Most Kansas students will be returning to school this week, and AAA Kansas is calling on drivers to be more watchful, especially during the before and after-school hours.
AAA says this time of year is particularly dangerous due to the combination of young inexperienced drivers, school buses, and student pedestrians and bicyclists who will all be on the roadways. Nearly one-fifth of traffic fatalities of children below the age of 15 are pedestrians, with more school-age pedestrians killed between the hours of 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. than any other time of day.
The agency has some key recommendations for drivers as the new school year begins:
-
Slow down. Speed limits in school zones are reduced for a reason. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 25 m.p.h. is nearly two-thirds less likely to be killed compared to a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling just 10 m.p.h. faster.
-
Ditch the distractions. Children often cross the road unexpectedly and may emerge suddenly between two parked cars. Research shows that taking your eyes off the road for just two seconds doubles your chances of crashing. Put down the phone and focus on driving safely.
-
Brake for buses. It may be tempting to drive around a stopped school bus, but not only is it dangerous, it’s against the law, no matter from which direction you’re approaching the stopped bus. There were nearly 2,300 traffic crashes in Kansas involving school buses from 2013 to 2022, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation. Those crashes resulted in 6 fatalities and 364 injuries.
-
Reverse responsibly. Every vehicle has blind spots. Check for children on the sidewalk, driveway and around your vehicle before slowly backing up. Teach your children to never play in, under or around vehicles—even those that are parked.
-
Talk with your teen driver. Car crashes are one of the leading causes of death for teens in the United States, and more than one in four fatal crashes involving teen drivers occur during the after-school hours of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
-
Come to a complete stop. Research shows that more than one-third of drivers roll through stop signs in school zones or neighborhoods. Always come to a complete stop, checking carefully for children on sidewalks and in crosswalks before proceeding.
-
Be aware of bicycles. Children on bikes are often inexperienced, unsteady and unpredictable. Slow down and allow at least three feet of passing distance between your vehicle and the bicycle. If your child rides a bicycle to school, require that they know proper bicycle-traffic safety rules and wear a properly-fitted bicycle helmet on every ride.
In the Wichita school district, middle school and high school students will have a half day of orientation on Tuesday. The first day of classes will be Wednesday, August 14th .
