By Alana Mauger
It’s time to dig out your backpacks, gather your school supplies and fill up your calendars with bus schedules, sports practices and afterschool activities. For many families, the start of a new school year brings excitement, anticipation and a return to familiar routines. But amid the rush to prepare for the first day, there’s one important item that shouldn’t be overlooked: safety.
Whether your child is heading to class for the first time or is a senior in high school, the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania Region encourages families to make safety part of your back-to-school preparations.
For Younger Students
- Teach young children important personal information. Make sure younger students know their phone number, home address, how to contact their parents at work, another trusted adult they can call and how to dial 911 in an emergency.
- Remind them not to talk to strangers or accept rides, gifts or invitations from someone they don’t know.
Getting to and From School
- Use sidewalks whenever possible and look both ways before crossing a street. Encourage children who walk to school to cross only at corners, obey crossing signals and stay within marked crosswalks. Remind them to never play or cross between parked cars.
- Arrive at the bus stop early. Students who ride the bus to school should get to their assigned bus stop early and wait a safe distance from the curb. Teach kids to wait until the bus comes to a complete stop and only board when instructed by the driver. They should always cross in front of the bus and never behind it.
- Always wear a bike helmet. If your student bikes to school, a properly fitted helmet is one of the best ways to prevent serious injuries. Remind bikers to ride on the right side of the road and follow the same direction as traffic.
- Buckle Up Every Time. Whether you’re driving your student to school or they’re driving themselves, everyone in the vehicle should wear a seatbelt. Younger children should stay in a car seat or booster seat until the seat belt fits correctly — usually when they are between ages 8–12 and taller than 4 feet 9 inches. Children under 13 should always ride in the back seat.
- Eliminate Distracted Driving. Remind teens (and yourselves) to avoid texting, calling, eating or drinking while driving to school.
Apps, Classes Enhance Readiness
Parents, teens and teachers are encouraged to download the free Red Cross First Aid and Emergency apps to give them access to first aid tips for common emergencies and real-time weather alerts. Find the apps by searching for the American Red Cross in your favorite app store or visiting redcross.org/apps.
For kids ages 11 and up or for adults caring for children, the Red Cross offers online and in-person babysitting and child care courses thatteach unique babysitting skills and best practices, as well as how to respond effectively in emergency situations.
The Red Cross also offers a variety of online skill courses, like Anaphylaxis and Epinephrine Auto-Injector Training, which helps teachers and caregivers recognize the signs severe allergic reactions and properly administer epinephrine when needed. Visit redcross.org/take-a-class for a full list of classes.
Drivers, Slow Down!
It is illegal in all 50 states to pass a school bus that is stopped to load or unload children. Follow these road rules:
- Yellow flashing lights indicate the bus is getting ready to stop ─ slow down and be prepared to stop. Red flashing lights and an extended stop sign indicate the bus is stopped and children are getting on or off.
- The area 10 feet around a school bus is the most dangerous for children; stop far enough back to allow them space to safely enter and exit the bus.
- Motorists must stop when they are behind a bus, meeting a bus or approaching an intersection where a bus is stopped.
- Motorists following or traveling alongside a school bus must also stop until the red lights have stopped flashing, the stop arm is withdrawn and all children have reached safety. This includes two and four-lane highways.
- If physical barriers such as grassy medians, guide rails or concrete median barriers separate oncoming traffic from the bus, motorists in the opposing lanes may proceed without stopping. Do not proceed until all the children have reached a place of safety.
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