September 5, 2023

September 5, 2023 5:55 am Published by Chris McLeod

September 5th is the 248th day of the year. There are 117 days remaining until the end of the year.

Back to school today!

Schools across Chatham-Kent open their doors for another school year this morning. Keep an eye out for students and buses on the roads today.

Mostly cloudy skies for day one, the humidity will make it feel like 30.

With kids going back to school, some safety tips for students, drivers and bus drivers:

Slow down. Speed limits in school zones are reduced for a reason.
Come to a complete stop. Research shows that more than one-third of drivers roll through stop signs in school zones or neighborhoods. Always come to a complete stop, checking carefully for children on sidewalks and in crosswalks before proceeding.
Eliminate distractions. Research shows that taking your eyes off the road for just two seconds doubles your chances of crashing.
Share the road with bicyclists. Children on bicycles are often inexperienced, unsteady and unpredictable. Slow down and allow at least three feet of passing distance between your vehicle and a bicyclist.
Talk to your teen. Car crashes are one of the leading causes of death for teens, and nearly one in four fatal crashes involving teen drivers occurs during the after-school hours of 3p.m. to 7p.m.

For Pedestrians:

Pay attention at all times. Avoid texting or wearing headphones, so you can detect nearby traffic.
Use sidewalks where available. If not, walk against the direction of traffic so you can see oncoming vehicles.
Make yourself easier to be seen by wearing reflective, bright coloured clothing.

For Bicyclists:

Wear a helmet and neon or bright colored clothes.
Ride in the same direction as traffic and stay as far to the right as possible. Use bike lanes when you can.
Do not wear headphones so you can detect approaching traffic.
Cross the street at intersections. Do not pull into the roadway from between parked cars.

For Students at the Bus Stop:

Arrive at least 5 minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive.
Stay five steps away from the curb.
Be alert and remove headphones so you can hear oncoming traffic.
Wait until the bus comes to a complete stop and the bus driver signals for you to board.

Environment Canada issued a heat warning over the weekend for Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex, and that will continue for today and tomorrow; The two hottest days of the heat warning.

Temperatures projected to reach 32C (39C with the humidex) today and tomorrow. A cold front moving in later this week will bring the temperatures down.

The intersection of Dufferin Avenue and McNaughton Avenue in Wallaceburg is scheduled to be shut down at at 7a.m. today, until Friday, September 15 at 6p.m.

This is part of the Dufferin Avenue Reconstruction Project. The project is expected to be complete by November 2023, with restoration work scheduled to take place next spring and summer.

Work on the water main, traffic signal, and road construction will also force the closure of McNaughton Avenue between Wallace Street and Dufferin Avenue, meaning the Lord Selkirk Bridge over the Sydenham River will be shut down.

Detour routes are in place.