It's a day like any other, your daughter or son has arranged to meet up with friends to go to a disco. In the middle of the night, your doorbell rings and two police officers inform you that there has been a traffic accident. Since then, everything has changed. Life is no longer the way it used to be.
Did you think this only happens to other people?
We invite your children, who are in the "young drivers" target group, to our crash course events in the city area to talk about this. Our events take place almost weekly on the premises of secondary schools and vocational colleges.
What is the aim of Crash Kurs NRW?
Crash Kurs NRW uses emotional reports and vivid images to make it clear that road accidents cause unbearable suffering. We convey to the audience that traffic accidents don't just happen.
People are injured or killed because rules are disregarded. This means that road accidents are preventable.
The message is as simple as it is effective: when we follow the rules on the road, we protect lives - those of others, our friends and our own.
We want to make it urgently clear, without pointing a finger, how life-threatening risky behavior on the road is and that our own actions as drivers and passengers are crucial.
What are the contents of the "Crash Course NRW" in Mönchengladbach?
Participants from the police, fire department, emergency physicians, emergency pastoral workers and accident victims describe their own experiences of road accidents, how they came about and the often terrible consequences.
They talk about their very personal experiences.
Is that not too harsh?
The reports can trigger strong emotions. The fact that we are talking about these things is the result of a difficult balancing of interests: On the one hand, it is about saving human lives through an effective prevention concept; on the other hand, the demonstration is emotionally stressful.
It is therefore important to us that you prepare your students, their children or other members of the "young drivers" target group before the event to talk about accidental death and the consequences of accidents.
Anyone who has experienced an accident in the family or among friends is not part of our target group.
Staff will be on hand during the event to provide assistance if anyone needs to leave the room. After Crash Kurs NRW events, we always take enough time to talk together about the experience.
