I recall a few years ago on the first day of school when several Lufkin area school superintendents either rode a bus or walked with a group of walkers through a busy traffic area in an effort to help promote safety. I remember thinking they were brave to do either.
I walked and rode my bike to Trout Elementary through fourth grade and then rode the bus to Hudson ISD until my junior year. The last two years of high school my mother threatened me within an inch of my life if I put a dent in her car or rode with a friend and decided not to go to school. Well, I never put a dent in her car, but the antics my best friend and I pulled when I rode with her to wherever should have made the history books of what not to do in high school. Somehow she graduated at the top of our class and I graduated somewhere near the bottom. In fact, my high school English teacher sat behind my parents on graduation night and according to them, said a hearty ‘amen’ when the principal called my name. It took a village. I think it still does.
As school begins with a new year of experiences for parents, students and educators, I urge you to have the talk. Not that talk, but the talk that could save their lives – the safety talk. I hope parents and educators talk until they are blue in the face about safety and what to do and what not to do when it comes to getting back and forth to school and how to drive through a school zone.
I urge parents with students who walk to school to walk with them at least one day. You will experience what they have to deal with daily. Spot hazards they might not see and use the time as a teaching experience. Remind them to walk off the roadway and not in the lane of traffic and to never cross the road anywhere but at a crosswalk.
If you have students who ride a bicycle to school, tell them to ride with the traffic and obey all traffic laws. Never use a cell phone and take the ear buds out of their ears. This is no time to be deaf to the sounds around them.
If you have bus riders, make them aware of drivers who might not stop for them to cross the road while entering or exiting a bus. Tell them to never assume a driver sees them and to always make eye contact before crossing in front of the vehicle.
In 2015, Texas recorded 683 vehicle crashes in school zones. Four of them occurred in the nine-county Lufkin District. One is too many. Remind yourselves as drivers and make your student drivers aware of the laws in a school zone, the speed limits and the fact that cell phone use is illegal.
If you drive near a school you will encounter walkers, cyclists and buses. Please obey all driving laws, because we can’t afford to lose a single child. Have a safe and memorable school year.
