AA Warns Of Importance of Car Safety Ahead of Back to School Season

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

“Regular commuters, particularly those living and working in urban areas, will have noticed a significant reduction in traffic between June and August and while we all enjoyed the benefits of a quicker trip to work, it’s likely that from Monday you’ll start to notice traffic returning to more normal levels,” Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs stated. “It’s important that motorists factor this into their morning routine moving forward to avoid finding themselves stuck in rush hour traffic, stressing that they’re going to be late to work.”

“However, 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 – at least until we get into the truly wet, miserable winter months. 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, even when the car is idle.

In 2018, the AA was called out to 21 breakdowns resulting from children sticking items into a car’s ignition. Meanwhile, figures recently released figures from AA Rescue highlighted that the organisation attended to 460 incidents involving a child locked last year alone.

“Children and cars can sometimes be a recipe for disaster. While 21 breakdowns across a year may not seem like much, it’s almost a Murphy’s Law situation where your child will choose the worst moment imaginable to act out or do something unknowingly which can cause major inconvenience,” Faughnan added. “More to the point, if you’re a parent who has been enjoying a peaceful commute over the school holidays it can be a bit of a shock to now find yourself driving with children in the back seat again, particularly at a time when you may be exhausted or stressed about the day ahead. Certainly we’d encourage all parents or those helping out with the school run to have a discussion with their children about the importance of good behaviour in the car.”