Back to Class Means Watch Out at School Zone Crosswalks

The new school year has kicked off for the season and that means we have to be careful when we drive in a 20mph traffic zone. Texas law requires you to slow down within this boundary to avoid a child getting run over with a vehicle. When you have a sign that is yellow with a black outline of people walking slow down to the speed posted and don't speed through the crosswalk. The one priority to remember is that safety comes first when working with children going or coming from class after school. I can think back to my years of being in a school zone while I was in K-12 and when we would see students walking in front of us we knew that they have right of way to vehicles on the road. Some signs have 20 MPH as the speed and others have 15 MPH and this depends on the nature of the specific area the school is in and the type of road it's located on.

The hours of when this is in effect can be found on the sign and usually they fall within the early morning to late afternoon timeframe when class is in session so be sure to obey the traffic rules at this time of day to keep pedestrians safe. When the time of class comes to an end traffic can resume to normal speed which is usually around 30 MPH on common residential streets in a neighborhood. The rules still apply to anyone crossing after school hours when it comes to letting pedestrians proceed first because they are vulnerable to traffic and the driver assumes responsibility for this. The same principle applies when you overtake a school bus loading or unloading students no matter what type of road you are traveling on or county you're driving in.

DPS is known for going out and enforcing this law just like the seatbelt requirement which I might pick up on in another post. If you see an officer out be sure to obey traffic signs to keep from receiving a ticket. I am still a student at driving but I'm aware of how important it is to yield righ-of-way to the public that is in front of you.

Be careful and keep students and staff safe throughout this school year.

-Tristan