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WHEELING -- Local law enforcement and regional public safety officials are reminding motorists to drive safely as many students will be returning to classes in the coming weeks.
With neighboring school districts preparing for different back-to-school options this year, AAA East Central officials and Wheeling Police Lt. Josh Sanders asked motorists to take extra caution when driving through residential areas where students could be commuting.
"Just because there isn't a school bus in one part of your neighborhood doesn't mean there isn't going to be another in the next school district," explained JJ Miller, safety advisor for AAA East Central. "School zone speed limits, crossing guards, and markings on buses are in place to save lives, and need to be followed by motorists."
In addition to reminding motorists that it is illegal to pass a stopped school bus with its stop arm out and red lights flashing, safety officials told motorists to stay alert, plan ahead by giving themselves more time to reach their destinations, ditch distractions and watch for pedestrians and bikers.
Sanders said each year the Wheeling Police Department ramps up patrols at the start of the school season by placing extra cars along the local roadways near school zones.
"We are very fortunate in that the governor's highway safety program has specific funding for that ... and so we will be putting some officers out in school zones and following school buses -- especially ones that have been known to be passed by motorists when the stop arms are out," Sanders explained.
"This city has a natural disposition for heavier traffic in the afternoon -- so that's when we want to have extra cars out. We will be monitoring these things in the morning, but the extra (police) cars are going to be out in the afternoon. We gear up for this every year and it's something that we always focus on, " Sanders said.
He said that unless the highway or road motorists are traveling on is divided with a median or grass barrier, they are required to stop in both directions for a school bus with a stop arm out with school children entering or exiting the bus.
"National Road every year is a major issue with people passing school buses and they need to know that they have to stop when that stop arm is out," he added.
AAA's annual "School's Open -- Drive Carefully" campaign stresses how important it is for motorists to make changes to their daily commute to avoid dangerous situations. Even the simple act of slowing down can go a long way towards saving the lives of students.
According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 20 mph is about two-thirds less likely to be killed as compared to a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 30 mph. Moreover, about one out of five children 14 and younger who die in traffic crashes are pedestrians.
The AAA campaign was launched nationally in 1946 to help reduce the number of school-related pedestrian injuries and fatalities. The campaign kicks off each fall and continues throughout the school year to remind motorists to watch out for children as they travel to and from school.