This week, students in both the Pike County and Pikeville Independent schools districts will go back to classes for the 2023-2024 school year.
Parents have been preparing, getting their children ready and then adjusting to new schedules.
However, those parents and even those without children will have a new responsibility beginning this week — an increased need to be careful.
With the beginning of school comes our roadways being a lot more busy, particularly in the mornings and afternoons, as parents, students and school buses get out onto the roadways to make their daily travels. The increased traffic, particularly that containing the precious cargo of our future, will mean increased chances that tragedy can occur.
There are several measures that need to be taken during this time of year, but many of those suggestions would help drive down the number of crashes year-round:
• Slow down. Just driving the speed limit can help ensure a more safe traffic flow and ensure you have time to stop if necessary.
• Put away the distractions. Don’t undertake activities which take your eyes and attention from the road. Put down the phone. Let the radio stay set where it is and don’t try to eat behind the wheel. It seems elementary, but the reality is that distractions cause wrecks. Taking your eyes off the road can be a deadly choice.
• Pay attention in school areas and around school buses.
These tips are just common sense, but driving is one of the most dangerous activities we undertake on a regular basis that we do sometimes almost on autopilot, assuming we’re completely in control and have no need to really be careful.
According to the Kentucky State Police 2021 Traffic Collision Report, in that year there were 272 total school bus collisions in Kentucky, 25 of which resulted in a total of 61 people being injured and one of which resulted in a person dying.
The report cited the following as causes in the crashes:
• Cell phone in one case;
• Disregarding a traffic control device in four cases;
• Distraction in 12 cases;
• Failure to yield to right-of-way in 27 cases;
• Inattention in 79 cases; and
• Misjudgement of clearance in 96 cases.
There are numerous other factors cited in the crashes, many of which share a commonality of being factors that were under the control of one or multiple drivers.
A single choice can black out a future, especially during the coming months. We should always drive safely, but with more children out on the roads more often, extra vigilance is a must. A choice to be careful, or to be careless, can be a life-or-death decision.
We’re asking — please make the right one.
