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Thursday, August 7, 2008
Getting Ready For The Start Of School
Students and parents are getting in the back-to-school mode.
Drivers should be too.
On Aug. 18, many of the roads where you’ve been cruising this summer will become school zones. They will be flooded with kids riding bikes, walking home and getting on and off the school bus come.
That’s why AAA is once again promoting its School’s Open, Drive Carefully program.
The goal is to reduce the number of dangerous incidents that can result in a child’s death of injury. Getting hurt while walking is the second leading cause of injury-related death for children ages 5-15, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Motorists must remain extremely alert and anticipate the inevitable flow of traffic and children in school zones and residential neighborhoods,” said Leticia Messam, manager of traffic safety programs for AAA South.
A 2003 national observational survey showed that 45 percent of vehicles in school zones and residential neighborhoods did not come to a complete stop at stop signs. About 37 percent rolled through the stop sign and 7 percent did not even slow down.
Also, nearly 33 percent of drivers failed to make a complete stop at intersections where children were walking and 67 percent exceeded the posted speed limit 30 minutes before and after school.
