10 Back-to-School Driving Safety Tips

With back-to-school coming soon, it’s important for drivers to be mindful about sharing the road with school buses and children walking to school. By following these tips from the Canada Safety Council, you can do your part to help keep the kids in your neighborhood safe.

1. Reduce your speed. Be more careful in residential areas where children are present. Respect speed limits in school zones and playground zones.

2. Stop for school buses displaying the flashing red lights and the extended stop arm. In most cases, traffic in both directions must stop for school buses. Do not continue on until the flashing lights stop.

3. Obey crossing guards.

4. Never overtake other vehicles within a school zone or within a half block of any crosswalk.

5. Avoid U-turns and three-point turns in school zones. Children can have a difficult time predicting these types of vehicle maneuvers.

6. Give cyclists a wide berth (a minimum clearance of one meter is the rule in some jurisdictions).

7. Shoulder check before opening your vehicle door.

8. Leave extra time to reach your destination.

9. If you observe reckless driving or suspect a driver is impaired, pull over as soon as it is safe to do so, and report the incident to police by calling 911.

10. Choose public transit and active modes of transportation, if and whenever possible. One less car on the road makes the road that much safer for everyone.
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Even if you no longer have school-aged children, following these safety tips will help ensure that your neighbor’s children make it to and from school safely.