What is a blind spot anyway? Police officer Josef Rickers first explained it to the children vividly using examples. Despite rear-view and side mirrors, drivers of trucks, but also of cars, cannot fully see the rear right area on their cars. This becomes particularly dangerous when vehicles turn right. Cyclists who are in the blind spot are not seen and run the risk of colliding with the vehicle. Therefore, the advice of the police officers was: even though cyclists have the right of way, they should always stop when riding next to or behind a vehicle that wants to turn right. This is the only way to prevent accidents caused by a blind spot. The police officers impressively described how dangerous it can otherwise become. In 2002, the turning maneuver of a truck in Ahaus ended fatally. For a girl who was on her way to school by bicycle, all help came too late.
The theoretical explanations of the blind spot were followed by practical testing. One after the other, the children were allowed to take a seat in the police van to see for themselves that an entire class disappears in the blind spot of a car and is simply invisible to the driver. Sensitized in this way to difficult situations in road traffic, the pupils were sent off for the break.