As students head back to school, parents focus on safety

Thousands of children head back to school next week in Wake County, prompting concerned parents to hold a back-to-school safety day Saturday.

The free event, organized in cooperation with the City of Raleigh, targeted elementary and middle school students. The event included helmet checks, bike inspections and a bicycle course designed to improve skills such as braking and proper hand signals.

"As a mother of three children, I appreciate this," said Julie Booth.

Booth discovered her son, Brooks, a rising third-grader, had his bike set at the wrong height.

"So, it may have been making bike riding a little more difficult," she said. "And then his helmet, we also realized, needed to be adjusted, so I appreciate that."

The Leesville Community Safety Task Force, a group of parents who want to improve safety in the area, set up a booth educating attendees about air quality and asthma safety.

There were also bus stop safety demonstrations to teach children how to properly get on and off the bus and also how to walk around it safely.

"We also had the Durham Fire Department come and talk about safety to the kids," said Charmane Dial, a member of the safety task force.

The task force pushed for the event after an accident last year that seriously injured a ninth-grader walking in the crosswalk to an evening event at the school.