the City Police sent by email to the parents of the 3,560 schoolchildren in Lugano
- 20 schools and 27 first-grade classes visited by Cpl. Patrick Brühwiler, a trainer in road safety education
- 406 first-grade students equipped with high-visibility vests, a reflective sticker, and a brochure for the current campaign
- 24 speed checks near city schools (12 the week before school started and 12 in the following week, announced with a press release and a letter to the parents)
- 5,151 vehicles checked, of which 265 exceeded the speed limits (5.14%, down by 0.42% compared to last year). The highest speeds recorded were 45 km/h in 30 km/h zones and 62 km/h on roads with the general speed limit of 50 km/h
Special attention was given to the neighborhood patrol work by the officers, with:
- 21 daily stations near schools to observe the behavior of road users
- 191 meetings between the officers and road users to deepen the topic of road safety near schools
The neighborhood officers also observed 345 traffic violations for which there was an information and education stop:
- 344 drivers for illegal parking (out of spaces, on sidewalks, near intersections, poor visibility)
- One driver for failure to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks.
On Monday, 28 August 2023, the school year began for over 3,600 children residing in Lugano, who made their way to school. For them, this means facing a home-to-school journey that, in addition to contributing to their development, could also present risks.
In Lugano, from 2018 to 2022, an average of 5 children per year up to 14 years old were injured on the road (60% of them as pedestrians), and none lost their lives. In 2022, 2 children were injured, the lowest number since 2018. On the home-to-school route, there is an average of 2.6 accidents per year.
The English version of this page was created with the aid of automatic translation tools and may contain errors and omissions.
The original version is the page in Italian.