Author: Richard Lichenstein,

Let’s Get Back to School Safely!

This article is part of the #STCPreventionMatters campaign from the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland. For more information about the campaign and the Center for Injury Prevention and Policy, visit: umm.edu/PreventionMatters.

When summer ends and school begins, the roads fill with people returning from vacation and getting back to work or school. Estimates vary, but parents taking their children to and from school make up a large part of the increased traffic delays we see on the roads after Labor Day. Everyone is busy or in a hurry and may be more focused on getting to their next destination and not on the steps needed to get there safely.

It may be easy to identify the risks that come with swimming in the ocean or falling off the monkey bars, but the dangers of getting to and from school are less obvious.

More school-aged children are killed from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. than at any other time during the day. More than one third of these deaths are walkers between the ages of eight and 13 (NHTSA, 2017).

As children, we are taught the basics of crossing the street safely; but as a doctor in the Pediatric Emergency Department, I see that parents and children forget to follow some of those simple rules. With the days getting shorter and travel times getting longer, I strongly urge parents to keep in mind a few simple tips to keep everyone safe:

•Know your child— Not all children are ready to start walking to school at the same age. They must first show good judgement and maturity. In general, children are ready to start walking to school between the ages of nine and 11. Children under age 10 may have difficulty judging the speed or distance of oncoming cars. Others may not pay close enough attention and go into busy traffic, therefore requiring adults to help them get to school safely.

•Map out a safe path to school— Parents should be aware of safe crossing spots or crosswalks on the way to school. Parents should also keep in mind that the flow of traffic can be very different depending on the time of day. When possible, walkers should use sidewalks and cross at corners using traffic signals as instructed. If there are no sidewalks, SafeKids recommends walking facing traffic as far to the left as possible. Busy streets can mean more cars, and perhaps more distracted drivers. So again, think about having a responsible adult, sibling or friend to go with the younger student.

•Practice makes perfect— If your child is starting at a new school, walk with them until you feel that they are confident with the route and can get to school safely. This is also a perfect opportunity to review the rules of being a responsible pedestrian: look left, right and then left again before crossing a street. Then continue to look until you are safely across. For the older student, remind them to put away the cell phone or device while walking— a distracted pedestrian and the potential for a distracted driver is a recipe for disaster.

•Make sure people can see your child— Use brightly colored clothing or armband reflectors to make the walking child more visible to drivers. Look for other children in your neighborhood that can be a buddy on the way to school. You could even organize a “Walking School Bus” where an adult walks a group of neighborhood children to school and picks up more friends on the way.

Following these tips will likely help our children get to school and home safely.

October 10 is National Walk/Bike to School Day so use this day to practice some of these tips and talk to your students about traveling safely.

Richard Lichenstein, MD, is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a pediatric emergency physician at the University of Maryland Medical Children’s Hospital, chair of the Teen Safe Driving Coalition in Maryland and chair of the State Child Fatality Review Team.

Driving + Inexperience + Texting = Trouble

This article is part of the #STCPreventionMatters campaign from the University of Maryland Medical Center. For more information about the campaign and the Center for Injury Prevention and Policy, visit: umm.edu/PreventionMatters.

Distracted driving is a growing problem with deadly consequences. In 2015 in the United States, almost 3,500 people were killed and 400,000 injured in car crashes involving distracted drivers.

We live in a society that is more and more connected with social media. It is easy to use— and addictive. The connection feels essential— and drivers often become anxious if they receive a text and do not see it or respond immediately. This adds to other distractions such as eating, changing the station on the radio, looking at GPS, or anything that takes your eyes from the road or your mind from driving. The problem is even worse for young drivers who are avid users of social media but are also inexperienced drivers who are more prone to crashes.

Simply put, distracted driving is driving while doing any another activity that takes your attention away from driving, including:

•Visual: taking your eyes off the road

•Manual: removing hands from the steering wheel

•Cognitive: taking your mind off driving

A distraction like texting is one of the most risky situations since it involves these three major types of distraction.

Young Adult Brains Not Fully Developed— One might think that doing other tasks while operating a vehicle can be as simple as walking and chewing gum at the same time. But driving safely takes all of our attention when we are behind the wheel. A typical drive may involve paying attention to the road and cars ahead, recognizing changes in light and weather, interpreting what the cars to your side or ahead are doing, and planning and making appropriate reactions when any of these factors change.

From a developmental standpoint, the brain is not fully developed in people until they reach their mid- to late-20s, putting young drivers at particularly high risk. Young drivers are already inexperienced with all of the skills required for driving, including recognizing and handling different types of situations on the road. Additionally, teens are more likely to participate in risk-taking behavior, possibly setting the stage for disaster.

Consider how harmless it may seem to look down for ‘just a second’ at a text while driving. Studies show that the second is actually more like five seconds, and that at 55 miles per hour, the car is traveling the length of a football field— a distance where anything can happen.

Even when eyes are off the road for a few seconds and the car is travelling at slower speeds, the unexpected can occur with serious consequences.

The Multitasking Myth— Although many people are confident in doing several things at once, multitasking is a myth when it comes to driving. Even if a driver’s eyes are on the road, there may be “inattentional blindness” from the distractions of listening to music or a podcast, or attending to a passenger’s comments. Studies show that the entire road may not be processed by the brain in these situations and important cues to prevent crashes may be missed.

Serious Penalties— In Maryland, there are laws against distracted driving and using hand-held cell phones while behind the wheel. If you are found using a cell phone and/or looking down to text, you can get a ticket that carries an $83 fine for using the phone and an additional $70 fine specifically for texting. A distracted driving crash will also cost you three points on your license, and if that crash results in a fatality, you can be fined up to $5,000 and sentenced to one year in prison (Jake’s Law).

What Parents Can Do— Although laws are helpful, the best thing parents can do is model good behavior and put away their phone. The primary objective is to get to your destination safely. Parents should have a meaningful conversation with their teen about the dangers of distracted driving. Research has shown that parents are the most important influence on a teen’s driving behavior.

Richard Lichenstein, MD, is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a pediatric emergency physician at the University of Maryland Medical Children’s Hospital, chair of the Teen Safe Driving Coalition in Maryland and chair of the State Child Fatality Review Team.