The school season will begin in a couple of weeks. And that should bring more private cars and all the school buses onto the road. Which means more congestion on the highways and byways, more races to get ahead of the man in the next lane, more crowds and, quite logically, more chaos.
But if everyone follows the rules of the road, there would be fewer accidents and life would be much less difficult for every driver.
Putting a child on the bus
The golden rule is never to expect a child to walk across a road and board its school bus. If the bus stop is across the road an adult must accompany the child [up to the age of 12 at least] up to the stop and not leave until he or she has boarded the bus. If a bus is already at the stop, walk behind the bus since the driver might suddenly start a bus when there could be a mishap of you are crossing it in front just in those few seconds.
The same exercise must be followed while picking up a child coming out of the school bus. There must not be any short-cuts or compromises when it comes to your child’s safety. From early on do teach your child not to walk too close to either the back or the front of a bus and be alert to any movement of the bus. Boys in the age group of 12 to 18 should also be taught [and warned if need be] not to try and board a running bus which some juveniles have a tendency to do.
Dropping a child at school
Unless you can find the space to park without impeding traffic, avoid being part of the car-cluster near the school gate. If you have found parking at a short distance, especially across the road, do not expect your child to walk across the road. More so since at that hour of the day the gate-facing road will be full of chaos with some parents driving with poor attention to the road, busy as they would be looking for parking.
Similarly, while picking up your child, you must park the vehicle properly, even if a little out of the way. And pick up the child from the exit gate and walk him to the parked car.