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By now, all the schools around the country have re-started for the year, which means that a lot of us will have gone back to Mum\u2019s Taxi and Dad\u2019s Taxi duties again.\u00a0 For some of you, your teenager has finally got their provisional license and can drive him\/herself to school.<\/p>\n
This means that there are going to be a lot more cars buzzing around schools, especially at the start and end of the school day.\u00a0 Depending on where you live and what your school does, there may be school buses and shuttles involved as well.\u00a0 In short, there\u2019s a ton of traffic in a small area, and vehicle traffic isn\u2019t the only sort around, as there will also be kids on bikes, kids on scooters and lots of kids walking. \u00a0In some cases, especially in rural and small-town schools, you can see other forms of transport being used \u2013 farm tractors, for example.<\/p>\n
Nobody wants to make the news by being involved in a horrible accident involving school kids, so it\u2019s probably about time that we thought about a few things we can do to make sure that our kids are safe as they go to and from school.<\/p>\n
As a quick aside here, this is another area where autonomous cars are a real no-go.\u00a0 Autonomous cars work by predicting what ought to happen or what is likely to happen.\u00a0 Unfortunately, small children can be pretty unpredictable, especially when they\u2019re all excited as they get out of school, and their erratic behaviour hasn\u2019t been programmed into the control centre of an autonomous car.\u00a0 So I\u2019m thankful that the typical Aussie Mum and Dad still drive cars the old-school way!<\/p>\n
First of all, although the designated school zones \u2013 the ones marked with flashy lights, road markings and signs \u2013 are the real hot spots, the activity around schools during the pick-up and drop-off times spreads further afield, so don\u2019t just keep alert for kids in the actual areas. The precautions apply for at least a block further than that during busy times.<\/p>\n
There are three general guiding principles that will help you negotiate this part of the school run safely:<\/p>\n
Slowing Down<\/strong><\/p>\n Slowing down to 40 km\/h is the law in designated school zones, and failing to do so will (at least in New South Wales) get you double demerit points if the cops catch you at it.\u00a0 The reason for this is simple: if you\u2019re going slowly, you have more time to react and more time to stop when little Bella decides to rush across the road yelling \u201cMummy! \u00a0Mummy!\u00a0 Guess what happened at school today!\u201d or when the family dog who came along for the ride whizzes out of the car when little Charlie is putting his schoolbag in the boot.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, if the worst comes to the worst and an accident happens, lower speeds mean less damage.<\/p>\n I know we\u2019ve discussed speed limits and whether or not speed is what kills in other posts, but nobody in their right mind should want to go at screaming high speeds around a school, even if their car is capable of it.\u00a0 This is one place where the speed limits really do apply.\u00a0 In fact, around the busy schools in my area, I\u2019d actually prefer to go even slower than the 40 km\/h limit during the active hours.\u00a0 (The open road is another story.)<\/p>\n Expecting The Unexpected<\/strong><\/p>\n Kids aren\u2019t adults.\u00a0 They are immature.\u00a0 They are impulsive.\u00a0 They are still learning that the world does not revolve around them (and some people seem to never learn this lesson!).\u00a0 Some of them have been sitting down in school for the whole day and have serious ants in their pants.\u00a0 This means that they can do some weird things and they can move quite fast. \u00a0We can drum the road safety message into them as much as possible, but there will be those moments when they forget it all and rush out into the road, or they\u2019ll be so busy talking to friends that they don\u2019t stop, look and listen. \u00a0This means that you, as the adult who\u2019s got a driver\u2019s license to prove that you\u2019re responsible, have to be the one on high alert, ready for anything.\u00a0 This means no phones, not even hands-free ones.\u00a0 It probably means switch the radio off and get rid of anything else that could distract you.<\/p>\n You may need to be extra careful if your car is an electric vehicle or a hybrid (which will be using the electric motor at school zone speeds).\u00a0 This is because a lot of EVs and hybrids are quieter than petrol and diesel engines, even if they have that little noise (which some older hybrids don\u2019t have).\u00a0 This means that the Listen part of the old Stop, Look and Listen is a bit harder.\u00a0 Even adults can have near misses (that\u2019s me with my hand up here) if they\u2019ve looked one way, looked the other, thought it was clear and didn\u2019t hear the oncoming hybrid\/EV and started stepping out.<\/p>\n The flip side of this is that if you\u2019re a parent, you should take a few steps to minimise the risk of your child running across the road.\u00a0 This usually means parking on the same side of the road as the school, which is what the official advice says.\u00a0 However, if everybody parks on the same side of the road as the school, the trail of parked cars will stretch well beyond the designated zone.\u00a0 This might mean that your child will have to cross a road to get to where you\u2019re parked.\u00a0 It\u2019s best if you get out of the car and walk to the school gate to collect Bella and Charlie (and the rest of the kids if you\u2019re part of a carpool scheme).<\/p>\n You also need to make sure that you\u2019re not the person doing unexpected things.\u00a0 This means no U-turns, no sudden manoeuvres, no three-point turns, etc.\u00a0 Plan your route so these aren\u2019t necessary \u2013 and go around the block instead of doing U-turns, etc.\u00a0 The only sudden manoeuvre you\u2019re allowed to make is hitting the brakes if you see a child about to go where they shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Staying Out Of The Way<\/strong><\/p>\n You can see some people doing silly things around schools, and I\u2019m not talking about the children this time.\u00a0 Yes, I know that you\u2019re in a hurry.\u00a0 I know that you think your child is amazing and you love him\/her to bits.\u00a0 I know that you\u2019ve got to scream across town for soccer practice.\u00a0 However, there is no excuse for parking in the school bus zone, double-parking or parking really, really close to the school crossing point.\u00a0 It\u2019s absolute chaos when every single Parent\u2019s Taxi tries to park as close to the school gate as legally possible.<\/p>\n Congestion near schools during the busy times is a bit of a problem that councils and schools are trying hard to address because it can be chaos and an accident waiting to happen.\u00a0 My preference (at least when my kids were still at school and didn\u2019t drive themselves) was to park a bit further away, then walk that extra block or so.\u00a0 After all, it won\u2019t hurt you or your kids to walk a little!<\/p>\n In the case of picking up kids from secondary schools, you may have to park even further away, as a lot of the close parking spots are taken by the P-platers who drive themselves to school. \u00a0High school kids, however, are usually a bit more streetwise and are less likely to suddenly rush into the road without looking, although there are times when they\u2019ve got their earbuds in or when they\u2019re madly catching up on social media\u2026<\/p>\n I\u2019d also strongly argue for other initiatives as well as a way of reducing congestion around schools.\u00a0 Setting up a carpool scheme with other parents who live near you is a popular option and it means that instead of four cars arriving with one child each, you get one car with four kids.\u00a0 Walking school buses and \u201cKiss and Ride\u201d drop-off spots are other options.\u00a0 Of course, if you live within 2 km of the school, then walking to and from the school is an option (and it\u2019s free!).\u00a0 You\u2019ll need to walk with your child until he\/she is old enough to have the street smarts to do it solo \u2013 and this is usually the age when they are embarrassed to be seen with parents, so that works out well.<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t got school aged children and you\u2019re not doing the Parent\u2019s Taxi run, then it\u2019s best to plan your journey so that you don\u2019t have to drive near a school during the busy hours.\u00a0 Go another way if you have to or make that trip at another time.<\/p>\n