The Fletcher Elementary School community is mourning the loss of a 4-year-old who should have been part of the school for the next five years.

There’s a lot that we don’t know about the tragic accident that left a family mourning their 4-year-old child and a neighboring school district in shock that one of its bus drivers was involved in such a tragic accident. Some aspects of Monday’s accident will become clearer as the New York State Police, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and Jamestown Police Department finish their investigation. There will surely be calls for change, though Fletcher Elementary School has a crossing guard on duty during peak congestion hours, regular Jamestown Police Department patrols during pick-up and drop-off hours near the school and a button-activated crossing light in front of the school.

It’s not uncommon, though, to see some drivers going too fast in the area. It’s also not uncommon to see parents and their children not using the crosswalks, traffic lights or the crossing guard. In the end, as we note each year when school begins, it’s incumbent on parents and drivers to take caution in school zones or around stopped school buses. That’s especially true in Jamestown, where school zones are especially congested in the mornings as parents are dropping their children off.

Those of us who are regularly in school zones in the morning need to take more care to pay attention to children who don’t always use crosswalks, traffic signals or crossing guards. Parents who are crossing busy streets have to do their best to teach children safe habits when crossing the street – including walking the extra little bit to cross with a crossing guard or at traffic lights.

What happened Monday is a tragic accident that will haunt a Jamestown family and the driver of the school bus involved in the accident. We can never eliminate the chance of accidents like this no matter how much we would like to.