School Road Safety Rules
Regarding Traffic Safety Concerns
Drafted October 23, 2003

In an attempt to make our imperfect school traffic situation run smoother for everyone and create a safer school crossing for ALL our children the Village of Green Island, Heatly School and Heatly Elementary PTO have joined together to compile a list of safety rules to be implemented by Drivers/Parents/Guardians and enforced by Village Law Enforcement. We ask for everyone's cooperation in abiding by these rules and reporting anyone in violation of these rules in order to keep our children safe. Warnings and tickets will be given to anyone reported in violation of these Village school rules/laws.

1. Drop - Off procedure. 8:05am-8: 20am
(The "stop, drop and go method")

Children driven to school may be dropped off in front of school at the "un" loading zone located in front of the school building identified by the orange safety road cones. This area is reserved for parents dropping off children and moving on. Drivers may NOT double park in this location during morning drop off (8:05am-8:25 am). Parents wishing to wait with their children until 8:15 when the school doors open must park their vehicles in a parking place. Double-parking in front of the school during morning hours causes traffic build up, unsafe cross walks and unsafe road conditions for everyone.

Double parking and leaving a vehicle unattended by a driver is against the Law at anytime of the day even for 30 seconds. If you are double parked during pick up Times (2:00-2:20pm) your vehicle needs to be ready to move immediately in the event of an emergency vehicle needing passage. This means you may not double-park and go in and get your child. Park your vehicle!

Be considerate don't double park in front of a parking space. Make room for someone else. If you need to make a quick get away park toward the end of the block and walk down to school. Also be considerate of parents with younger siblings in the car. Most of us are well aware of the painstaking backbreaking job of car seats and little ones. Also make room, MOVE up when possible the street is hard to maneuver during this time. No one wants a fender bender. Display common courtesy to other parents who are also trying to pick up or drop off their children in a timely manner.

2. Left side Parking.

Vehicles parking on the left side of Hudson Avenue must let children out of the vehicle on the left sidewalk side of the vehicle and direct them to the crosswalk with the crossing guard at the corner (that is what she is there for). Please! DO NOT allow children to exit the vehicle on the roadside. This causes a road/safety hazard for the children as well as cars gaining passage on Hudson Avenue. With the limited space in the roadway this causes many safety issues. Children can be hit by approaching cars, a car door can be hit by oncoming traffic, traffic builds up behind the open door creating a whole snowball affect of possible unsafe conditions, accidents & annoyances.

3. Crossing Hudson Avenue.

All children MUST cross Hudson Avenue at school in the crosswalk with the direction of the Village crossing guard. Please DO NOT cross your child yourself - wait for the direction of the crossing guard (she may just be waving on a car at the time you begin to cross). Of course in crossing Hudson Avenue at any other section, you must use the crosswalks provided at the corners. Adults are strongly encouraged to set a good example for our children and cross, themselves, at the crosswalk. Please DO NOT cross your children yourself in the middle of the road. This presents a very dangerous situation and teaches our children to disrespect rules of safety. It is very difficult for a driver to see children when a child comes out between parked cars (let alone double parked cars). Take the time to save lives.
Our crossing guard does a good job keeping our children safe. Many parents who have children who walk to school on their own depend on her to be there keeping kids safe. Please respect our crossing guard who has been employed by our village for the safety of our children. Respect the job that she does and teach your children to respect the job that she does with your example.

4. NY State Law.

Vehicles may NOT pass a school bus displaying RED FLASHING lights and a STOP sign. We often have school buses in front of our school during pick up times. We have an elementary school child who needs to board a school bus and having a handicap he needs to board as close to the school exit as possible. Please be patient at times it may take a few minutes for him to safely board. Regardless of your need to move it is illegal to pass this bus if the sign and lights are on. Please obey the law, which applies to all school buses.

5. School buses.

Any school buses needing to pick up students from school for an extra curricular activity need to do so directly in front of the school where the children exit the building. For us this would be our main entrance door. During the days of bus pick up, cars will need to move from this area. Which means if you are double parked in front of the cones, you need to move. If you see a big yellow school bus coming from behind, you need to move. On the same note if the bus needs to pull away before you do, you will need to move. School buses have the right of way. Once the bus has moved away you may come back around and double park again if need be.

6. Bicycles / wheeled riding materials.

ALL wheeled items such as skateboards, scooters, roller blades etc. Need to be walked to their destinations from the point of the crossing guard. No wheeled items shall be ridden on school grounds. Riding these items into a group of people sets the stage for many possible accidents.

We come together as a school and a community to make our school street a safe place for our children. Most people are very cooperative and do a great job keeping kids safe. We have been very lucky at this point not having any serious accidents or injuries occur however we have noticed some ALARMING possibilities. We take this opportunity to bring to your attention these possibilities and ask for your help to KEEP OUR CHILDREN SAFE!

Please report anyone disregarding these safety rules to our Village Police Department or School office.

Please DO NOT take matters into your own hands. Simply take down a name or license plate number and report the incident.

Be a GOOD EXAMPLE to children. Teach them how to be safe by being safe.

Working together,
The Heatly Parent Teacher Organization
Heatly School & Village of Green Island.