Back to School: "Slow Down, Pay Attention, Don't Rush Safety"

By MICHELLE CLOWSER (Star Patcher)

Every child who goes to school deserves to get to school and back home safely. One of the biggest complaints I hear around this time of the year is people in cars are not driving safely around schools. People are driving too fast, not paying attention to stop signs on school busses, not dropping off and picking up kids in designated areas.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015, in front of Colonial Acres Elementary School, Alameda County representatives and various law enforcement agencies and community partners gave a press conference to remind everyone just how important it is to drive safely around schools.

This is the “Don’t Rush School Safety Campaign.” The campaign includes the three “Es:” Engineering, Education and Enforcement. The engineering of roads and ways of travel to reduce traffic and make pedestrian traffic more visible. The Education of the public regarding paying close attention and driving with safety in mind. Enforcement by the local law enforcement agencies of the laws of the road.

This process requires everyone in the community working together to contribute to the solution. The County has provided a video to help support this subject.

The speakers of today’s press conference included Dr. Fred Brill, Superintendent of the San Lorenzo Unified School District, Assistant Sheriff Casey Nice of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, JoAnne Lauer, co-founder and chairperson with BikeWalkCV, Lieutenant Jim Allen of the California Highway Patrol (CV Office) and Parvin Ahmadi, Superintendent of the Castro Valley Unified School District. The Alameda County Fire Dept. and County employees were also on hand to help support this message.

Why did so many different people from different agencies show up? Because this is a WHOLE COMMUNITY effort to raise awareness and save lives. Everyone wants your child to return to you at the end of the day and place those unique drawings on the fridge. They want you to be able to help your child with their homework. They want you to have dinner together as a family.

The Eden Area has 34 public schools throughout San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland, San Leandro and Fairview, and each of those schools contain hundreds of young students.

One of the most on-point messages of today from one of the speakers was that these are not just “your kids” that we need to look after. These are “our kids” too, as a community. The community has a responsibility to take care of its kids. It’s up to EACH OF US to do our part.

As Joanne Lauer said, “Slow down, Pay Attention, Don’t Rush Safety.”

The start of school can be a frustrating time for parents trying to get back in the swing of things. Safety around schools, however, should be on everyone’s mind. Leave early. Drive Slowly and Safely around schools. Local law enforcement will be helping remind people who are driving unsafely around school zones that the safety of children are our first priority.

A good lesson to remember: “The safety of our children starts with me.”

“To Protect Our Kids, Don’t Rush Safety.”

Here are some common Vehicle Code Violations in School Zones:

22454(a) VC: Meeting and passing a school bus.

22350(a)VC: Basic speed law/traveling at an unsafe speed for the conditions of the roadway or traffic

21950(a)VC: The driver of a vehicle failing to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway in a marked crosswalk.

21951 VC: A vehicle shall not overtake or pass a vehicle which has stopped for a pedestrian crossing at a marked crosswalk or an intersection.

2815 VC: Failure to disregard any traffic signal or direction given by a nonstudent school crossing guard.

21804(a) VC: The driver of a vehicle about to enter or cross a highway from any public or private property, or from an alley, shall yield the right-of-way to all traffic approaching on the highway close enough to constitute a hazard.

21461 (a) VC: Failure to obey a black and white regulatory sign.

More back to school coverage on Patch:

• Ticket Involving a School Bus Could Cost You $695
• Back to School: 5 Tips for Packing a Nutritious Lunch
• Does School Start Too Early?
• What Vaccines Your Child Needs to Start School