With school starting, be careful on the roads
Labor Day is still 13 days off and the calendar says that autumn arrives Sept. 22, but for a lot of people the curtain comes down on summer when those yellow or orange school buses start traversing our roads for their five-days-a-week rounds.
We’ll start seeing more of them this week as many of the school districts in our region get their academic years underway. Canon-McMillan and Trinity students returned to class on Monday, McGuffey will follow suit on Wednesday, Washington on Thursday and Fort Cherry next Monday. In Greene, all five of the county’s school districts also resume classes next Monday.
This means drivers need to be alert for children making their way to bus stops and how they approach buses that are picking up or dropping off passengers. There’s abundant reason for caution. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, school bus-related crashes inched up last year in a district that includes Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties, and over 70 percent of these incidents occurred during daylight, in weather that was dry and clear.
PennDOT recommends students stay at least five feet from traffic, and allow the bus to come to a complete stop, with the stop arm extended, before they go near it. Once students are onboard, they should stay in their seats. Once they get off the bus, they should walk in front of the bus, and not behind it, use crosswalks and pay attention to crossing signals or guards.
Drivers should, as always, allow themselves enough time to get to their destinations, eliminate distractions – that phone call or text message can wait – be mindful of their vehicle’s blind spots and pay attention to crosswalks and speed restrictions. They definitely should not pass a bus from behind if it is stopped to load or unload children, or from either direction if the road is undivided. Traffic must stop if yellow or red lights are flashing on a bus, and the stop arm is extended.
The school year can be safe for everyone with a little extra awareness and vigilance.