This new series of posts, called “Campaigns Made in NL” is about campaigns and advertisements in the Netherlands that are so ingeburgerd (integrated in society) that everybody knows them. Some led to new verbs and other idioms. This week: schools started again!

The banners: de scholen zijn weer begonnen! (Image by Willem Karssenberg at trendmatcher.nl)

The campaign

From now on, street corners are filled with signs, banners are spanned across the roads and all with reason: De scholen zijn weer begonnen!

Every year, traffic users are informed by the organisation Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN) (safe traffic Netherlands) in collaboration with the gemeenten (municipalities) that the schools started again, so they keep in mind the children. This campaign appears to be necessary, because many students go to school by bike or foot. And many children in traffic, especially when there are many school children biking next to each other, pose a greater risk for accidents. These banners are only put up after the summer holidays, as schools had around 6 weeks zomervakantie (summer holidays), but not everybody is aware of when they start and end. And so as a reminder, the VVN places these signs.

 Did the campaign work?

VVN has been setting up these banners for more than 20 years now, and it proves necessary. Every year in September, the traffic accidents with children under 14 rise – and September is the first full month of school. It is difficult to measure whether the campaign helps, as prevented accidents cannot be recorded. And comparing numbers of now with numbers back when the campaign did not exist is not fair.

Children go to school in different ways in the Netherlands now too. Back in the 1970s, children went to school by themselves already at the age of 6 – today, the average lies at around 9 years old. And this is seen as one of the reasons why more accidents happen: children are not as familiar with traffic and how to behave. In addition, the amount of motorized vehicles has gone up. Also, parents more often take their children to school by car, often because they are afraid that their child will have an accident. What they do not realize is that more cars on the road creates a greater risk for ongelukken (accidents). VVN itself adds that children could play all summer and some have a new way to school – and that can make them incautious.

Impact on language

In Dutch, de scholen zijn weer begonnen is very rarely used as a proverb. It is a warning that something started again. So this can be something politically, and often with a satirical tone.

In general, everybody is aware of the campaign, and only the words trigger the thought about it.