Child traffic safety exams reimagined in the wake of Covid-19

Traffic safety platform VVN has come up with a new version of its practical traffic safety exam for 12 and 13 year old children following a seismic disruption in lessons brought about by the outbreak of Covid-19 in the Netherlands. According to the new guidelines, students will be able to earn their certificates by doing the practical exam with their parents for the first time, with students asked to cycle the route to the high school where they will start at the end of the summer.

Students have to follow three steps to pass the exam. First, they need to do take an online cycling exam, and if they pass they move on to the route test. In this step they go through the route on paper identifying what they have to look out for during the exam. That leads to the practical exam where students cycle the route to their new school with a parent trailing them.

Rob Stomphorst, a spokesman for the VVN, argued that traffic should be regarded as a practical subject. "The traffic knowledge is important, but the real traffic experience you do in practice. That is why the practical exam is an inseparable part of the VVN traffic exam," he said.

Following a discussion with the schools, students will be able to pick up their traffic diplomas before the end of the school year.