With the school year starting this week for some area districts, now is a good time to remind parents and students to drive cautiously in school zones.

Slippery Rock Area School District, Freeport Area School District and Union Area School District all welcome back students this week. Next week, most other Butler County districts will begin school, with just Mars Area School District starting after Labor Day.

As a result, county roads will be more crowded than they have been for months. Parents, teachers, buses and students — some of whom have newly obtained licenses — will all be traveling in the same direction.

Therefore, the chance for accidents and injuries increases greatly. Parents will be concerned with dropping their children off and getting to work on time, while students will rush to beat the morning bell.

They should all follow the same advice: slow down, keep your eyes on the road and watch for children on foot.

According to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 1,172 fatal school-transportation-related accidents in the United States between 2006 and 2015.

This resulted in an average of 131 fatalities per year. During that time frame, 102 pedestrians, ages 18 and younger, were killed in school-transportation-related crashes. Sixty-one percent were struck by school buses, 3 percent by vehicles functioning as buses and 36 percent by other drivers.

A majority of the fatal crashes occurred in the early morning hours — between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. — and afternoon hours — 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. — when children are frequently going to or coming from school.

There are obvious ways to reduce such accidents.

Parents who drop off or pick up their children directly at school should discuss carpooling in an effort to decrease the number of vehicles traveling to and from schools.

Double parking, which blocks visibility for other vehicles, should be avoided.

Don’t speed in school zones or anywhere near a school. Be sure you’re not going so fast that you can’t quickly come to a complete stop if a child darts out in the street.

Never pass a school bus stopped with its lights blinking, as it’s likely picking up or dropping off a child, and allow for a greater following distance when traveling behind a bus.

Obey signals by crossing guards or school patrol officers.

Time constraints involved in dropping children off and getting to work can cause people to rush. Don’t do it.

The safety of people in your community, a majority of whom are children, is in your hands when you’re driving in a school zone.