By Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna
When I was young, I disliked all those back-to-school commercials, school supplies and school clothes shopping. The ticking of the clock on the Sunday 60 minutes show was a reminder to get ready for bed, school was back in session. Ugh!
School is soon starting for many of our schools and one of our first lessons is “School Safety 101” says Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna. It’s important to use extra caution while driving as excited students will be walking, bicycling, driving, riding buses and may not be paying attention while traveling to and from school. Here are some safety reminders to keep in mind and share with others!
It is illegal to pass a school bus that is stopped to load or unload children. School buses use yellow flashing lights to alert motorists that they are preparing to stop to load or unload children. Red flashing lights and an extended stop sign arm signals to motorists that the bus is stopped and children are getting on or off the bus. The area 10 feet around a school bus is where children are in the most danger of being hit. Stop your car far enough from the bus to allow children the necessary space to safely enter and exit the bus. Be alert. Children are unpredictable. Children walking to or from their bus are usually very comfortable with their surroundings. This makes them more likely to take risks, ignore hazards, or fail to look both ways when crossing the street.
Drivers should not block the crosswalk when stopped at a red light or waiting to make a turn. Do not stop with a portion of your vehicle over the crosswalk. In a school zone when a warning flasher or flashers are blinking, you must stop to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a marked crosswalk or at an intersection with no marked crosswalk.
Children are the least predictable pedestrians and the most difficult to see. Take extra care to look out for children not only in school zones, but also in residential areas, playgrounds, and parks. Don’t honk your horn, rev your engine, or do anything to rush or scare a pedestrian in front of your car, even if you have the legal right-of-way.
On most roadways, bicyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as other roadway users and often share the same lane, but bicycles can be hard to see. The riders are exposed and easily injured in a collision.
