Back-To-School Safety Tips Offered By Greenwich Police

GREENWICH, CT — With the new school year beginning Sept. 1, the Greenwich Police Department is offering up some tips to ensure safety for all since more students will be out and about either walking to school or waiting for buses to pick them up.

While driving, residents should be mindful of:

• School Zones - Children may be walking or riding a bike to school. Fines are doubled in school zones.
• Crosswalks - Motorists are to yield to a pedestrian if they enter a crosswalk. This means a driver must yield if any part of the pedestrian or object the pedestrian is using enters the crosswalk. Motorists need to be cognizant of children crossing the streets at any moment. Be on the lookout and slow down at intersections. Parents, please teach your children to cross streets where there is a Crossing Guard or a traffic control sign. If they need to cross a roadway at an intersection with neither of these, teach them to stop at the curb and signal their intent to cross the road, like waving their arm to get the motorist's attention, before stepping off the curb.
• Stopped School Bus - As a reminder, Connecticut law requires that if any school bus used in the transportation of children is stopped upon a highway for the purpose of receiving or discharging passengers with the stop sign extended or extending out and lights flashing, the operator of a vehicle approaching in any direction shall bring their car to a stop and should not start again until the passengers have either gotten off or on and the bus goes back into motion.

Police noted that officers will be assigned enforcement detail to watch for people who disobey the above laws.