Today is the first day of school for several local area school districts, and there are some things to keep in mind to ensure everyone has a safe school year. 

With the school year officially underway there will be more students out and about walking to school or to bus stops and Adel-DeSoto-Minburn School Resource Officer Monte Keller offers some safety tips to keep in mind. 

“If they have to cross any streets while they are headed to that bus stop, making sure that they are using the crosswalks in those locations. When they come up to the crosswalk make sure they are looking both ways before they do cross the street. If there are any vehicles, let’s say if they are at a stop sign and they are crossing the street, making sure that driver who may be at the stop sign, making sure that driver sees them before they just proceed across the street.”

Keller tells Raccoon Valley Radio during the first week of school some of the most important things people should remember are talking to children about pedestrian safety, not being distracted for both pedestrians and drivers along with situational awareness and allowing plenty of time to get to your destination.

“We are going to see a higher volume of traffic obviously when school starts, definitely we see a higher volume of traffic for those first few days. There are more parents taking kids for the first couple days to school. Allowing plenty of time to get to places so people don’t have to rush that can definitely help with safety.”

Today is the first day of school for the ADM, Perry and Dallas Center-Grimes Community School Districts in Dallas County. To hear more on this topic you can tune into today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County Program on 94.3 and 99.7FM and 1310AM KDLS.