School buses returned to the roads today, bringing students back to class for another year.
That means the school zone is back in effect, and motorists should be prepared to slow down to 30 kilometres per hour during school days and to keep a keen eye peeled for kids darting across the street.
Especially in the morning and afternoon, when children are making their way to and from classes.
Of course drivers should always — regardless of the time of year — proceed cautiously along Centre Street North by the school, which has a large playground nearby.
But foot traffic for children, many of whom walk to school from nearby, unquestionably increases when school starts again.
Meanwhile, many others are bused in from the surrounding rural areas. On those country roads, motorists are especially urged to exercise caution and restraint on the accelerator.
Just because there are no school zones out there, does not mean drivers can just speed on by.
So we would like to remind our readers about a few basic rules involving school buses that might have become a bit fuzzy or possibly even forgotten over the summer months.
Keep an eye out for alternating flashing amber lights, which means a school bus is slowing down to stop for students to either embark or unload. Motorists are by law required to come to a complete stop when the bus driver activates alternately flashing red lights. There is one sole exception to this rule, which does not even apply to our immediate area. That exemption pertains only to situations when a bus is on the opposite side of a two-way highway that is physically divided by a median.
Drivers can only proceed once the red lights on the bus have ceased flashing.
But even when the lights aren’t flashing, motorists are encouraged to watch out for kids crossing the road whenever a bus is near.
Saving a few seconds in a rush to get somewhere is not worth the potential risk to a child who — in his or her enthusiasm to go to class, or perhaps come home at the end of the day — fails to ensure the road is safe to cross before running out.
This becomes even more perilous should the youth dart out from the front of the bus, which won’t give an impatient motorist who recklessly decided to pass a stopped bus enough time to safely stop.
So we hope you’ll join us in wishing our community’s students a safe and productive school year, and to be sure to yield the way whenever you see them looking to cross the street.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
