Help keep school age children safe with these tips

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Fire Department Deputy Chief Shane Preston stops by to share safety tips for the school year.

 

Transcript:

EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.

 

James Bell 

Keeping children safe as they go back to school this August is up to the entire community his Fire Department Deputy Chief Shane Preston stops by to share some safety tips on this episode of the post podcast

 

Shane Preston 

are some parents are excited for school to start back up just in a matter of time of their hair and get back to the activities maybe it'll slow down a little bit. But, you know, school is coming just right around the corner. So some of the things we want to kind of talk about today some school stuff remember, you know, the school zones and you know, with increased traffic in those areas, obey the traffic, flashing signals and, and speed limits in those areas. And in those areas, just remember the kids are gonna be walking, riding their bikes or skateboards or, you know, whatever it may be, may not always be in the car with the parents. And just make sure you plan ahead all that extra time. You know, plan for it to be crazy. I know it is and I'm not a big fan of doing the whole drop off and pickup thing myself but if I can do it everybody else can do so just remember when you are picking up your child or dropping them off parking in the emergency vehicle areas Please do not do that that is that is for us if there is an issue there usually there'll be a sign there that says you know no parking emergency vehicles or it'll be a curb will be painted red in that area. So you know, there are designated pickup pickup drop off areas at the schools. But we also have kind of our own little spot where you know, if something bad did happen, we have a place to go.

 

James Bell 

Yeah, and you might think well I'm only going to be there for a minute but in an emergency holy smokes that minute might be life and death for somebody and you don't want to be the one that's in

 

Shane Preston 

the way and then you know everybody else trying to get out of the you know out of the way it just if you if you've ever done this school pickup stuff you know the traffic is kind of insane it's something you know everybody wants to get going and everything and then you throw an emergency in there and it just you know raises the stress levels up a little bit more and then people are trying to you know, get their kid but yeah, get out of the way and it's it it gets a little cumbersome. So just park where you should Yes. Remember we have crossing guards signals remember there's crossing guards that that do that the just like over here to a Laughlin we do have crossing guards there and and make sure you allow enough time you see them stop ahead you know let's get his kids moving so phones in the school zones you know if you don't need to be on it don't and if you do you know there's so many options now going hands free with your cell phone and you know things like that use those options if you need to be on it you know in the vehicle just good general practice to do that.

 

James Bell 

Yeah, I think I'd heard and correct me if I'm wrong I mean we may know may not but someone somewhere I'd seen that distracted driving so cell phone usage is now the number one killer or the number one cause of traffic acts fatal traffic accidents over drunk driving.

 

Shane Preston 

I don't I haven't seen that but it couldn't be wrong no I think I think it's right up there with it if it's not you know if it hasn't been taken over that that stat yet but you know the whole texting and driving and it's just even you know if you're talking on and you got it up to your you know your ear you're you're involved in the conversation and you're just going through the motions of driving instead of you know I need to be driving and be defensive and looking for things and all that so it really does take take take you away from where you need to be when you're driving

 

James Bell 

and when you got little kiddos running around I mean it's they just pop up out and they do I ended up my my daughter almost got hit coming out school not not in haste This was back in when our previous location but thank goodness that driver was paying attention because she caught it like, right just this kid was popping under our wheels. I didn't know what she was doing. But she immediately took her back to our house and said you guys should have a talk with your daughter. And we did we did but you know had she been on a cell phone or been distracted at all it may have been a very different

 

Shane Preston 

and also remember to we have young teenage drivers out there for high school who are going to be you know now driving, talk with them. If you have a teenager in the home, you know just work with them and you know make sure hey put the Phone down when you're driving, it's not that important. If it's not important and pull over Park, then use the phone you don't, you know, it's one of those. Because, you know, as a young driver, you don't want to be involved in an accident and might hurt another small child too. So but anyway, school buses. Now remember, you know, the school bus has its flashing lights on and the stop signs out. That means traffic stops both sides, both

 

James Bell 

sides. Oh, so that's something that I learned recently, and probably you that taught me this. The segment's but yeah, both ways, you can't just stop if you're behind it, it should be a complete stop. That's

 

Shane Preston 

correct. And, and the reason is, is because when the kids get off, they get out the passenger side of the of the bus, now they may need to go to cross the street. Well, that stop sign the flashing lights provides basically, you know, a school crossing guard type thing provides a safe zone for them to be able to get off the bus and go, you know, walk around in front of the bus and go across the street and get on the sidewalk and meet their parents or go home from there. Now, a lot of times, the kids just get off the bus, and they just go they don't pay attention to the, you know, the cars, traffic, they get snacks, a TV, video game, they want to go play or you know, whatever it may be. And so yeah, just be aware of that. And we do have, you know, not just school buses out in the rural communities, but we have school buses here in town in Hays that do drop offs, pickups and drop offs. So just remember, if you do have a school bus, stop in your area, make sure you plan around that to know where those are at. But teach the kid teacher if you have a kid that does ride the school bus teach him to play it safe. Stay five steps away from the curb. Always wait until the bus comes to complete stop and the bus driver signals for you to board the bus. So, you know, you know there's, the kids want to hurry up, jump on well, you know, the driver doesn't even have the door open and they're trying to get on you know, so wait wait for the vehicle to come to complete stop. And then face forward, you know, after finding the seat sit in your seat, you know, when I was in school, the school buses did not have seat belts. So you know, we were just we just wrote along. But we still had the same rules you sit down you face for you know you don't jump up over the seat to talk to your friend that's behind you or anything like that. So and then when exiting the bus, wait till it stops. Make sure you look in make sure you talk to your child about looking both ways across the street even though the bus may have its lights on the stop sign out and there may be some a drivers that stopped each year we do have an incident with a driver not yielding to the stop sign of a school bus. And you know, sometimes people get hurt and sometimes they don't. But let's just be aware of that and, and help help everybody be safe. And just reminder, the kids to be courteous to this to the bus driver and listen to their directions and and because the drivers there, they just want to we want to make sure the kids get home safely get to school safely. So that's that's their big push there. And lastly, I know we usually talk about it every time but we still have our smoke detector program. So if you do have any questions about a smoke detector or even a carbon monoxide detector, let us know and we will assist you in any way we can.

 

James Bell 

Very good. Well, all righty, Shane, any other last thoughts or anything you want to touch on before we go? No, I

 

Shane Preston 

just want to say it's a beautiful day out. I know it's a little cloudy or foggy but the temperature is great.

 

James Bell 

It looks like 70 degrees, the little chart saying here and yeah,

 

Shane Preston 

usually that's around you know, like two o'clock in the morning. 830 in the morning so everybody's going to enjoy the nice little weather we have here.