Cerritos Sheriff's Station and Community Safety Center Offers Back to School Safety Tips

* Editor's note: This article was recently published in the city of Cerritos newsletter.

With another school year starting, the /Community Safety Center would like to offer the following tips to help make our school zones safer and improve traffic safety.

With school in session, there is significantly more traffic. Pedestrians, bicyclists, buses and parents all contribute to school zone congestion. Most schools in Cerritos and other Southern California cities are faced with traffic issues such as double parking, speeding, unsafe U-turns, jaywalking and more.

In addition, children do not always follow the rules of the road. Often times they enter the street from between two cars, attempt to get their bikes through an intersection before the light turns red or skateboard into traffic.

Please remember to exercise a heightened awareness in and around a school zone. Potential hazards are much easier to perceive if you are driving at or below the school zone speed limit of 25 miles per hour. Special attention must also be paid to buses displaying flashing red lights and a pop-out stop sign on an undivided roadway. In these instances, you are required by the California Vehicle Code to stop and wait until the flashing red lights are turned off before passing a bus.

Parents who allow their children to ride bicycles to school should keep in mind that a helmet is required for those under the age of 18. In addition, children riding bicycles must travel with the flow of traffic. When considering whether to allow your child to ride a bike to school, also think about the effect that a bulky backpack may have on your child’s balance while he or she is riding a bike.

Follow these simple suggestions to help make our school zones safer for everyone:

• Don’t speed.
• Don’t impede traffic by dropping children off in the middle of the street.
• Don’t double park.
• Don’t block intersections or driveways with your vehicle.
• Don’t make illegal U-turns.
• Always make sure that your children are wearing seatbelts when they are in the car.

Make sure that your child has adequate supervision if he or she arrives home before you do. While this may be difficult for some, any form of organized activity, or the immediate availability of a trusted adult, can provide the necessary guidance to help ensure your child’s safety and also give you peace of mind.

Remember, twice each school day for a period of approximately 30 minutes, the areas around our schools become very congested. If you don’t have a reason to be in those areas and can avoid these school zones by taking alternate routes, we encourage you to do so.