The school year creates many opportunities for preventable collisions. While safety experts often highlight the summer months as especially dangerous due to an influx of teenage motorists on the road, the school year is also dangerous because of the countless children commuting to their educational institutions each day.
There are multiple ways in which commuting to school creates risk for motor vehicle collisions. The three common safety concerns briefly explained below are among the top concerns unique to the school year.
1. School bus slowdowns
People on their way to work or important appointments often feel anxious when they notice the school bus ahead of them in traffic. They know that a bus must stop repeatedly, which can create traffic congestion. The way that other drivers react to school buses, such as passing when they should not or speeding up aggressively to get around them before they stop again, can lead to preventable crashes involving the bus or other vehicles.
2. Drop-off line shenanigans
Many schools have a simple drop-off line system where parents zipper merge into a parking lot and then proceed in a route around the lot to drop the children off at the front entrance of the building.
If everyone followed the rules, this arrangement would likely be relatively safe. Unfortunately, there are constantly parents trying to work around the system so that they don’t have to wait in line. Additionally, parents may handle their phones in the parking lot as they wait to move forward, which could lead to preventable distracted driving collisions.
3. Increased minor pedestrian activity
Young children and teenagers walking to school may not always make safety their top priority. Frequently, they get distracted by their friends or mobile devices. They may rush if they are late to class or want to get home as quickly as possible after school. Pedestrians, especially small pedestrians, can be easy for drivers to miss in traffic, increasing the risk of a potentially devastating wreck.
Understanding that the school year brings with it new safety concerns in traffic can potentially help people minimize their risk of a wreck and keep their children as safe as possible. Those involved in car crashes related to school transportation may have significant losses, especially if their children sustain injuries in those incidents. Both insurance claims and personal injury lawsuits can potentially help people cover the costs of a school transportation incident accordingly.
