Tweet

Each morning as the big yellow bus rounds the corner, parents send their children off to school with the expectation they will remain safe. As children strap on backpacks filled with books, pick out their always important back to school outfits and ultimately kick off another school year we each must do our part to assure our children remain safe.

Schools in San Carlos Park Fire District are back in session Monday, August 12th and SCPFD would like to remind its residents to SLOW DOWN. SCPFD Firefighters will be posted at the high traffic areas and school zones throughout San Carlos Park reminding residents school is back in session and encouraging safe driving behaviors.

In the United States, 5,977 pedestrians died from traffic-related injuries in 2017. Nearly one-fifth (19%) of the children 14 and younger killed in traffic crashes were pedestrians.  While driving, pedestrians can be very hard to see. Due to their smaller size, children may be especially difficult to see if they are standing between parked cars on the side of the road.

For drivers, remember to slow down and be especially alert in the residential neighborhoods and school zones; take extra time to look for kids at intersections, on medians and on curbs; and enter and exit driveways slowly and carefully.  In a school zone when a warning 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.

Remind your children to cross the street at corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks; never run out into the streets or cross in between parked cars; and to make sure they always walk in front of the bus where the driver can see them. The greatest risk to a child isn’t riding a bus but approaching or leaving one. From 2008-2017, there were 264 school-age children killed in school-transportation-related crashes. The majority of those students weren’t on a bus; 203 were either walking, waiting for the bus, biking, or in another vehicle.

Be on the lookout for students and your SCPFD Firefighters on the 12th and join us in accepting the responsibility to keep safety in mind during your commute so we may be sure children return home safely each evening.