School is Opening: Drive Safely!

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – August 16, 2011 – Cedar Rapids area schools are opening this week and next. The Cedar Rapids Police Department is asking ALL motorists to be especially careful during the beginning of the school year.

There are many children walking to and from school, riding bicycles, riding the bus or being dropped off/picked up by parents. Please use caution when driving near schools. Here are some basic safety tips to remember.

• Slow down in school and residential areas.
• Watch for clues that give warning of children in the area (bikes, adult crossing guards, school buses) .
• Obey school bus stop laws.
• Clear fogged windows before driving.
• Obey all traffic signs.
• Avoid school zones during arrival and dismissal hours.

We also encourage parents of children walking or riding their bikes to school to follow some basic safety tips as well.

• Walk the route to school to know the safest route.
• Find a friend to walk with to and from school. Avoid walking alone.
• Know where there are “safe” places to go if there is an emergency.
• Use crosswalks and designated school crossing zones whenever possible.
• Help children learn to estimate if there is enough time to cross the street.
• Never cross the street between parked cars.
• When there is no sidewalk and it is necessary to walk on the roadway, walk on the far-left side of the street, facing traffic.

Many of our school age children ride a school bus. The Iowa State traffic code states in 321.372 (3 and 4) that all vehicles on “private road or driveway, when meeting a school bus with flashing amber warning lamps shall reduce the vehicle's speed to not more than twenty miles per hour and shall bring the vehicle to a complete stop when the school bus stops and the stop signal arm is extended.” And all vehicles “shall not pass a school bus when red or amber warning signal lights are flashing. The driver shall bring the vehicle to a complete stop no closer than fifteen feet from the school bus when it is stopped and the stop arm is extended, and the vehicle shall remain stopped until the stop arm is retracted and the school bus resumes motion.”

The State Code further states that “a vehicle upon a highway providing two or more lanes in each direction need not stop upon meeting a school bus which is traveling in the opposite direction even though the school bus is stopped.”