Back to School! Safety Tips for Motorists

School starts today in Mesa and Gilbert, The Ehlen Team's area specialties. Here are some safety tips from asirt.org to help avoid accidents with kids going back to school.

 

Sharing the road safely with school buses

School buses are one of the safest forms of transportation on the road today. In fact,
according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, riding a bus to school is 13 times safer than riding in a passenger vehicle and 10 times safer than walking to school. The reality of school bus safety is that more children are hurt outside the bus than inside as passengers. Most of the children who lose their lives in bus-related crashes are pedestrians, four to seven years old, who are hit by the bus or by motorists illegally passing a stopped school bus. For this reason, it is necessary to know the proper laws and procedures for sharing the road safely with school buses:
 

* All 50 states have a law making it 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.

* All 50 states require that traffic in both
directions stop on undivided roadways
when students are entering or exiting a
school bus.

*While state laws vary on what is required
on a divided roadway, in all cases, traffic
behind the school bus (traveling in the
same direction) must stop.

*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.

* Never pass a school bus on the right. It
is illegal and could have tragic
consequences.

Sharing the road safely with child pedestrians

All drivers need to recognize the special safety needs of pedestrians, especially those that

are children. Young, elderly, disabled and intoxicated pedestrians are the most frequent victims in auto-pedestrian collisions. Generally, pedestrians have the right-of-way at all intersections; however, regardless of the rules of the road or right-of-way, you as a driver are obligated to exercise great care and extreme caution to avoid striking pedestrians.

* 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.
Blocking the crosswalk forces
pedestrians to go around your vehicle
and puts them in a dangerous situation.

* 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.  

* Always stop when directed to do so by a

school patrol sign, school patrol officer or
designated crossing guard.  

* 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.