The Members of the High Springs Police Department would like to remind residents and visitors that school begins in the middle to end of August each year. Once again, our children will be walking, traveling on bicycles, and riding school buses to and from the High Springs Community School located at 19559 High Springs Main Street. Go Hawks!
Motorists are reminded to be extra vigilant in and around school zones and bus stops. Children have been known to “dart” off the sidewalk and into the street without warning. High Springs Police Officers will be conducting proactive patrols of school zones to ensure the safety of our students and motorists.
Motorists should keep these tips from the National Safety Council in mind when approaching school buses and school zones:
- School buses use yellow flashing lights to alert motorists that they are preparing to stop to load or unload children. Red flashing lights and an extended stop sign arm signals to motorists that the bus is stopped and children are getting on or off the bus.
- Florida law requires traffic in both directions to stop on undivided roadways when students are entering or exiting a school bus.
- The area 10 feet around a school bus is where children are in the most danger of being hit. Stop your car far enough from the bus to allow children the necessary space to safely enter and exit the bus.
- Pedestrians always have the right of way in crosswalks. In a school zone, when a warning flasher or flashers are blinking, you must always stop to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a marked crosswalk or at an intersection with no marked crosswalk.
- Drivers should never block the crosswalk when stopped at a red light or waiting to make a turn. Do not stop with a portion of your vehicle over the crosswalk. Blocking the crosswalk forces pedestrians to go around your vehicle and puts them in an extremely dangerous situation.
- Be alert. Children are unpredictable. Children walking to or from their bus are usually very comfortable with their surroundings. This makes them more likely to take risks, ignore hazards, and/or fail to look both ways when crossing the street.
Posted school zone speed limits of 15 MPH must be obeyed when signal lights are flashing. There are enhanced fines for speeding in school zones.
In an effort to “Ensure a Safe Community Through Traffic Safety,” the High Springs Police Department Traffic Unit has created a “School’s Open Drive Carefully” Informational Brochure to assist motorist transition into each new school year.