School starts, please drive slowly

MAT-SU— Most schools are starting Wednesday. Drivers will once again be sharing roads with school buses and kids and, all too soon, with darkness. In recent years, at least two, rear-end collisions with school buses has occurred. The Borough Transportation Advisory Board encourages alert, courteous driving.

Michael Campfield, Chairmen of the Matanuska Transportation Advisory Board, urges parents to plan ahead.  “Parents should give themselves extra time to allow for new traffic patterns and increased congestion.” Campbell also asks that local drivers be courteous to bus drivers and not cut them off in traffic.

Distracting devices, such as phones, should be put away while driving, giving more time to react to the unexpected such as a child in the dark waiting for the bus. The Transportation Advisory Board suggests that drivers also scan between and under parked cars for small children as this may be the only way to see kids before entering a busy street.

According to the The Alaska DMV’s point system, speeding in a school zone or refusing to yield to loading and unloading buses, is worthy of six points against a violator's drivers license. That’s half way to getting a drivers license suspended. Please slow down.

For more information call Media Design Specialist Stefan Hinman at 745-9520 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.