By Staff
School has been in session for a month now, but that does not mean we can let down our guard when it comes to driving.
There have already been several school children injured in car-pedestrian accidents in southwestern Michigan.
We as drivers need to remain vigilant throughout the school year.
One never knows when a child will dart out into the street from behind a tree or a parked car.
Children quite often do not look when they run out after a ball, or when they are crossing the street going to or from school.
We as adults need to take responsibility for our actions in an automobile.
Driving is not a right, but a privilege.
While we should drive cautiously at all times, we need to be particularly careful first thing in the morning and in the late afternoon when school-aged children are going to and returning home from school.
It is our responsibility to protect these children.
A child is no match for a vehicle weighing more than a ton.
Here are a few suggestions on how to be better drivers:
1. Obey all traffic and speed limit signs.
2. The speed limit around a school zone is 25 mph. That is not a suggested speed limit. It is the law.
3. Children are not only injured walking to or from school, but getting on and off school buses. When the flashing lights come on that means you must stop. The flashing stop sign does not mean slow down and go around the bus at a slower speed. Stop means stop.
4. When you see school-age children walking to or from school, or standing at a corner, slow down even further. You will not be able to stop quick enough, even at 25 mph, if one of them darts out into traffic.
5. There is nowhere you have to be that demands that you speed through school zones endangering everyone in your path. So remember, school is back in session. The days are getting longer which means in the morning it will be dark when a lot of students head off to school.
Drive carefully and make it a great year for everyone.