This time next week, we'll be seeing those yellow school buses traversing local roads and hearing local children (at least a good number of them) grumbling about having to get up so early.

Any time is a good time for a reminder about safe driving and traffic awareness, but the start of a new school year is a particular opportunity for words of caution.

As we bustle through the last few days to get ready for school, let's all try to remember the rules of the road when it comes to school bus safety.

Generally, on undivided roads and highways (without medians or barriers), the rule is that if a driver is approaching a school bus that has stopped in the road, they must stop, no matter which direction they are approaching from.

Traffic should stop until the school bus resumes motion or the signal used by the bus (usually blinking lights) is turned off.

In recent years, police agencies have stepped up enforcement to patrol school bus routes, even riding along with buses to catch people who fail to stop, at school bus pick-up locations.

Let's try to remember that beginning next Tuesday, as students are starting back in school, we should all refocus on getting ourselves in back-to-school mode as well -- and be cautious on the roads.

If not, the results could be a hefty fine ... or something much worse.

Back roads, big trouble

The pending start of the school is also a time to promote driver safety in general, and it was in that background that state and local agencies this week launched the program to crack down on drunken driving in rural areas.

Several police agencies and Maryland Attorney Doug Gansler came to Carroll County to discuss the issue, and problem, of people who think it's somehow less dangerous to drive drunk on back roads.

The statistics tell another story, and so the Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign is targeting males between 21 and 35 years old, as they are at the highest risk for drunken driving, and are a difficult demographic to reach through awareness campaigns.

See the news story on page 2, and for more on the issue read online at www.explorecarroll.com, as reporter Charles Schelle tests out a pair of "woggle goggles," designed to show what it's like to try and navigate a car while impaired.

It was an eye-opening experience for Charles, and will hopefully be a cautionary tale for others.

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