Follow These Five Simple Rules to Keep Kids Safe at Schools

Safety should be your primary concern while driving. While some drivers are worried about getting late to drop their children at schools, they should keep in mind that their priority should be to get there safe and sound and that on a short trip, you can’t save more than a few minutes. For them, and not only, but there are also five essential things to remember.

1. School Zones - Usually, school zones have flashing lights and stop signs in the area. Also, there are traffic signs with speed limitations for specific hours. But you have to pay attention even outside those times since there are school-related events, which will take children out and you might meet them. Worth mentioning that speeding tickets are usually doubled in school zones.

2. School buses - it’s hard to believe that someone won’t recognize a school bus. Some of them are already collectible vehicles, but we don’t want to talk about those now. Instead, we’ll talk about the nowadays buses that will take your child to school and back. You have to remember that they have a flashing red light and an extended arm when loading or unloading children. It goes without saying that overtaking a bus when its flashing warning lights are on and the arm extended is strictly forbidden in all 50 states. As for the fines, that should be your least concern. Your insurance company will not be happy, and neither you do when the next insurance bill lands in your post-box.

3. School Drop Off - parents usually take turns in carpools to drop their kids and others at schools. While it might seem an easy task, it is very easy to make mistakes. There are a few tips from the National Safety Council:

- Don’t double-park since that will block visibility for other children and vehicles.

- Likewise, don’t drop children across the street from their schools. That will force them to cross the road and will force other drivers to hit the brakes.

- While parents won’t know how to deal with dropping kids at first days at school, soon they will go on and take turns in a carpool with other parents. Thus, there will be fewer cars in school areas.

4. Focusing - while driving around schools, it is very important for drivers to take extra precautions. Children are unpredictable, and they can jump between two parked cars right in front of you. Half a second spent with the eyes on a cellphone might lead to a tragedy. So try to avoid distractions of any kind. Moreover, taking the shortest route might not be the best idea, since it might be crowded with other cars. Thankfully, there are new technologies to help for both situations, such as hands-free audio devices and Waze, which is a tad better than Google Maps.

5. Last but not least, keep an eye on the traffic and try to leave early. While it might be inconvenient, it might keep you out of trouble. You won’t be forced to try and rush (even though you won’t save too many minutes of the commute) and, moreover, you might find a better parking space to unload the precious cargo.

If you respect these five ground rules, you will also serve as a good example for children. In the beginning, they might be upset about leaving home early, but after a while, they’ll get used to it and won’t complain anymore.

Choosing the right vehicle for drop-off is another essential aspect. Even though the minivans are not in trend anymore, they proved to be unbeatable at this job. Try to get one with a sliding right door. That will allow better ingress and egress from the car and won’t block the sidewalk when it opens.

So, please tell us in a comment below with what car are you taking your kids to their schools?