School’s back – let’s be safe!

BY JOE B. COATES
publisher
@copiahmonitor.com

The last few weeks of summer break skated by like the cold front that quickly teased the area in late July.  School kids, including my own, are already heading back to campus this week, and most with unbridled enthusiasm.  I think that most of the younger kids are just happy to be back doing something in a routine.  I know most of us parents are.

As a yearly school safety reminder, drivers need to pay extra attention to the roadways, especially in the early mornings and mid-afternoons when kids are getting on and off school buses or walking to classes in neighborhoods around our schools.  Practice safety around school buses.  Give them plenty of room to operate and to ensure the safety of the kids getting on and off!

Once I witnessed a school bus stopped on Hwy. 51 letting children off to meet their parents at a church in Wesson.  The safety arm of the bus and the electronic stop sign and all the signal lights on the vehicle were all working properly.  You couldn’t miss it.  The children were crossing the highway when all of a sudden, a car came barreling down the road towards them.  I couldn’t move.  I hollered at the vehicle.  The kids were practically unaware of the danger.  Thankfully, the driver of the car looked up just in time and stopped hard only a few feet away to avoid running over the six or so kids crossing the road.  One of those children was mine.  He and they were lucky. 

Pay attention around buses, folks!