MOUNT HEALTHY, Ohio -- It's the day so many parents have been waiting for: Thousands of Tri-State students are heading back to school Monday, including those at Mason, North College Hill, Oak Hills, Princeton, Ross and many more.
Many of those students will board the big yellow bus, but a number of students in Mount Healthy actually walk to schools in their neighborhood, which has area law enforcement reminding parents to talk with their kids about crosswalk safety.
Police are urging parents to practice the best route with their children and remind them not to run or play around intersections.
These two blocks are among the most dangerous in the city, with police reporting eight pedestrians hit by cars in 2015 and the same number so far in 2016 with more than four months left to go. Police say more than half of these accidents happened in this two block stretch of Hamilton Avenue.
Mount Healthy Police Sergeant Nick Michael said he's surprised to see really young kids walking to school by themselves and he tried to clear up a common misperception about crosswalks.
"Sometimes when pedestrians see that orange flashing hand blinking, (they think) that they are able to leave that curb and go in the street. You're not," Michael said. "You're required to stay on the curb when that starts to flash. You can start to cross when you have the white light telling you can go, and if it turns to the flash while you're out there, then you keep on going the direction you're going to cross the street. But you should never enter the street when that hand is flashing."
The most important reminders for drivers and pedestrians are that traffic will pick up with the new school year's start and to remain vigilant at all times.
