Back-to-School Morning Commutes

Remember to Leave a Little Earlier

By Jim Cheatham

Its hard to believe that school is back in session, and, for most of us, summer is over this month. Sure, the heat and humidity will still be around for a while, but the traffic in the morning is going to pick up, and football is back and dominating the discussions at the water cooler.

With the increase in traffic comes the school buses, hundreds of them. None of us like being stuck behind a school bus when on the way to work because of all the frequent stops. However, the professionals over at the school system know what they are doing, and they should be applauded for delivering thousands of children to school and back home safely each day. But when we are running behind, it seems each bus stop is a deliberate attempt to make us late, even though its our responsibility to simply start our mornings earlier to compensate for back-to-school bus routes.

The reason for writing about these stressful morning commutes is because it can cause unsafe conditions, especially for our children who are trying to get to school. A frequent complaint that Alpharettas Department of Public Safety receives is about cars passing stopped school buses. It is the law that you stop for a school bus loading and unloading children, yet cars still continue on. You can tell the school bus is loading and unloading children because of the flashing red lights and the stop sign protruding out on the drivers side. Even emergency vehicles responding with lights and sirens stop until the bus driver gives them a signal that its safe for them to pass.

Only two reasons could explain this unacceptable behavior. The first would be a distracted driver. Hopefully, the distracted driving law passed last month will help with this, but drivers need to be diligent about not letting things take their eyes off the road, especially when near school buses and school zones. The second would be someone who has reached a stressful boiling point, so they knowingly make an illegal driving maneuver to get them to their destination faster. Neither of these are a valid excuse for putting the lives of our children in danger, and both can be completely avoided.

Of course, the Department of Public Safety will be out enforcing the law, but they cant be everywhere. Its a much better solution for everyone to commit to being more attentive, considerate drivers.

Overall, many of us are very stressed and distracted during our morning commute. Hopefully, we all can take a deep breath, find that perfect radio station before we leave the driveway, leave our cell phones alone, and drive to work safely.