Caution urged ahead of back-to-school season

John Barry

 

Motorists are urged to be more cautious ahead of the beginning of the new school year.

As back to school season looms, AA Ireland is calling on motorists to exercise additional caution in the weeks and months ahead as commuter activity begins to return to peak levels.

Beginning late August, the start of a new school year and the end of the peak holiday window traditionally means a significant increase in traffic volume on major routes across the country.

AA Director of Consumer Affairs, Conor Faughnan said: “Regular commuters, particularly those living and working in urban areas, will have noticed a significant reduction in traffic between June and August, it’s likely that from Monday you’ll start to notice traffic returning to more normal levels.”

With this in mind, the AA is encouraging motorists to allow extra time as part of their commute to work moving forward and to be on the lookout for vulnerable road users.

Mr Faughnan said: “It’s not just more cars that we’re likely to see on the roads moving forward, but also more bikes and more parents walking their children to school. It’s important that motorists be aware of this and exercise additional caution when driving or overtaking as younger cyclists in particular may not be confident on their two wheels just yet.”

AA Rescue, the organisation’s breakdown assistance service, is also highlighting the importance of ensuring children are supervised in the car at all times.

In 2018, the AA was called out to 21 breakdowns resulting from children sticking items into a car’s ignition and attended 460 incidents involving a child locked in a car.