Kerkrade improves road safety around elementary school
Since this month, the Kerkrade elementary school de Spoorzoeker, de Schakel and de Doorkijk are a bit more colorful and traffic-safe. This is due to the new 'Julie furniture' that the municipality of Kerkrade and the schools have placed in the school zones.
Julie furniture consists of cheerful and especially eye-catching colored posts and fences. Schools throughout the Netherlands use colorful furniture to make it clear to traffic participants that they are entering a school zone. This makes it very recognizable to adults and children alike.
Unveiling Julie furniture
The students of the elementary schools, together with the council and teachers, chose the spots for the Julie furniture. In doing so, they received advice from the Children's Council.
Together, they officially unveiled the new furniture on Wednesday, Feb. 28. This happened at elementary school de Schakel. Alderman Alexander Geers (Traffic) was also there.
He explains why the Julie furniture is so important: "It creates a recognizable and safer school environment," he indicates. "Road users who see the Julie furniture immediately know they are coming to a place where they need to drive carefully."
And it doesn't just help adults to pay better attention in the school zone: "The colored poles and fences also allow the children to clearly see at which spots they need to stop for a moment or where they need to pay extra attention if there is no traffic coming, " say the children of the Children's Council. "And that's very important, too, because children and adults must work together to make traffic near schools safer."
More Julie furniture in Kerkrade
Traffic safety is an important issue for all schools in Kerkrade. Therefore, later this year, the municipality will also work with Bleijerheide and Steltloper elementary schools to see if we can start placing Julie furniture at these schools as well.
