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Back to School
With our children back in school it’s time to slow down and save lives. Those flashing yellow lights in school zones and yellow/red lights on school buses are precautionary measures to protect our children. Cell phone calls and text messaging take on a more sinister nature while driving with the addition of children milling around the roadways. Please raise your awareness.
Yellow lights in intersections seem to invoke a “I must make it mentality” in the area. Many involve running red lights. A couple weeks ago our family made a trip to Manhattan to take in Broadway and explore the city. I must admit it’s been a while since I was there. What caught my attention was the consistent behavior of motorists in the city. Not once did we see a car, delivery van or taxi enter an intersection when a light turned yellow. They immediately stopped. In our area if that happened every yellow light would result in a rear end collision. Is it the milling of people, attentiveness of police or just plain courtesy in New York City? I don’t know, but it is a good thing. Think twice about that yellow light, there could be a school bus waiting their turn for green.
On the REAL Magazine web site there is a “Back to School – Family Talk” message from John Saputo, Gold Coast Eagle Distributing and Budweiser. The message implores us to keep an open dialogue at home with our children to provide support and positively influence the decisions our teens will make, including resisting peer pressure to drink when underage. I encourage anyone with teenage children to read the message and visit the website provided by Anheuser-Busch; www.familytalkonline.com [2].
Be safe. Be smart. Here’s to another year of school time parenting.
Ed Bertha
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