Why Eric Scott Encourages You to Drive Carefully Around Children and Schools

The average weight of an automobile is around 3,800 pounds. The typical 10-year-old? Just 80 pounds.

Keep that in mind when you’re driving around schools, playgrounds, and neighborhoods with children. 

Paying attention when driving is the most important way to keep yourself and others safe. It’s also the best way to influence the next generation of drivers. Children mirror adults and if they see an adult texting while driving, they’ll think it’s fine to do the same when they’re old enough to get behind the wheel.

To drive this point home, just listen to longtime New Jersey public school teacher Ilene Sloan, who stood in front of classes for 36 years, trying to get children to listen and learn, and who has seen how children mimic the behavior of adults.

“Children understand the concept of consequences for unacceptable behaviors,” Sloan said. “However, if those expectations are not emphasized at home, most children will ‘test the waters,’ to see what they can get away with.”

Therefore, if you want your child to look both ways when crossing, you need to look both ways. If you don’t want your child to cross in the middle of the street, don’t take them by the hand and cross in the middle of the street. If you don’t want your child to use bad words, don’t swear like an adults-only comedian when you’re stuck in traffic.

“If I want my child to be a safe driver, phones should be away while driving. All it takes is a blink, and a disaster could occur," Sloan said.

Don’t believe it? Imagine you’re driving on a football field. Even if you’re driving only 10 miles per hour, your car will move nearly 5 yards in one second. At 25 miles per hour, which is the standard school zone speed limit, your car will travel just over 12 yards in one second. Put another way, if you take your eyes off the road on the 12-yard line, in one second you will cross the goal line. It only takes that one second for a child, pet or deer to run into the road. 

Be especially wary of this around school buses, now that school is back in session. When that school bus stop sign comes out, you stop. Saving a minute by getting around the bus is not worth a potential tragedy.

As a driver of an average-sized sedan, you are in control of two tons of potentially explosive metal. That means no alcohol, no weed, no vaping, no phones, and no distractions.

NJDOT is committed to improving safety for everyone who relies on our transportation systems – motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and their own highway technicians and contractors. But the reality is, they can’t do it alone. You can help make New Jersey roadways safer by staying alert, slowing down, and driving responsibly.