OUR VIEW: Slow down, pay attention around school zones, bus stops
Published 10:30 am Wednesday, August 10, 2022
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LaGrange doesn’t really have traffic. It’s a talking point city leaders have bragged about for years — as they should — and that fact has to be really inviting to someone who fights the Atlanta congestion every day.
So, with that in mind, know that when we say traffic below, we mean it a relative manner.
However, if you ever do actually want to see “packed” roadways in LaGrange, get near a school zone anywhere between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on a weekday morning.
With school starting back, the difference in cars on the roadway in that timeframe seems to have increased exponentially over the last week, though we know it’ll fall off some as some students begin to ride school buses.
However, the fact of more people on the road leads us back to the topic of safety, especially when students are involved.
For instance, we could probably write chapter books on parents mis-understanding — or just not following — car rider lane rules.
That means either going in the wrong entrance, using the wrong exit, or simply not paying attention.
But the more concerning issue is when people speed through school zones or not stopping for school buses.
There is nothing important enough — no meeting, no special circumstance, nothing — that will ever mean you should speed through a school zone or drive by a bus stopping to let children on or off.
We have plenty of driving issues in LaGrange (for instance, we saw a car whip down Ridley Avenue going the wrong way Friday, and we’re not sure the driver even tapped the brake) but slowing in school zones should never be one of them.
Slow down, especially in the mornings and in the afternoons.
You’d expect other drivers to do it for your children, so please do it for others.