Be Ready On The Roads As School is Starting Up In The Tri-Cities

Believe it or not, summer is almost over...at least unofficially.  Labor Day is on Monday and kids are back in school all around the area tomorrow (Pasco and Richland began today, Kennewick begins tomorrow).  Parents are hustling to get last minute preparations done for another school year and kids are getting ready to change their sleep habits from summer.

The start of school has an impact on everyone!  If you've forgotten how much of an impact, I'm here to remind you.  Let's start with the impact on the roads.

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Your Commute Will Be Impacted

High School kids start their day before 8am so that means school buses will be on the roads quite a bit before that.  School buses stop at all crossings potentially slowing down your commute, and when the red lights come on you better stop or face some serious consequences.

Middle school and elementary school kids don't start much later than that so if you're heading to work before 9am, you should probably account for a few school buses on your way to work.

Crosswalks Will Be More Active

Drivers must cede to pedestrians in crosswalks whether there is a crossing guard or not.  There have been a number of crosswalks put in around the area that notify drivers someone is ready to cross with the push of a button.  Kids will be using those from mid-afternoon through after school activities so be ready to stop at any time.

Traffic will increase period as vacation season is officially over and more people will be on the roads.  Many parents drive their kids to school so those areas will see a good amount of vehicle jockeying.  All of that could lead to more frustrated drivers and a few more people yelling behind the wheel of their car.

There isn't a "Road Rage" law in Washington State, but there are laws against aggressive driving.  If you tailgate someone, make aggressive movements, or do anything that forces another driver to act defensively, you could get nailed for aggressive driving.

The other big thing to be mindful of are school zones.  When those are flashing you better be on your best behavior.  Getting caught speeding in a school zone is a $500 hit to your wallet as it is double the fine of a regular offense under state law.  As a rule of thumb, most school zones are around 300 feet and have signs posted marking the beginning and the end of the zone.