On-the-road safety tips for heading back to school


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SALT LAKE CITY — School is back in session! On Thursday, KSL-TV headed to one school's Back to School Night and asked parents their top concerns as their children head back to school.

Almost all the parents said they worry the most about their kids as they walk and drive to and from school. So, we met with the experts to help put their minds at ease.

There's an app for that

There's an app called the Walking School Bus, and it's from the Utah Department of Transportation. Parents can download it for free. Once you sign up, enter your child's district and school. From there, a list of walking groups available in your neighborhood appear. You can see when a group is walking to school and have your child join them.

We wanted to try this out, so we tagged along with one of these groups as they ditched the carpool and walked instead. After arriving at Highland Park Elementary in Salt Lake City, we asked the group leader that day what she thought.

"There are days when I don't always want to be in charge of walking them," Alysia Finau said. "I'd love to know if there are other parents who would get involved and make sure our kids make it safe."

UDOT calls the app successful and hopes to see more parents jump on board.

"Kids are safer as they walk to and from school," said UDOT spokeswoman Abigail Shaha. "They're in a group. They're with a parent. Someone knows where they are and when they get there safely. It really makes a better experience for everyone, those on the roads and those off of them."

Car-pool safety

As Utah families charge forward into a new school year, experts gave a stern reminder about backing up.

Representatives with Primary Children's Hospital say they see an increase in children getting hit by cars during back-to-school time. They found most of these incidents occur in church parking lots and school parking lots.

It's this time of year when many are starting a new routine, often rushing out of the house to drop the kids off at school. Janet Brooks, the child advocacy manager at Primary Children's Hospital, says the age group most affected by these types of accidents are elementary age children, from 5 to 9 years old.

"They don't realize, really until about age 10, depth perception, speed implications. So, we need to keep in mind not only backovers, but frontovers at this point when school starts."

Primary Children's Hospital has a great program to help everyone be extra vigilant. It's called, "Spot the Tot." It gives away stickers for free to place in the driver's side window so drivers see it each time they enter the car. It serves as an extra reminder to take a look around your car and take a moment to possibly save a life.

Teen driving

Maybe you have a child who got a driver license over the summer and will be driving to and from school for the first time this year; or maybe your teen has already been on the road for a while. KSL spoke with AAA of Utah and found accidents involving teens spike when the school year starts.

AAA says a major reason for the increase in accidents is distracted driving. "The teenage brain is just designed to be reactive to stimulus and to have a feeling of immortality," said Rolayne Fairclough, spokeswoman for AAA Utah.

Fairclough said the No. 1 cause for driving distracted among teens is other teens in the car followed closely by texting and driving. She recommends these tips to parents:

  1. Have your teen drive without friends in the car as long as possible to minimize distractions.
  2. Continue to teach your teen driving proper techniques.

"Just because they have a license and the state says they can drive, they are still learning," Fairclough said.

Finally, she recommends writing up a contract setting clear guidelines on what is appropriate driving behavior.

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UtahFamily
Ashley Kewish

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