If you have children and will be heading back to school, you need to have a morning routine that helps prevent traffic accidents in Homestead or your community. The daily school run can be one of the more dangerous times for a car accident. Whether your children walk to school or whether you drop them off, you need to take precautions to reduce the risk of a pedestrian accident in Homestead or your community.
If you are making the school run, there are a few tips that can make mornings and afternoons safer:
•Review your route before you go. Find out from the school whether they have a drop-off zone and drop your child off and pick them up in a spot where they will not have to weave around car traffic to get to school.
•Adjust your morning routine so that you have plenty of time in the morning. Rushing can easily lead to a car accident in Homestead or your community because you are more likely to be distracted and less focused during a chaotic day.
•Consider carpooling. It will reduce the amount of traffic in front of your child’s school, which is safer for the students. It is also an eco-friendly option that may help prevent accidents since you will periodically be getting a break from having to rush to and from school.
If you have a teen who will be taking a car to school for the first time, this is a good time to review safety rules as well. You may want to:
•Set rules for school runs. Ensure that your teen has a safe parking spot and limit the number of passengers your teen has on the route to and from schools. Rush hour is hectic enough, especially for a new driver, and studies have shown that teens with multiple passengers in the car are more likely to be in a car accident when compared with non-distracted young drivers.
•Make sure your teen has a safe, well-maintained car. This ensures that mechanical problems are less likely to lead to a car collision.
•Give your teen some extra lessons. A great back-to-school gift for a young driver is some additional training. Hire a professional driving instructor for one-on-one in-car training with your teen so that your teen can get professional feedback and help building their skills.
Even if you do not have children, keep in mind that in the autumn months there will be more traffic and more pedestrians on the sidewalks as children return to school. You may want to:
•Review where schools are in your community, so that you know where pedestrian traffic is more likely. If possible, consider avoiding these areas or at least use extra caution. Children being dropped and heading to school may not be paying attention to traffic and may inadvertently step in front of cars.
•Use extra caution when driving during morning and afternoon rush hour. Even if your route does not take you near a school, there may be an increase in car and pedestrian traffic as well as bus traffic as children head to school.
•Be prepared for many different types of traffic. Some children walk to school, some are dropped off, some take bicycles. Keep in mind that when school is in session you will need to be ready for an increase in many types of morning and afternoon traffic. Use your mirrors and scan the roadways and sidewalks around you to prevent bicycle accidents in Homestead – as well as other types of traffic accidents.
If you or a loved one have been injured in a car accident in Homestead or any South Florida community, contact the Flaxman Law Group for a free accident consultation to discuss your case. You may be entitled to more compensation than you realize.