POST HURRICANE SAFETY TIPS

As Broward County Public Schools students return to classes on Monday, November 7 following the recovery from Hurricane Wilma, it is important that the entire adult community take an active role in ensuring the safety and security of children going to and from school.  Here are some suggested safety tips that everyone should consider adopting.

• Motorists should comply with the 15 mile per hour school zone speed limit regardless of whether or not the flashing yellow lights are functioning.

• Motorists should consistently treat all intersections with nonfunctioning traffic signals as four-way stops and be courteous in taking turns driving through the intersection.

• Parents should conduct a pre-walk over the weekend of the routes their children normally take to school to ensure there are no hazards or conditions present that would make the trip unsafe.  Safety concerns should be immediately reported to the Broward County Emergency Hotline at 954-831-4000.

• Parents should advise their children to avoid any wires that are on sidewalks or in the street.  Always threat downed lines as if there are energized and stay away from them as well as any water near them.

• In areas where electric power remains out, parents should provide their children with flashlights so that they can see where they are walking and so that others – especially motorists – can see them.

• Parents who drive their children to school should consider car pooling to reduce congestion on the roads during this period.

Everyone should allow for extended travel times for students riding in cars or buses to and from school due to congested road conditions resulting from nonfunctioning and missing traffic signals.