Four horrifying accidents in Maine recently call attention to the need for drivers to slow down and be aware of the number of children walking to and from schools. A lower speed may add a minute or two of travel time, but it could prevent the loss of a child.

In the last two weeks, five people were injured by two cars in an accident on an access ramp in Bath, five more were injured when they were struck by a car on a bridge in Brooksville and a 15-year-old girl was killed while she was in-line skating in Pittsfield. On Aug. 11, an 11-year-old girl from Bucksport was struck and killed by a pickup truck as she was walking home from an afternoon of swimming. These events are a sobering reminder of the danger inherent whenever cars and pedestrians share a road.

With another school year beginning, children are once again walking to school or to a bus stop. The Bureau of Highway Safety has asked drivers to pay special attention in neighborhoods and school zones where children may be walking or biking. It sounds like an obvious request, but like re-learning each year how to drive in snow, drivers should take heed of this fall reminder.

In addition to being careful while driving by a school (where the speed limit is 15 mph when students are coming and going), the bureau also has asked drivers to pay attention to the flashing lights on school buses. Flashing yellow lights means the bus is about to stop; flashing red means that it is stopped and that students are getting on or off. Though the yellow lights are a warning, the bureau recommends that cars stop when these lights come on because young children particularly may make a dash for a bus regardless of traffic. Drivers, of course, are required to stop when the red lights are flashing.

Kids, after all, have enough on their minds (“178 days of school left, 177 days of school left …”) without having to dodge traffic.