Did you know the beginning of the school year is the most dangerous time on neighborhood streets and in school zones –for both walk-to-school and bus-riding kids?
In fact, cars hit more children at the start of the school year than any other time, according to Safe Kids Worldwide. And more children are hit by cars near schools than any other location.
“Younger children may feel excited or anxious over their new routine and run into the street without thinking, and older children are often distracted by phones or their peers and don’t pay attention to their surroundings,” Purnima Unni, Pediatric Trauma Injury Prevention Program manager at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, said in a news release. “Parents should talk with their children about safe pedestrian practices, and small children should always be accompanied. Drivers should always be mindful of school zones and children waiting at bus stops, and they should always put away their phones until they reach their destination to prevent distractions that could lead to tragedy.”
In order to help prevent to prevent child-pedestrian injury and death, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt recommends the following safety tips adopted from Safe Kids Worldwide. Click through the slideshow, below, to reveal the 11 talking points parents should have with their children.
Bus Safety: 1) While waiting for the bus to arrive, kids should stand back several steps from the curb. This is especially important to discuss with children if a parent can't accompany them to the bus stop.
Photo via Flickr/Johannes Thiel.
2) Teach children to wait for the bus to come to a complete stop before attempting to board or exit.
3) If children need to cross the street after exiting the bus, teach them to make eye contact with the bus driver before crossing, and always look left, right and left again.
Pedestrian Safety: 4) Again, it's important to teach children to look left, right and left again before crossing the street -- and continue looking until they have safely crossed.
Photo via Flickr/Joseph Morris
5) Be sure kids are walking on sidewalks or paths when they are available and crossing at street corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks. If there are no sidewalks, walk facing traffic and as far to the left as possible.
6) Teach kids to make eye contact with drivers before crossing the street.
7) Developmentally, most children are unable to judge the speed and distance of oncoming cars until age 10. Therefore, they should be accompanied by an adult.
8) Remind children to be on high alert for cars that are turning or backing up.
9) Teach children not to run or dart out into the street or cross between parked cars.
10) If children are walking when it’s dark, make sure they are visible to drivers. Have them wear light-colored clothing and reflective gear.
11) Kids should make sure to put away phones, headphones and devices when crossing the street.
Discussing these safety tips with children and teenagers is more important than you might think. That’s because unintentional pedestrian injuries are the fifth leading cause of injury-related death in the U.S. for kids ages 5 to 19, with teens at the greatest risk. What’s more is teens have a death rate twice that of younger kids and make up half of all child-pedestrian deaths.
Click here to read even more safety tips for back-to-school season.
With three young children, I make it a point to stress “look both ways” to them pretty much on a daily basis. And, not that any of them are crossing streets without an adult, but I had no idea most kids can’t accurately judge speed and distance of oncoming cars until age 10. These are all excellent reminders for kids before that first day of school. I know I’ll be starting the conversation with my soon-to-be kindergartener.
Will you?
What safety tips do you have to add to this list?
Share your thoughts!