If your child will be biking or walking to school this year, this is a good time of year to review your plan to avoid pedestrian accidents. Biking or walking to school gives your child the chance to exercise, get fresh air, and spend time with friends. However, it can also put them at an increased risk of pedestrian and traffic accidents. Each year, children are injured in pedestrian accidents in Hollywood and other South Florida communities, but there are ways to prevent these tragedies.
Here’s how to keep your child safe all school year long:
1) Make sure your child stays visible.
Have your child dress in light colored clothing and consider reflective stickers on their backpacks, shoes, or other clothing, especially if they will be walking to and from school when the days get shorter. Make it easy for your child to be visible. Consider having your child walk with a group of other students, including older students. Larger groups are easier for motorists to spot and older children can remind younger children about the importance of traffic rules.
2) Walk the route with your child.
Before school starts, walk or bike along the route your child is considering taking. Talk about the dangers and hazards that your child will encounter make sure they understand how to stay safe. Take the time to notice whether your child takes basic precautions such as looking both ways before crossing the street or fully focusing on the traffic around them. If not, they may not yet have the skills to walk home safely by themselves.
3) Plan the route carefully.
Look over alternate routes to find the safest ways to and from school. If there are dangerous areas such as high-traffic areas or walking paths that may not have many people on them during the morning and evening walk, consider having your child walk with a group of friends to stay safe.
4) Make sure your child is traffic safe.
Does your child know the basic rules of crossing the street, riding their bike, and getting to and from school safely? Ask them about traffic signals and other basic safety rules. If they don’t know, they may not be ready to walk to school by themselves yet. Even if they are familiar with traffic rules, reviewing them is a good idea at this time of year.
The phone lines at the law firm of Flaxman Law Group are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Our phone lines are staffed round-the-clock so that you can always reach a live person if you or your child has been injured and are worried about the future. We can help arrange a free accident consultation so that you can discuss your serious injuries with a member of our legal team. If you or your child has been seriously injured and need immediate assistance, we can even provide over the phone advice for you. Do not hesitate to pick up the phone and give us a call if you have been injured and don’t know where to turn.