Parent Safety Tips for Back to School
Summer for school age children is officially over and the school Year for 2009-2010 is starting around the country. Drivers will see Yellow school buses on the road in full force. Students will be walking and riding their bikes to school. School zones will be in force in the morning and in the afternoon. We encourage all drivers to drive safely and pay extra attention while you are driving on the roads.
Parents are encouraged to discuss safety tips with their children, to prevent avoidable injuries and accidents. Studies have shown that over a million school age children are injured each year according to the National SAFE KIDS Campaign. Let’s try and prevent accidents and injuries this year with education and training to students and young children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics created a great safety tip checklist for parents of school age children. We have highlighted a few tips for parents and caregivers to school age children. Please feel free to share these helpful and practical tips with others.
BACKPACK SAFETY TIPS
• Always use both shoulder straps. Slinging a backpack over one shoulder can strain muscles.
• Choose a backpack with wide, padded shoulder straps and a padded back.
• Pack light. Organize the backpack to use all of its compartments. Pack heavier items closest to the center of the back. The backpack should never weigh more than 10 to 20 percent of the child’s body weight.
TRAVELING TO AND FROM SCHOOL SAFETY TIPS
Review the basic rules with your children
School Bus safety tips for students
• Do not move around on the bus.
• Wait for the bus to stop before approaching it from the curb.
• Check to see that no other traffic is coming before crossing.
• Make sure to always remain in clear view of the bus driver.
• Children should always board and exit the bus at locations that provide safe access to the bus or to the school building.
Car Safety tips for students
• All passengers should wear a seat belt and/or an age- and size-appropriate car safety seat or booster seat.
• All children under 13 years of age should ride in the rear seat of vehicles. If you must drive more children than can fit in the rear seat (when carpooling, for example), move the front-seat passenger’s seat as far back as possible and have the child ride in a booster seat if the seat belts do not fit properly without it.
• Remember that many crashes occur while novice teen drivers are going to and from school. You should require seat belt use, limit the number of teen passengers, do not allow eating, drinking, cell phone conversations or texting to prevent driver distraction; and limit nighttime driving and driving in inclement weather.
Bike Safety tips for students
• Know the "rules of the road."
• Use appropriate hand signals.
• Respect traffic lights and stop signs
• Ride on the right, in the same direction as auto traffic.
• Wear bright color clothing to increase visibility.
• Always wear a bicycle helmet, no matter how short or long the ride. Research indicates that a helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by up to 85 percent.
Walking to School safety tips for students
• Make sure your child's walk to a school is a safe route..
• Bright colored clothing will make your child more visible to drivers
• Be realistic about your child's pedestrian skills. Carefully consider whether or not your child is ready to walk to school without adult supervision.
• If your child is young or is walking to new school, walk with them the first week to make sure they know the route and can do it safely.
• Plan a walking route to school or the bus stop. Choose the most direct way with the fewest street crossings
• In neighborhoods with higher levels of traffic, consider starting a “walking school bus,” in which an adult accompanies a group of neighborhood children walking to school.
If you are a teen driver, you should get to know your car as much as possible.