School Zone Traffic Safety Reminders

By NMDOT

School days are just around the corner and the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) wants to remind the traveling public and pedestrians to think about traffic laws when in or near a school zone.

General traffic laws:

• No person shall exceed fifteen miles per hour while driving a vehicle on a highway while passing through a school zone (unless otherwise posted)
• A traveling vehicle shall yield, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within designated walk ways
• Every pedestrian crossing the roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway
• No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that is impossible for the driver to yield
• Whenever any vehicle is stopped at a marked crosswalk or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of an approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle
• Crosswalks may be established over highways abutting a school or the grounds adjacent to a school, and all children crossing the highway shall be required to do so within the marked crosswalks
• Every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway and shall give warning by sounding the horn when necessary and observe proper precaution upon observing any child or any confused or incapacitated person on the roadway

Motorists are asked to watch for children when school is underway. When crossing an intersection it is advised to look in both directions.  The NMDOT wants to encourage all to observe school zones.