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As summer comes to an end and students across Georgia return to the classroom, drivers can expect a familiar change on the roads: more school buses, heavier morning traffic, crowded drop-off lines, student pedestrians, and young drivers heading to school.
Back-to-school season is an exciting time for families, but it also creates additional risks on Georgia roads. A moment of distraction, speeding through a school zone, or failing to stop for a school bus can have serious consequences.
At Kevin Patrick Law, we encourage Georgia drivers, parents, and students to make safety a priority throughout the school year. Whether you are driving to work, dropping children off at school, or getting behind the wheel as a teenage driver, these back-to-school driving safety tips can help protect everyone on the road.
School zones exist for an important reason. Children may be crossing streets, getting out of vehicles, walking between parked cars, or riding bicycles near the roadway.
Drivers should pay close attention to posted speed limits, traffic-control devices, crossing guards, and flashing school-zone warning lights. Even if you do not immediately see students nearby, that does not mean the area is clear.
Reducing your speed gives you more time to react if a child unexpectedly enters the roadway. Remember that younger children may not accurately judge the speed or distance of an approaching vehicle.
Georgia law also requires motorists to obey official traffic-control devices. O.C.G.A. § 40-6-20 generally prohibits drivers from disobeying instructions provided by official traffic-control devices unless otherwise directed by a police officer.
Drivers should avoid distractions when traveling through school zones. Put the phone away, keep your eyes on the road, and be prepared to stop.
School buses are among the most recognizable signs that the school year has returned, and Georgia drivers need to understand their responsibilities when a bus stops to pick up or drop off students.
Under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-163, a driver approaching a school bus that is stopped with its required visual signals operating generally must stop before reaching the bus and remain stopped until the bus resumes motion or its visual signals are no longer activated.
There is an important exception. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-163(b), a motorist traveling on a separate roadway divided from the roadway containing the school bus by a grass median, unpaved area, or physical barrier generally is not required to stop for a bus on that separate roadway.
Drivers should therefore never assume that multiple lanes alone eliminate the obligation to stop.
When you see a school bus slowing down or activating its warning lights, reduce your speed and prepare to stop. Students may need to cross the roadway after entering or exiting the bus.
A few seconds of patience can prevent a devastating collision.
Children walking to and from school may be difficult to see, particularly in the early morning or around parked vehicles.
Drivers should be especially cautious around:
Georgia law provides protections for pedestrians in crosswalks. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-91, drivers must stop and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is on the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or is approaching closely enough from the opposite half of the roadway to be in danger.
Never block a crosswalk while waiting in traffic. Doing so may force students to walk around your vehicle and into moving traffic.
Drivers should also watch carefully before making right or left turns near schools. A pedestrian or bicyclist may be entering the crosswalk at the same time.
School drop-off areas can become hectic. Parents may be running late, buses are arriving, children are opening doors, and school employees may be directing traffic.
This is not the place for aggressive driving.
Follow your school’s designated drop-off procedures and avoid double parking, making sudden U-turns, or stopping in areas where children must cross active traffic lanes.
Georgia’s aggressive-driving statute, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-397, addresses certain dangerous driving behavior committed with the intent to annoy, harass, molest, intimidate, injure, or obstruct another person.
Parents should also have children exit the vehicle from the safest available side whenever possible. Before opening a door, check for approaching cars, bicycles, and pedestrians.
Most importantly, allow extra time in the morning. Leaving home just 10 minutes earlier can reduce the temptation to speed or make unsafe driving decisions.
For many Georgia teenagers, returning to school also means driving themselves to class, extracurricular activities, sports practices, and after-school jobs.
Parents should use the beginning of the school year as an opportunity to review safe driving expectations.
Teen drivers should understand the importance of wearing seat belts, obeying speed limits, avoiding distractions, and keeping their attention on the road.
Georgia’s seat-belt law, O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1, generally requires occupants in the front seat of passenger vehicles to wear an approved safety belt. The statute also requires minors age eight or older to be properly restrained while riding in a passenger vehicle.
For younger passengers, O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76 generally requires a driver transporting a child under eight to properly restrain the child in an appropriate child passenger restraint system, subject to the statute’s requirements and exceptions.
Seat belts should become automatic: buckle up before putting the vehicle in gear.
Distracted driving is dangerous throughout the year, but the increased activity around schools makes concentration especially important during back-to-school season.
Georgia’s Hands-Free Law is found at O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241. Among other restrictions, the law generally prohibits drivers from holding or supporting a wireless telecommunications device with any part of their body while operating a motor vehicle. It also restricts writing, sending, or reading text-based communications and watching or recording video while driving.
A distraction does not have to involve a cellphone.
Eating breakfast, adjusting navigation, searching for something in the vehicle, turning around to speak with children, or dealing with backpacks and school supplies can all divert attention from the road.
Parents can reduce distractions by getting organized before leaving home. Make sure children have their backpacks, lunches, and other items ready before the vehicle begins moving.
If something requires your attention while driving, find a safe place to pull over.
Students may travel to school by bicycle, scooter, or on foot.
Drivers should give young riders adequate space and anticipate unexpected movements. Children and teenagers may be inexperienced around traffic and may not always behave predictably.
Georgia law addresses interactions between motorists and bicyclists in several provisions, including O.C.G.A. § 40-6-77, which governs drivers emerging from alleys, driveways, and buildings, and O.C.G.A. § 40-6-56, which addresses safely overtaking and passing a bicycle.
Before opening a vehicle door, turning, or pulling away from the curb, check your mirrors and blind spots carefully.
Extra caution is particularly important near neighborhood schools where many students live within walking or biking distance.
Georgia law recognizes a driver’s broader responsibility to operate a vehicle carefully.
O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241 requires drivers to exercise due care when operating a motor vehicle and prohibits actions that distract a driver from safely operating the vehicle. Georgia’s Department of Driver Services specifically emphasizes this duty when discussing distracted driving.
Morning traffic can test anyone’s patience, but speeding, tailgating, unsafe passing, and aggressive lane changes can significantly increase the likelihood of a crash.
If another driver makes a mistake, remain calm and create additional space.
Getting to school or work a few minutes late is far better than causing a collision that could change someone’s life.
Unfortunately, even careful families can be affected by negligent drivers.
If you or your child is injured in a Georgia car accident, pedestrian accident, bicycle accident, or other traffic-related incident, getting appropriate medical attention should be the first priority.
It can also be helpful to preserve information about what happened, including photographs, witness information, police reports, medical records, and insurance information.
When another person’s negligence causes an injury, O.C.G.A. § 51-1-6 and other provisions of Georgia tort law may provide a basis for pursuing damages depending on the circumstances.
Georgia also imposes deadlines on personal injury claims. Under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, actions for injuries to the person generally must be brought within two years after the right of action accrues, although exceptions, tolling rules, and special notice requirements can affect the applicable deadline.
Because every case is different, injured individuals should consider speaking with an experienced Georgia personal injury attorney about the specific facts of their situation.
Back-to-school season should be about new teachers, new experiences, Friday night football, and watching children take another step forward—not dealing with the consequences of a preventable crash.
At Kevin Patrick Law, we represent people injured in car accidents, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, and other incidents caused by negligence throughout Georgia. We understand how an unexpected injury can affect an entire family, and we work to help our clients understand their options and pursue the compensation available under Georgia law.
As students return to school, every driver has a role to play in keeping Georgia’s roads safer.
Slow down. Put the phone away. Stop for school buses when required. Watch for children. Buckle up. And give yourself a little extra time.
A few simple precautions—and following Georgia’s rules of the road—can help everyone start the school year safely.
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