Manteca High is moving forward with a new campaign to remind students of basic safety tips while walking to and from school.

The effort comes on the heels of two city initiatives to enhance student pedestrian safety immediately adjacent to the Manteca High campus on heavily traveled Yosemite Avenue as well as Moffat Boulevard that, due to its width and stretching for more than a mile without a stop sign or traffic signal, has developed a reputation as a speedway of sorts.

The high school is creating a student handout in the shape of the yellow signs that adorn the pedestrian crosswalk signs suspended above Yosemite Avenue on the poles supporting pedestrian-activated flashing warning lights at the intersections with Sherman Avenue and Garfield Avenue.

Instead of the icon used for school children crossing the street with black lettering on a yellow background, the handouts feature buffalos and the words “Buffalo Xing” in white on a green background reflecting Manteca High’s school colors.

The back side lists safety tips, explains how to cross the street safely, and how to choose the safest route to school. On the top below the Manteca High Honor the Code logo are the words, “Crossing a street can become a matter of life or death.”

The city plans on placing similar safety flashers on signs along sidewalks at high profile crosswalks put in place last month across Moffat at Sherman Avenue as well as Garfield Avenue. The city also created a school zone that reduces the speed to 25 mph when students are present. There are also bollards in the middle of each crosswalk warning drivers to look out for pedestrians.

When the weather becomes drier, the city plans to paint red cubs to eliminate parking on a segment of the south side of Moffat. That is to eliminate students crossing mid-block as well as to reduce congestion of vehicles pulling in an out of traffic before and after school.

Once the modernization project at Manteca High is completed, Garfield Avenue will be permanently closed where it currently slices through the campus. The southern segment will be converted into a student drop-off zone with a roundabout to reduce traffic congestion and improve student safety.

The new campaign augments efforts of the school resource officer, campus monitors, and administrative staff that patrol areas where students are now dropped off in heavy traffic in a bid to keep students safe.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com