(Cushing, Okla.) Monday, August 22, 2016, Cushing Public Schools will once again open their doors as the new school year gets underway. Like previous years, safety of the students, parents and motoring public is our top priority.
Cushing police officers will be highly visible throughout the community enforcing both municipal and state traffic laws. The enforcement is designed to target speeders; aggressive drivers and motorists who fail to stop for stopped school buses.
Chief Tully Folden said, “As always, we would like to encourage students, parents, and the motoring public to allow extra time for their commute as we begin the new school year. The extra time will help minimize the desire to rush and ensure the safety of both our children and the motoring public.”
Cushing police officers will specifically target the school zone in the 1500 – 2200 blocks E. Main Street, where the speed limit is 25 mph when the lights are flashing. During the past, these lights have been activated for an hour prior to school, during lunch, and an hour after school. This sporadic posting of the school zone, led to some confusion with the motoring public.
To help ease any confusion, the school zone lights will now be activated at 8:00 a.m. and will remain active until 4:00 p.m. This will help take the guess work out of what time the school zone is in effect.
We would also like to offer the following safety reminders for both our motoring public, as well as, our pedestrians:
Drivers:
When dropping off children at school, remember to stop in a safe location for you, your children and other drivers. It is always best to park nearest the shoulder of the roadway where it is legal to park. Whenever possible, have the passengers exit the vehicle on the right (curb) side of the roadway. Never stop in a roadway or red curb areas to allow people to exit. This could cause an accident or other traffic congestion problems.
Look out for the unexpected. With all the excitement of the first days of class, some children may leave an area of safety and dart into the roadway. This is true of bicyclists as well. Young children are impulsive, and they will cross the roadway in mid-block, sometimes without looking for oncoming vehicles.
Avoid distractions in the vehicle such as cell phones, texting, eating , drinking, etc.
Yield to all pedestrians in crosswalks or at intersections.
Watch for school buses with flashing red lights.
Pedestrians:
Accompany young children who are walking to school and show them the safest route.
Cross the street in marked crosswalks whenever possible. If there isn’t a crosswalk, cross the street at an intersection.
When crossing a street, wait until all vehicles have stopped before leaving the sidewalk. Just because one driver sees a pedestrian and stops, doesn’t mean all the drivers see them.
Don’t run in the crosswalk.
Teach children about strangers and not accepting rides from anyone they don’t know. Have a secret password that only you and your children know. In addition, show your children safe spots along their route where they can go in case of an emergency such as stores, restaurants, library, post office, police department, fire department or a close trusted friend’s house.
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